Broadband Diffusion Research Articles

Broadband and local growth

I find a positive relationship between broadband expansion and local economic growth. This relationship is stronger in industries that rely more on information technology and in areas with lower population densities. Instrumenting for broadband expansion with slope of terrain leans in the direction of a causal relationship, though not definitively. The economic benefits of broadband expansion for local residents appear to be limited. Broadband expansion is associated with population growth as well as employment growth, and both the average wage and the employment rate—the share of working-age adults that is employed—are unaffected by broadband expansion. Furthermore, expanding broadband availability does not change the prevalence of telecommuting or other home-based work. Like other place-based policies, expanding broadband availability could raise property values and the local tax base, but without more direct benefits for residents in the form of higher wages or improved access to jobs. The analysis relies on the uneven diffusion of broadband throughout the United States, allowing comparisons between areas with greater and less growth in broadband availability. I combine broadband data from the Federal Communications Commission, employment data from the National Establishment Time-Series database, and other economic data from the US Census and BLS to examine broadband availability and economic activity in the US between 1999 and 2006.

Bass model estimates for broadband diffusion in European countries

The paper presents a broadband diffusion analysis for European OECD member countries. The Bass diffusion model is used to estimate the total number of potential adopters, the coefficient of innovation and the coefficient of imitation. The analysis shows that if the present trends continue broadband services will not reach the 100% penetration rate in the near future. Based on these findings, the question of a possible revitalization is discussed with a focus on those segments of the population which are slower to adopt broadband. A survey of households in rural areas provides preliminary investigation of reasons for continuing non-adoption, such as social habits and lack of both knowledge and interest.

Digital divide gap convergence in Europe

The diffusion of broadband in Europe is shaped by the penetration rates of the individual European countries. However, the contribution of each country to the total level of diffusion is not the same, due to the existence of a digital divide among the countries. The digital divide is still evident and although diffusion keeps increasing, not all countries have the same rate of broadband adoption. Based on the above, a methodology measuring the digital divide gap is presented in the context of this research, together with forecasts regarding broadband convergence. Evaluation of the methodology was performed for the European countries examined from 2001 to 2009.

User motivation for broadband: A rural Danish study

The diffusion of broadband has gained much research attention, in particular in relation to the urban–rural divide. However, research has focused primarily on the supply side of broadband roll-out, while the demand side has been somewhat neglected. This article illustrates the complexity of broadband adoption and argues that a rural adoption approach needs to draw on existing social meaning systems. By focusing on the user motivation for broadband, this article presents findings from a qualitative study of rural residents. Means-end theory was used as a framework for understanding these motives. Furthermore, the article adapts the FCB grid as a tool for both public and private providers of broadband to examine effective rural promotion strategy.

An empirical analysis of fixed and mobile broadband diffusion

Broadband communications lie at the heart of the developing information society. Employing a logistic diffusion model, we analyze the factors that influence the diffusion of fixed and mobile broadband. We find that local loop unbundling, income, population density, education, and price are significant factors in fixed broadband diffusion. For mobile broadband services, multiple standardization policy and population density are the main factors affecting their initial diffusion. Our results also suggest that in many OECD countries, mobile broadband service is a complement to fixed broadband service.

Different Paths to Universal Access: The Impact of Policy and Regulation on Broadband Diffusion in the Developed and Developing Worlds

We examine the broadband digital divide by analyzing the impact of policy and regulation on broadband Internet diffusion. Our multiple regression analysis shows that factors that determine broadband diffusion in technologically developed countries do not necessarily have the same impact in less developed countries. We show that in technological developed countries, there is greater broadband diffusion in countries that make a higher financial investment in information and communication technologies and have effective governing practices at the national level. In technologically developing nations, however, a competitive telecommunications sector also lead to greater broadband diffusion and higher investment in ICTs has even a larger impact than in the developed world, but the presence of a national telecommunications regulatory authority has a negative impact. In addition, stronger democratic political institutions increases diffusion in the developed world, but more effective governance has no effect. These results suggest that the path to widespread availability and use of broadband requires different strategies depending on a nation’s level of technological development.

