Analysis of fixed broadband access and use in Thailand: Drivers and barriers

The aim of this paper is to analyze the demand for fixed broadband in Thailand. Data were obtained from a national survey in 2010 by the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) of Thailand. The bivariate probit model was employed to examine empirically whether accessibility to fixed telephony infrastructure, socio-economic variables and the area of residence have a systematic link to fixed broadband access in the first stage, and then, specific usage, provided access exists, is estimated. Results of this study show that the variables, together with their potential impact, are as follows: fixed infrastructure, income, gender, level of education, age of consumer and residential area. The impact of these factors varies from service to service (i.e. video download, social network, searching and e-mail). The implications for the NBTC are to encourage competition through the infrastructure and to permit more competition in infrastructure development. This could stimulate the growth of fixed broadband access and use. At the same time, the government could also implement policies to encourage more access and usage, for example income subsidization and training program.     

The reluctant regulator: The Rural Utilities Service and American broadband policy

Drawing on the increasing body of literature on policy stakeholders and the ever-growing acknowledgement that communication policy is crafted by more than just parliamentarians and formal communication regulators this paper examines the role that another set of regulators plays in communication policy: agriculture regulators. Based on a study of the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service (RUS), this paper explores alternative agents of communication policy. More specifically, through document analysis we examine the way in which the Rural Utilities Service has shaped rural broadband policy in the United States over the last three decades. The implications for this research are wide, as it brings another policy actor into the policy making melee, and pushes communication policy scholars to consider the role that non-traditional communication regulators play in the communication policy making process.     

Internet of Things,big data and the economics of networked vehicles

The evolution of special purpose standards for networked vehicles towards IP based communication networks and the high-volume data processing requirements call for the introduction of a new concept – the big data virtual network. The virtual network operator, which may be integrated with the operators of networked vehicle applications, combines sensor and camera devices with big data, either using large data centers (cloud computing) or local processing (fog computing), and complementary QoS (Quality of Service) differentiated bandwidth capacities from the all-IP network. The growing importance of camera-based sensors as well as geo-awareness requirements create a need for more pronounced QoS differentiated bandwidth as well as big data processing efforts. In particular, combining QoS differentiated all-IP bandwidth capacities with local data processing within the edge cloud constitutes a new task for big data virtual network service providers, enabling deterministic guarantees for ultra-low latencies required for networked fully automated (driverless) vehicles.     

Value networks and two-sided markets of Internet content delivery

The volume and importance of content is increasing in the Internet, whereas the ability of the Internet architecture to scale to the growing demand for transport capacity is uncertain. Even though the natural growth in the demand continues, the growth in traffic volumes can be limited by reducing unnecessary content copying and redundant transportation of the same content. Information-centric networking (ICN), featuring globally unique naming of content and optimized in-network caching, has been suggested as a potential future solution to significantly reduce unnecessary traffic, but its economic feasibility has not been widely studied. This paper evaluates the economic feasibility of ICN by using the two-sided markets theory to analyze four Internet content delivery models: the client-server model, content delivery network (CDN) model, peer-to-peer model and ICN model. Value networks and two-sided markets of these content delivery models are identified in the process. The results suggest that content providers can be willing to pay for the lower delay of content delivery in ICN, if ICN can solve its coordination problems related to cost-allocation, contracting, quality of service guarantees, and content usage statistics. These incentive challenges are essentially the same as in-network web caching originally faced and could not overcome. Internet access providers may also consider investing in the deployment of ICN due to reduced interconnection costs. However, the ICN model may require a revenue-creating business model to make it more attractive to Internet access providers than the CDN model that provides similar cost savings.     

The Indian broadband plan: A review and implications for theory

Given the benefits of ubiquitous broadband deployment and availability that include economic growth, participation in the Internet economy and increased competitiveness, several countries have launched major national initiatives to accelerate broadband deployment including supporting such initiatives often as a part of their fiscal stimulus plans. These include Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Singapore, Sweden, UK and USA and the European Union as a whole.     

