Next Generation Access (NGA) supply side interventions—An international comparison

Over the last years, technical and economic developments towards the deployment of Next Generation (Access) Networks have triggered discussions under which circumstances investments into physical infrastructure are economically viable. In many countries the discussion has arisen regarding conditions under which private investment will/will not be undertaken and whether or not in such cases public policy measures should support deployment. This could come in different ways—from incentivizing private investments to deploying new “state-owned” networks. Public policy can have an impact for example by intervening into a competitive market. The paper tries to provide answers as to “why” such interventions and supply side policies are undertaken (thereby referring to the central role that broadband infrastructures have for the economy) and “how” such interventions take place, for example an analysis of the public policy interventions to drive Next Generation Access Network deployment. The article thereby derives policy patterns that have occurred in different regions of the world.     

Incentives for investments in next generation access and customer choice: a dichotomy?

According to Noam,1 “The central question for telecom — and for many other media — is how to generate the funds and invest in upgraded infrastructure, while being subject to competition”. Investment in next generation access network is needed to deliver broadband services with signifi cantly higher bandwidth than today. This will allow the development of more innovative and better services. Investments under competitive conditions require a positive business case, which might not be viable for long-lived assets like fi xed access networks. This might lead to the situation where we can only have competition or a next generation access network but not both. This paper looks at the aspects of investments in next generation access (NGA) networks and competition and specifi cally focuses on potential effects of the EU commission draft recommendation on NGA. The authors would like to thank Igor Brusic and Matthias Ehrler for valuable comments to the draft version of this paper. Further, the authors would like to thank Brigitte Preissl for a critical review of the paper.     

Residual affective commitment to organizations: Concept,causes and consequences

Research on affective organizational commitment has largely been conceptually restricted by the temporal boundaries of organizational membership, while only few authors have addressed how individuals may commit to an organization before becoming members. Given that individual careers increasingly span across a greater number of organizations, this restriction limits our ability to capture how employees experience their workplaces throughout their careers. Addressing this gap, this article contributes to the literature on affective commitment by arguing that individuals may remain affectively committed to an organization after having left it. We extend the temporal structure of affective commitment beyond separation by introducing the concept of residual affective commitment, and present a model of how such commitment is formed. We elucidate the interplay between residual and current affective commitment, complementing research on organizational newcomers. Finally, we open up new avenues for research by discussing theoretical consequences of the introduction of residual commitment.     

Spectrum allocation and its relevance for competition

Spectrum is one of the most important production factors for mobile telecommunications operators. Spectrum policy is paramount as spectrum is a scarce resource allocated by regulatory authorities. Hence, when allocating spectrum and determining the potential use of spectrum, the regulatory authorities have a significant influence on the competitive situation in mobile markets.