Broadband Achievement Index: Moving Beyond Availability

Significant resources are being allocated to accelerate high speed broadband deployment and adoption in unserved and underserved areas. However, there are increasing gaps between as well as within the states in terms of broadband availability, adoption, use and speed. A number of studies suggest that the paucity of broadband diffusion is only partially due to a lack of availability of broadband. Yet, broadband availability is often the only factor that is used to assess broadband needs for policy interventions. This paper proposes a composite Broadband Achievement Index (BAI) to measure each state’s current broadband achievement relative to other states providing an important benchmark for assessing state-specific needs and designing policies targeting those needs. The index combines several key performance sub-indices including broadband availability, adoption, affordability, speed and the dispersion of the broadband coverage within the states providing a more comprehensive picture of where the states stand in their evolution towards high-performance America. The sub-indices are constructed based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Exploiting data relationships, this methodology combines indicators that are common across states while explicitly taking the diversity of the states into account, which may be due to state specific factors such as existing communications infrastructures (cable or telephone), geography and state specific policies. Additionally, the paper uses second order stochastic dominance (SOSD) to compare the digital divide among the states based on county level adoption rates. Two states may have the same average adoption rates, but the connections may be concentrated in one metropolitan area for one state, while more equally distributed across counties in the other. With SOSD, the states with more equal spread of broadband diffusion among counties rank higher. The results help to detangle the sources for low broadband diffusion in states and offer policy implications.

Secondary education and broadband diffusion: a qualitative comparative analysis

PurposeThis paper aims to analyze the determinants of broadband diffusion, taking into account supply‐side factors such as market entry regulation and demand‐side factors such as secondary education attainment.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyzes 27 countries from the European Union (EU) from 1996 to 2009 using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), which combines quantitative and qualitative methods.FindingsThe main findings point out that there is one way for “innovator” adopters and “laggard” adopters in broadband diffusion, while there are few ways for the remaining adopters. Moreover, high entry regulation is associated more with “innovator” adopters, “early adopters” and “early majority adopters” in broadband diffusion, while medium and low entry regulations are associated more with “late majority” and “laggard” adopters in broadband diffusion.Social implicationsThis paper suggests that high secondary school attainment is a necessary factor for broadband innovator countries. By contrast, low income and low secondary school attainment are factors connected with late majority and laggard broadband adopters.Originality/valueAt present, there is no other research about broadband diffusion or technology diffusion that uses this mixed approach. While the results may not be very conclusive, they will serve as an initial springboard for further research into more specific‐variable studies.

On the combination of exponential smoothing and diffusion forecasts: An application to broadband diffusion in the OECD area

The innovation diffusion literature has established that the spread of a successful innovation over time typically follows a sigmoid curve. Therefore, the forecasting in this area has been monopolized by the use of well known aggregate diffusion models. Time series forecasting has been surprisingly neglected, as it provides mainly accurate short term forecasts. In this work, a method of exponential smoothing, the Holt's damped trend with a modification, is applied in recent broadband diffusion data of two large regions after the reach of the inflection point. As validated with holdback sample data ranging from 6 up to 30 months, the key for successful forecasting is the use of the estimated saturation level calculated from a diffusion model, in order to specify the appropriate trend. The results indicate improved predictions compared to two popular diffusion models, the Gompertz and the Linear Logistic model. The paper concludes with the application of the proposed method in a 48-month forecasting horizon, as well as the suggestions for further research.

Rural-Urban Differences in General and Health-Related Internet Use

Literature has shown that people living in rural areas are less likely to have access to the Internet for demographic and technological reasons; however, less information is available regarding rural—urban differences in online health-information seeking. Data from the National Cancer Institute’s nationally representative 2005 Health Information National Trends Survey ( N = 5,586) are used to examine these relationships. Logistic regression results show that those in rural areas use the Internet less than those who live in urban areas. Among individuals who have used the Internet, those in rural areas are less likely to use the Internet for health purposes. The persistence of a digital divide between rural and urban residents in online health searching is attributable to factors such as educational level, income, and diffusion of broadband. The article discusses the impact of these differences.

Critical listening research on reproduced sound in diffuse environments.