Implementing policy on next-generation broadband networks and implications for equity of access to high speed broadband: A case study of Australia's NBN

Next generation telecommunications infrastructure is expanding and supporting rapid growth of broadband technologies and a digital economy. In this context, digital information and communications technologies (ICTs) are of increasing importance as a means for people to gain access to health or social services, employment opportunities, information and social networks. In this article we draw on our recent case study research to examine the policy (and politics) shaping implementation of Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN) and its likely effects on equity of access to high speed broadband (HSB) services. We monitored NBN policy and implementation from 2015 to 2018 through policy documents, reports, and media. To assess likely effects of NBN policy on implementation and subsequently on equity of access to HSB we: a) applied a framework defining four elements of equity of access; and b) analysed stakeholder views drawn from media articles and 22 interviews with experts on NBN policy including politicians, government staff, and industry representatives. We found that equity considerations competed with political and commercial imperatives during the rollout of the NBN. This resulted in positive and negative consequences for equity of access to HSB, with a change in policy and implementation in 2013 bringing greater risks to equity of access. The case study provides a framework for considering equity in the implementation of next generation telecommunications infrastructure and highlights the importance of considering equity in the evaluation of telecommunications infrastructure.     

Internet peering as a network of relations

This paper applies results from recent theoretical work on networks of relations to analyze optimal peering strategies for asymmetric Internet Service Providers (ISPs). From a network of relations perspective, ISPs’ asymmetry in bilateral peering agreements need not be a problem, since when these form a closed network, asymmetries are pooled and information transmission is faster. Both these effects reduce the incentives for opportunism in general, and interconnection quality degradation in particular. The paper also explains why bilateral monetary transfers between asymmetric ISPs (Bilateral Paid Peering), though potentially good for bilateral peering, may have negative effects on the sustainability of the overall peering network.     

The healthcare network economy: The role of Internet information transfer and implications for pricing

Over the past several decades, in an effort to increase quality and efficiency, more emphasis has been placed on preventive medicine, active participation of consumers in their healthcare, and healthcare networks that collaboratively provide medical care. This article addresses how the Internet has facilitated the development of new communication flows between networked stakeholders and the impact information transparency has on the demand for and the delivery of healthcare. Using actual patient treatment data, interviews with practitioners, and consumer interaction on Internet message boards, we discuss how increased information transfer shapes healthcare coverage and treatment options and the managerial implications for healthcare pricing along the value chain.     

The growing complexity of content delivery networks: Challenges and implications for the Internet ecosystem

Since the commercialization of the Internet, content and related applications, including video streaming, news, advertisements, and social interaction have moved online. It is broadly recognized that the rise of all of these different types of content (static and dynamic, and increasingly multimedia) has been one of the main forces behind the phenomenal growth of the Internet, and its emergence as essential infrastructure for how individuals across the globe gain access to the content sources they want. To accelerate the delivery of diverse content in the Internet and to provide commercial-grade performance for video delivery and the Web, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) were introduced. This paper describes the current CDN ecosystem and the forces that have driven its evolution. We outline the different CDN architectures and consider their relative strengths and weaknesses. Our analysis highlights the role of location, the growing complexity of the CDN ecosystem, and their relationship to and implications for interconnection markets.     

Wholesale market definition in telecommunications: The issue of wholesale broadband access

The scope of a wholesale market may, in addition to demand- and supply-side substitution at the wholesale level, also be determined by substitution patterns at the retail level. Considering wholesale broadband access markets, it is argued that each of these forces can be strong enough to render a 5–10% price increase by a hypothetical monopolist at the wholesale level unprofitable and thus may lead to a wider wholesale market definition including, for example, cable networks in addition to DSL. Based on the theory of derived demand elasticities the paper discusses under which circumstances this could be the case. The position of the European Commission and the practice of national regulatory authorities are then reviewed in light of these arguments.     

Challenges for a broadband service strategy in rural areas: A Romanian case study

Broadband network deployment plays an important part in the strategic policies in Europe to promote growth and innovation in all sectors of the economy in addition to social and territorial cohesion. In compliance with existing community policies, Romanian strategies in this field seek to provide the necessary support for broadband connectivity in rural areas. The goal of this study is to define a rural end-user profile to plan the most appropriate broadband service strategy from both a technical and a marketing perspective. Our empirical research involves an exploratory survey conducted in rural areas in northwestern Romania (n=1040 respondents). The findings reveal low levels of customer satisfaction and users more interested in data transfer than voice or video applications. Given this rural user profile, simulations of network traffic were conducted. The simulation results suggest that WLANs are the most suitable solution for the “last mile” broadband segment.     

