Efficiency of uniform pricing in universal service obligations

We provide an efficiency justification for the imposition of the uniform pricing constraint in universal service obligations (USO), where USO are defined as a set of constraints imposed on firms belonging to a network industry. In addition to the uniform pricing (UP) constraint, which is an obligation to serve all consumers at an identical price, constraints considered are the coverage constraint (CC), which is an obligation imposed on one of the firms to serve a given segment of the market, and the license constraint (LC), which is a minimum or a maximum coverage restriction that is imposed on entrants. We show that adding the UP constraint to both a CC and a LC leads to an increase in welfare. Our contribution comes from the full recognition of the role of a LC in well-designed USO and we illustrate this role with the particular case of linear demand.     

Retaining telecommunication services when universal service is defined by functionality: Japanese consumers' willingness-to-pay

This study uses contingent valuation to measure Japanese customers' willingness-to-pay to maintain combinations of five telecommunication services that are considered substitutes if universal service is defined on the basis of functionality. The analysis revealed the following results. First, consumers are more willing to pay to retain voice communication services than data transmission services. Second, customers accept Internet Protocol telephony as a substitute for plain old telephone service (POTS) as a universal service, and they are willing to pay much more than Japan's current Universal Service Fund charge. Third, even when mobile phone service (MOB) is available, consumers will pay to retain fixed-line voice services. Finally, consumers have an equal desire to keep fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and fixed-line voice services, but it is less than the demand for MOB. Thus, under the present definition of POTS as a universal service, FTTH could be considered as a basic telecommunication service.     

Disconnecting: Understanding decline in universal service

At a time when choices for voice service and funding for universal service were growing, the United States experienced an unprecedented drop in household telephone penetration. Universal service in voice telephony is generally taken for granted in the United States. However, recent data from the FCC shows a significant decline in the number of U.S. households that have a telephone of any kind (including mobile), from a peak in telephone penetration of 95.5% in March 2003 down to 92.9% in November 2005. This decline is both statistically significant and meaningful, as approximately 2.6% of U.S. households could not easily reach 911 for emergencies. This study uses regression analysis of state-level data to determine what drove this decline in universal service. The results demonstrate that the recent decline in universal service in the U.S. is driven by an increase in black population, inadequate consumer protection laws, and increases in wireless telephones per capita. Lifeline effectiveness does not appear to mitigate the decline in penetration, while Link-Up effectiveness may have a limited effect.     

Sovereignty and universal service: sacred cows in the satellite industry

Globalisation strikes at the cornerstone of telecom policy — i.e., the sovereign right of every country to license the provision and use of telecoms within its borders. Sovereignty has historically been protected by means of a licence, the fees, conditions and procedures for which vary significantly around the world. In the satellite industry, those countries with the lowest teledensities tend to have the highest licence fees. Although there is a trend towards lower licence fees for subscribers, some regulators are just shifting the burden to service providers or the satellite operators. The European Commission and the European Conference of Post and Telecom Administrations (CEPT) have taken steps towards greater harmonisation of licensing conditions, one of which is universal service obligations (USOs). More than half of all countries have USOs which originated in the days of monopoly. With growing competition globally, assumptions about USOs need to be challenged. Regulators should refocus their energies from imposing tough conditions on the satellite industry to removing regulatory roadblocks.     

Mapping the field: Retrospective of the federal universal service programs

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 (1996 Act) established the framework for four federal universal service programs: the High-Cost program, the Low-Income program, the Schools and Libraries (E-rate) program, and the Rural Health Care program. During the past 15 years, these programs have been examined from a number of perspectives in an attempt to measure their efficiency and effectiveness, including the funding mechanisms that support them. The Federal Communications Commission is in the process of restructuring the universal service programs to move support to broadband-based technologies. This is an opportune time to examine what is known about whether these programs have met the universal service objectives of the 1996 Act and have efficiently and effectively used universal service funding. To that end, this article surveys both oversight reports by federal government agencies and academic research literature drawn from a variety of sources to identify areas of concern regarding the mission, implementation, and impact of the federal universal service programs and support mechanisms. The article also includes research findings on how the economic incentives created by the federal universal service programs affect corporate investment and deployment decisions and consumer service and technology adoption decisions.     