In critical listening rooms designed to monitor precisely small signal processing changes, what can be heard is influenced by the room’s modal response and the degree to which reflections are controlled by absorptive, reflective, and diffusive boundary surfaces. In exploring the problem of room acoustics affecting the results of such important listening activities, it is informative to explore the boundary conditions. For example, the acoustics industry utilizes absorption and reverberation chambers to explore related auditory phenomena. Recently, a diffusion chamber was created with broadband diffusion on walls and ceiling. Modal frequencies were also controlled with dedicated plate resonators effective down to 50 Hz. Impulse response measurements in this diffuse chamber revealed a dense reflection pattern 30 dB or more below the direct sound. The initial perception in this room was precise sonic images, a comfortable sense of ambiance and an apparent transparency to the subtleties of reproduced imagery that support decisions of sound engineers. Related experiments being carried out in other controlled listening rooms will be reviewed to place the current work in context.

Assessing the broadband gap: From the penetration divide to the quality divide

Only some years ago the analysis of broadband diffusion was focused on who had an Internet connection and who did not. Now, the relevant questions are: how good is it? How fast? And, how fast is fast? Thus, the broadband gap can no longer be seen as a penetration divide. It is becoming more and more a quality and capacity divide, and therefore, a divide in the range of services people can access and use. By means of the Broadband Quality Score—an index that combines three key performance parameters for the quality of a connection (upload and download speeds, and latency)—Japan is found to be the only country of the 42 countries studied currently prepared to deliver the quality required for next-generation web applications over the next 3 to 5 years.

The Impact of Governance Indicators and Policy Variables on Broadband Diffusion in the Developed and Developing Worlds

A new digital divide is emerging both within and between nations that is due to inequalities in broadband Internet access. Our research examines the broadband digital divide by analyzing the impact of administrative culture and policy initiatives in the form of strategic planning, execution, regulation and investment on broadband diffusion in 151 countries. Our multiple regression analysis shows that when controlling for measures of economic, political, social and educational development, there is greater broadband diffusion in countries that have an administrative culture of sound governance and make a higher shared financial investment in information and communication technologies. Competition in the telecommunications sector has a positive impact in nations where access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) is expanding, but does not make a significant difference where ICT access is widely available. Most intriguing is that while the presence of a national telecommunications regulatory authority has no impact on broadband diffusion in the technologically developed countries, it has a negative impact on diffusion in technologically developing countries. Our results suggest that factors that determine broadband diffusion in technologically developed countries do not necessarily have the same impact in less developed countries and, therefore, the path to widespread availability and use of broadband requires different strategies depending on a nation’s level of technological development.

Broadband and Local Growth

I find a positive relationship between broadband expansion and local economic growth. This relationship is stronger in industries that rely more on information technology and in areas with lower population densities. Instrumenting for broadband expansion with slope of terrain leans in the direction of a causal relationship, though not definitively. The economic benefits of broadband expansion for local residents appear to be limited. Broadband expansion is associated with population growth as well as employment growth, and both the average wage and the employment rate – the share of working-age adults that is employed – are unaffected by broadband expansion. Furthermore, expanding broadband availability does not change the prevalence of telecommuting or other home-based work. Like other place-based policies, expanding broadband availability could raise property values and the local tax base, but without more direct benefits for residents in the form of higher wages or improved access to jobs.The analysis relies on the uneven diffusion of broadband throughout the United States, allowing comparisons between areas with greater and less growth in broadband availability. I combine broadband data from the Federal Communications Commission, employment data from the National Establishment Time-Series database, and other economic data from the U.S. Census and BLS to examine broadband availability and economic activity in the U.S. between 1999 and 2006.

Broadband in Italy: An Overview

High-speed Internet, or broadband, access is an essential infrastructure that has been proven to stimulate competition, productivity and growth and it is considered the engine of the so called knowledge-information economy. In this paper, we first provide a technical survey of the standard broadband technologies (copper wire, optical fiber and Wi-Fi), then based on Eurostat and OECD data, we conduct an analysis regarding the diffusion and average available quality of broadband internet access in Italy. We find that Italy is behind compared to the other OECD countries in both broadband penetration rate and average available speed. The main determinants of this delay are the scarce diffusion of PCs and the persistently low ICT alphabetization of the Italian population, the geographical and density characteristics of the country as well as strategic factors (market structure and bureaucratic constraints). Finally, we examine the main regulations and policy instruments that have been established to foster broadband diffusion and we provide policy indications aimed at improving average quality and reducing digital-divide.

A conceptual model for the development of broadband and e-government

The paper discusses the interconnection of the adoption and diffusion of broadband (‘BB’), e-government (‘EG’) and e-commerce (‘EC’) services. It provides a structured literature review and proposes a conceptual framework for studying the interconnection of the development and adoption of BB, EG and EC. The interconnections of various concepts are shown along with several hypotheses that are thoroughly theoretically grounded. The role of different technology acceptance models is discussed, while the importance of including various aspects in policy preparation analyses is emphasized.