The impact on broadband access to the Internet of the dual ownership of telephone and cable networks

In Portugal, until recently, the telecommunications incumbent offered broadband access to the Internet, both through digital subscriber line and cable modem. We estimate the impact on broadband access to the Internet of the structural separation of these two businesses. Using a panel of consumer level data and a random effects mixed logit model, we estimate the price elasticities of demand and the marginal costs of broadband access to the Internet. Based on these estimates, we simulate the effect of structural separation on prices and social welfare. Our estimates indicate that structural separation would cause a substantial welfare increase. These results raise questions about the policy of some countries of allowing the dual ownership of telephone and cable networks.     

The evolution of the internet of things industry and market in China: An interplay of institutions,demands and supply

This paper seeks to provide some explanation as to how demand-, supply- and institutions-related factors in China have affected the creation and diffusion of Internet of Things (IoT)-related products and services. Concerning demand side factors the paper demonstrates how potential market size and existing technology trajectory work in favor of IoT diffusion. As a related demand side factor the paper argues that, in terms of the technological trajectory, China has started farther from the frontier than most industrialized countries. The degree of incremental benefit from the IoT is thus higher in the country. As to the supply side factors, the article promotes an understanding of how Chinese technology companies have capitalized on a huge user base to develop IoT-based applications. It also suggests that technologies and expertise provided by foreign multinationals have also played crucial roles. Regarding formal institutions, the government's proactive policies have been a major factor in the IoT's evolution. It is also in the Chinese government's interest to develop IoT products to make censorship and surveillance more effective. Regarding informal institutions, Chinese consumers are less concerned than Westerners about being tracked and monitored, which provides a favorable condition for the adoption of IoT-enabled devices. Nonetheless, this condition is changing due to increasing abuse of consumer privacy. China and the U.S. are compared in terms of diffusion, key determinants, performance indicators and impacts of the IoT in order to understand the areas that China outperforms—and underperforms—the U.S. Some indicators are proposed to gauge the IoT-related performance and the impacts of the IoT.     

Business service networks and their process of emergence: The case of the Health Cluster Portugal

Business services have been receiving increasing attention from academics, practitioners and policy-makers. Despite the growing interest, this field of research suffers from several limitations: it draws mostly on services marketing theory, and it is grounded mostly in monadic and dyadic studies. This paper contributes to the advance of business services research by addressing these limitations with regard to a specific service-related issue. We carry out an interdisciplinary study by integrating among others an industrial network approach (INA) into the services area, and we thus develop the research at a network level by adopting a services network perspective; furthermore, the study is carried out in a business-to-business context by looking into a health cluster: the Health Cluster Portugal. The article addresses one particular aspect of business services networks: their emergence. We propose a conceptual framework that draws on process-based research and integrates theories from other bodies of research, allowing a rich understanding of how a business service network is created. Our findings point to discontinuities along the emergence of such networks, showing that there is an iterative process underlying their formation, with different theories playing a predominant explanatory role at different stages. This paper contributes to the wider body of literature on services research by promoting the integration of the INA and other process-related approaches in the area of business services networks, and also provides practitioners and policy-makers with a structured framework to understand how an intentional ‘bottom–up’ business service network may be created or orchestrated.     

The evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT): A computational text analysis

There is increasing interest in the IoT, in both academia and industry. Extant studies have surveyed the topic of IoT using different approaches. This study takes a digital innovation view of IoT as a complex ecosystem of technologies, industry applications, concepts, methodologies, and social institutions, which is temporally dynamic and evolves over time. The study focuses on three research questions: (1) What are the important elements of the IoT ecosystem? (2) How are such IoT elements connected in the ecosystem? And (3) How have such IoT elements been evolving over time? This study adopts a topic modeling approach and extracts hidden trends from social media data. The popular elements in the IoT ecosystem are cloud computing, big data, and cybersecurity, among others. The analysis provides detailed information about popular categories or topics in the IoT ecosystem, the associations among those topics, and their evolution since 2014. Based on the findings, the study offers implications for practice and suggestions for future research.     

A study on the deployment of high-speed broadband networks in NUTS3 regions within the framework of digital agenda for Europe

This paper investigates the high-speed broadband situation in the EU and its prospects. It uses a deployment model to estimate the investment required to meet the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE) broadband targets set by the European Commission in its Europe 2020 strategy at different stages: as of 2016, after expected operators’ deployment, after public subsidies and leveraged investment, and as expected in 2020. The model uses data at the NUTS3 level, which is the most granular level that has data available on the status of broadband deployment, to arrive at a coherent and comparable framework. From the different perspectives on the investment to meet DAE targets, the paper concludes on the need for an appropriate combination of incumbent and alternative operators investments, public subsidies and leveraged investments, and new investments, both public and private and non-existing as of 2016, examining their feasibility and the impact of different regulatory, technical, and policy strategies.     