Moving targets: Introducing mobility into universal service obligations

Structural changes in the economies of developing countries are leading to increased mobility of work and family life, and so an accommodating set of universal service obligations (USOs) implies new goals that extend beyond wireline telephone penetration and access. Wireless telephony penetration frequently exceeds wireline penetration in developing countries, and digital wireless platforms can incorporate Internet technology. This paper evaluates the history of telecom development in Mexico that has led to wireless telephony becoming the new consumption norm. The study takes the eMexico project as a case study of diversified USOs beyond wireline telephony. It considers potential obstacles to incorporating mobile phone and Internet (“Wireless Web”) services into Mexico's diversified universal service policy, including economic barriers to political mobilization over issues of telecom policy.     

Estimating the impact of low-income universal service programs

This policy study uses U.S. Census microdata to evaluate how subsidies for universal telephone service vary in their impact across low-income racial groups, gender, age, and home ownership. Our demand specification includes both the subsidized monthly price (Lifeline program) and the subsidized initial connection price (Linkup program) for local telephone service. Our quasi-maximum likelihood estimation controls for location differences and instruments for price endogeneity. The microdata allow us to estimate the effects of demographics on both elasticities of telephone penetration and the level of telephone penetration. Based on our preferred estimates, the subsidy programs increased aggregate penetration by 6.1% for households below the poverty line. Our results suggest that automatic enrollment programs are important and that Linkup is more cost-effective than Lifeline, which calls into question a recent FCC (2012) decision to reduce Linkup subsidies in favor of Lifeline. Our study can inform the evaluation of similar universal service policies for Internet access.     

Uncertainty of public pay phone in Thailand: Implications for the universal service obligation

Public pay telephones are fast becoming technological dinosaurs headed quickly toward extinction. In Thailand, however, the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) has included the public pay phone as part of the Universal Service Obligation (USO) to ensure that all people in the country have reasonable access to a standard telephone service on request, and that payphones are accessible to all people on an equitable basis, wherever they live or carry on business. In spite of this, however, public pay phones and their revenue are also sharply declining due to the ever increasing encroachment of mobile phone technology. The researcher therefore undertook a study to empirically examine the key determinant factors for individual consumers using public payphones. A discrete choice model is employed together with the analysis of data from a 2011 national survey commissioned by the NBTC. Payphone usage is determined by the ownership of fixed phones, mobile phones and income which all play an important role with payphone being a necessary service for low-income people. Hence, NBTC should continue support through the USO fund and reassess the areas and groups of people who need this service in order to ensure that the USO policy is effectively and beneficially implemented.     

Efficiency in broadband service provision: A spatial analysis

With the 2008 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) order amending both the definition of broadband and its data collection practices, the problems associated with data integrity and ZIP code aggregations in the United States will soon be forgotten. However, between 1999 and 2007, FCC Form 477 data remain the only viable, nationwide database of broadband provision in the United States. While broadband data from 1999–2004 and 2005–2007 are not directly comparable due to a modification in collection procedure, there is an absence of objective empirical analysis for the latter time period. Interestingly, although the FCC made the 2005–2007 data publically available on the Internet, password protected files largely prevented analysts from accessing, manipulating and analyzing these data. The purpose of this paper is three-fold. First, the process utilized for liberating these data from their protected format and integrating them into a geographic information system (GIS) is outlined. Second, the spatial distribution of broadband provision in the United States for 2005–2007 is explored. A mathematical programming approach is also utilized for comparing the relative efficiencies of ZIP code areas in acquiring broadband service given their demand-side socio-economic and demographic determinants. Finally, implications for public policy, particularly those associated with developing local and regional benchmarks for broadband provision, competition and access, are addressed.     