A model of wireless broadband diffusion in Latin America

Countries in Latin America have lagged behind much of the world in telephone lines, but they have made up this gap through cellular networks. The limited wired infrastructure means that broadband access will more likely be achieved through wireless technology. In this paper, we argue that Latin America will experience a patchwork pattern of adoption where segments of society will have state of the art broadband access while many segments will be left behind without connectivity. We test this hypothesis through a simulation developed using iThink ® and show how 3G cellular and WiFi access could evolve in Latin America. Data cellular networks will have a slower take-up rate because of the high costs of the handset (as well as access fees); while WiFi, although imperfect will experience faster growth. The patchwork adoption framework argues that socioeconomic indicators affect the way technologies are diffused. We present data on these indicators for four countries: Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Peru.

The Diffusion of Fixed Broadband: An Empirical Analysis

Broadband infrastructure is a key component of the knowledge economy. Broadband connections on both fixed and mobile networks are becoming an indicator of the knowledge economy. Employing the largest secondary data set, this study examines adoption factors of fixed broadband. The result of nonlinear and linear regression analysis of fixed broadband deployment suggests local loop unbundling (LLU) policy, platform completion between different broadband technologies and other diverse industry, ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and demographic factors influence fixed broadband diffusion. Specifically, the regression analysis of fixed broadband penetration found different types of LLU policies and previous fixed broadband penetration are significant factors of fixed broadband deployment. Some of the significant factors of fixed broadband deployment are different in developed countries than developing countries. This finding suggests, countries fostering broadband deployment need to adopt LLU policy for broadband, but the costs and benefits of the different LLU policy types should be carefully considered. Interestingly, the result of nonlinear regressions of fixed-broadband penetration suggest high levels of platform competition are related to high levels of fixed-broadband penetration, but the effects of platform competition are not statistically significant in OECD countries. This outcome is consistent with the result of linear regression analysis of developed countries (high income ITU membership countries). Considering OECD countries are composed of 30 developed countries with comparatively high GDP per capita, this result is robust. Taking into account this study’s results as well as previous empirical studies on fixed broadband deployment, the effects of platform competition are strong in the initial deployment of fixed-broadband, but the effects of platform competition are decreasing when the broadband market size is sufficiently large or the broadband market is mature. Also, as expected, previous fixed- broadband penetration was found to be an influential factor of current fixed-broadband deployment in all ITU membership countries, whether characterized as developed or developing countries. Considering impacts of platform competition in ITU membership countries, currently it appears in many countries that network effects and the effects of platform competition co-exist.

Broadband adoption, jobs and wages in the US telecommunications industry

This article evaluates the impact of broadband adoption on wage and employment levels among the local exchange companies in the US telecommunications industry for the period between 1988 and 2001. Broadband is a general purpose technology and its adoption and diffusion is expected positively to impact wages because of the need for higher level skill in its deployment and usage, but can also lead to less human capital usage because of a scale effect. Using the extent of fiber adoption among the local exchange firms as a measure of broadband deployment, it was found that broadband diffusion within and between the firms over time has had a positive and significant impact on wage levels but its impact on employment has been negative. As broadband diffusion increases, with substantial scope available to do so given the low levels of deployment both among the local exchange firms studied and within the United States as a whole, the impact of such diffusion on enhancing wage levels in the sector can be profound.

Widening universal service in Korea to include broadband and mobile communications

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how the scope of universal service has been extended from voice telephony to include broadband and mobile communications in Korea. This paper addresses how Korea's approach to broadband and mobile service utilizes different strategies.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is an analysis of universal service policies. It applies five criteria for reviewing whether broadband and mobile communications could be included in the scope of universal service.FindingsThis paper addresses Korea's approach to broadband and mobile service utilizes different strategies. An information society policy was applied to broadband diffusion, while a regulatory policy was applied to mobile service diffusion. Korea's universal service expansion policy shows a government and industry integration model.Originality/valueThis paper shows Korea's unique approach for universal service. It deals with how universal service has been driven forward as a part of an information society plan and information divide bridging policy in Korea. With flexible approaches, broadband and mobile services could start to be regarded as universal services.