The next stage of U.S. communications policy: The emerging embedded infosphere

The United States needs to reimagine the basic principles of its telecommunications and information policy to fit an emerging society in which networking and intelligence are embedded into an increasing number of everyday things which constantly monitor and measure our lives. This emerging environment is an always-on, ubiquitous, integrated system comprised of the Internet of Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence/Intelligent Systems and the Intercloud, which act together as a single system, referred to here as the “Embedded Infosphere” (EI). This development is driving the latest stage – the third – in the evolution of U.S. communications policy.Each of the components of the EI presents unique challenges, but the greater concern is all of them acting in concert. These developments bring into focus many topics that have been outside the traditional communications policy envelope, and exceed the portfolios of existing agencies and institutions. This article envisions a new “EI policy space,” grounded in established societal values, and built on the experience of the previous stages.There are appropriate policy responses to each of the challenges, but these responses need to be seen in a holistic perspective, as they are all interconnected. Many of the issues such as privacy, security, consumer protection, and data stewardship are common across several elements. The larger goal is to establish a framework for an integrated policy structure which can address unpredictable emergent conditions, while allowing markets to flourish without unduly burdensome regulations, restrictions or uncertainties.This articles suggests a high-level analytical framework of criteria against which proposed EI policies can be measured. While there may be no “perfect” policies, some may be better (or worse) than others. It also offers a political process designed to incorporate the concept of the EI into national policy thinking. This approach should be implemented through a series of steps and should provide flexibility for development. The initial step is a process by which the EI can be acknowledged, its development analyzed, and the national interests institutionalized. The U.S. Senate has already initiated this process with the pending “DIGIT” Act, designed to bring together the core federal stakeholders and open a policy discourse which will be expanded over time to other key stakeholders. This should lead to the development of a national EI strategy.Since the EI is progressively global, the article suggests how both the normative and regulatory dimensions can be approached in the global context. It raises the possibility of a restructured ICANN “Empowered Community” as a possible venue for developing policies and recommendations in this area. It notes that since global unanimity is unlikely, non-governmental regimes will likely develop to address the unresolved policy interstices.     

The role of the Internet in new product performance: A conceptual investigation

Past research has extensively investigated the role of the Internet in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the new product development (NPD) process. Although the process implications of the use of the Internet in NPD have received considerable attention in the literature, very little is written about the Internet's performance implications in NPD. Recognizing the importance of new product success and the growing trends in the use of the Internet in NPD, this paper investigates the role of the Internet in new product performance. Building on previous studies, this article develops theoretical explanations for the impacts of the use of the Internet in NPD on new product success and presents testable research propositions. It also outlines relevant conditions that might moderate the strength of the impacts.     

Speed isn't everything: A multi-criteria analysis of the broadband consumer experience in the UK

In this paper, we demonstrate that there is more to consumer experience than just broadband access speed. We identify and describe a complex and dynamic set of interactions that occur between different factors that collectively determine consumer experience. We suggest that the relationship between broadband speed and consumer experience follows an inverted U-shape. Access speed is necessary to provide consumers with a good experience, but it is not sufficient. Based on our findings, a more nuanced understanding of the market for broadband Internet access products is outlined and a foundation for deriving valuable policy implications is developed.     

Internet of things and the economics of 5G-based local industrial networks

Fifth generation (5G) networks raise governance and management challenges that did not exist in 3G and 4G wireless technologies. Advanced wireless functionality enables new applications and services based on smart, physical, network infrastructures, many of them expected to be localized. As a general-purpose technology, 5G can be configured in numerous ways to support innovative applications across many sectors. Smart network applications and services must integrate physical and virtual components in innovative ways. In addition, general capabilities of 5G must be combined with complementary technologies, such as big data analytics and edge cloud services, to create services for specific use cases. Varying throughput and latency requirements of distinct use cases require differentiated technical solutions. Appropriate frequencies must be aligned efficiently with other features within the footprint of particular, local industrial networks. National policy makers, suppliers, and users are responding differently to these governance and management challenges. These approaches balance differently the trade-offs between experimentation, differentiation, and harmonization. Comparative analysis can inform gradual improvements of the governance of 5G-based, local industrial networks.