Strategic action and customer mobility: Antecedents and consequences of strategic actions in the Korean mobile telecommunication service industry

This paper investigates the sources and consequences of strategic actions in the Korean mobile telecommunication service industry. Based on competitive dynamics research and an organizational learning perspective, it suggests hypotheses and tests them with monthly data on service providers’ competitive and alliance actions, as well as statistics on monthly subscribers during 2002–2007. We show the positive effects of a firm’s own experience, other firms’ strategic actions, and firms’ alliance tendencies on the likelihood of firm-level competitive action and alliance. We also find that negative performance feedback accelerates the mimetic influence of rival firms’ competitive actions and that positive performance feedback strengthens the momentum effect of a firm’s own alliance experience on the likelihood of alliance. Both competitive actions and alliances appear to influence customer mobility across firms in a complex manner. Based on customer mobility data, this study finds that alliances increase market dynamism, that is, customer mobility. It also shows that competitive actions, in general, serve to effectively attract switching customers from rivals. This study partially answers questions regarding the triggers of competitive actions and alliance activities among mobile telecommunication service providers and their performance consequences.     

The Effects of the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency Standards in the US

This paper examines the effects of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (CAFE) on automobile sales, prices, and fuel consumption. First a discrete choice model of automobile demand and a continuous model of vehicle utilization are estimated using micro data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey for 1984–1990. Next, the demand side model is combined with a model of oligopoly and product differentiation on the supply side. With these elements in place, the effects of the CAFE regulation are assessed through simulations, and compared to the effects of alternative policy instruments, such as an increase in gasoline tax.     

Regulating a monopoly with universal service obligations: The role of flexible tariff schemes

This paper's purpose is to study the problem of a utility monopoly's regulator, which has a universal service goal that is binding, in the sense that there is no two-part tariff that can induce efficient consumption, self-finance the firm, and guarantee universal access at the same time.     

The persistence of broadband user behavior: Implications for universal service and competition policy

In several markets, firms compete not for consumer expenditure but consumer attention. We examine user priorities over the allocation of their time, and interpret that behavior in light of policy discussions over universal service, data caps, and related policy topics, such as merger analysis. Specifically, we use extensive microdata on user online choice to characterize the demand for the services offered online, which drives a household's supply of attention. Our data cover a period of time that saw the introduction of many new and notable sites and new devices on which to access them. In our analysis, we assess “how” households supply their attention along various dimensions, such as their concentration of attention across the universe of sites and the amount of attention expenditure per domain visit. Remarkably, we find no change in “how” households allocated their attention despite drastically changing where they allocated it. Moreover, conditional on total attention expenditure, demographics entirely fail to predict our key measures of attention allocation decisions. We highlight several important implications, for policy and beyond, stemming from the persistence and demographic orthogonality of our novel attention measures.     

基于能源约束的区域相对生态效率识别

本文认为区域生态效率是个相对概念,会随着经济和环境的变化呈现相对有效性,相对于某一阶段的最优在下一阶段未必是最优,如何识别并判断出区域生态效率所处的生命周期阶段成为地方政府制定发展政策的依据。基于能源约束的区域相对生态效率识别法运用DEA神经网络识别模型,能够有效地分析和识别在有限能源输入下区域的阶段性相对生态效率,可以成为生态效率衡量方法的有益补充。实证研究表明,该方法具有识别准确、可操作性强等特点,具有明显优势和可行性,在实践中有广泛的应用推广价值。     

中国能源效率的地区差异与节能潜力分析

能源效率的区域差别与国际差别有着根本的不同，前者是当前的技术经济水平下通过采取措施可能实现的节能潜力。以国内最高能源效率为比较标准计算中国的节能潜力不仅比以国际先进水平为标准更符合实际，而且还可以做到能源资源公平合理地配置。中国能源效率较高的省市主要集中在东南沿海地区，能源效率最低的地区主要是煤炭资源比较丰富、以煤炭消费为主的内陆省区。提高中国的能源效率需要改变目前地区自我平衡的能源配置方式。使能源流向效率高的地区。各地区在制定节能措施时既要考虑影响能源效率的一般性因素。也要考虑本地区的特殊因素，另外，中国也不能不分地区地实行同一节能降耗的目标。     

Facilities to service based competition,not service to facilities based,for broadband penetration: A comparative study between the United States and South Korea

As a fundamental infrastructure in the Era of Information, a broadband network has a significant impact on democracy, economy, and society, indicating the importance of policy to increase broadband penetration. Considering the characteristics of broadband as a network, many governments introduced service-based competition, which is assumed to lower entry barriers by allowing entrants to lease incumbents' facilities, as a stepping stone to facilities-based competition.Questioning this unidirectional approach, the present study examines how the direction of policy implementation, that is service- to facilities-based versus facilities- to service-based, affects broadband diffusion. Through the case study of the U.S. and South Korea which experienced both modes of competition in opposing temporal sequences, this research concludes that facilities- to service-based competition might contribute to higher and faster broadband diffusion than service- to facilities-based competition. Rather than impose unbundling obligations against incumbents, facilities-based competition with financial support of the government to entrants seems to induce an earlier peak in broadband penetration. Additionally, consistent commitment of the government enforcement appears to be critical in implementing service-based competition.Though limited to the cases of the U.S. and Korea, this study suggests that service-based competition may be neither a necessity to facilitate broadband diffusion nor a precondition to introduce facilities-based competition. Moreover, service-based competition policy can function to deter overbuild of facilities and lessen the financial burden of broadband service providers if adopted after an initial period of facilities-based competition policy, which includes government investment in broadband facilities, that seems to help promote competition and give incentives to construct networks.Contrary to the literature, the present study raises a new perspective of the role of service-based competition as an enhancer for service quality and that of facilities-based competition with government investment as a booster of early and rapid broadband diffusion.     

Connecting the dots: The nexus between transport and telecommunication in Ghana

This paper examines the relationship between transport and telecommunication in developing countries within the broader concept of Smart Cities. Using Ghana as a case study, and drawing mainly on secondary data and few institutional surveys, the paper establishes that telegraph and telephone facilities, as well as new fiber optic networks are heavily dependent on rights-of-way of roads and railways in Ghana, as was observed in the advanced countries. In addition, the paper observed that at the macro level, the nature of the relationship between telecommunication and transport tends to support the complementary role of telecommunication rather than a substitution role. The paper concludes by recommending further studies at the micro level to untie the dilemma in the nexus between telecommunication and transport to inform public policy.     

科技人力资源、创新效率与经济增长——基于省际面板数据的实证分析

本文利用2009～2011年我国30个省市科技R&D人员、人力资本存量和创新效率的数据,通过面板数据模型对分析科技人力资源与创新效率对经济增长的影响。研究结果表明：就全国范围而言,科技创新效率对经济增长的影响最为重要,科技人力资源中的R&D人员次之,人力资本存量最低。我国科技人力资源、创新效率对经济增长影响的区域差异较大,东部、西部地区科技创新效率对经济增长效应最高,但对中部地区的经济效应为负。     

Focus on Europe: Defining telecommunication or bounding the ethereal

To Europeans the sight of a quasi-legal body, the US Federal Communications Commission, holding hearings to define the boundary between computing and telecommunication may easily seem absurd. However that distinction, and the distinction between those services and broadcasting, is crucial in both Europe and North America. Previous practical distinctions have been based on technology and so inevitably become obsolete. The US process for achieving a distinction may appear cumbersome, but it does outline the problem and the importance of the underlying issues. Europeans cannot be complacent about the need for such a definition or smug about the superiority of a regulatory process that appears to avoid that need.     

Consumer behavior in the Italian mobile telecommunication market

This paper investigates the characteristics of Italian cell phone users. A multidimensional segmentation approach was adopted, using concurrently three sets of variables: consumer/user lifestyles, use motivations and product/service attributes. Data on a national sample (1067 individuals) were collected and factor and cluster analysis were then performed on the database. The study led to the identification of three user segments, each with a diverse combination of the segmentation variables. Findings provide implications for the mobile telecommunication industry and could suggest strategic choices to mobile operators—especially cell phone producers—and constitute the basis for their strategic positioning.