Abstract
The aim of this chapter is to provide some insights about the explaining patterns of broadband deployment and adoption. This problem is addressed by examining them in the light of the results of an exhaustive cross-national empirical analysis that uses a comprehensive panel data set from the 30 OECD countries with more than 40 features. The results suggest that technological competition and the low cost of deploying infrastructures on one side, and the predisposition to use new technologies as well as some social indicators on the other, appear to be the key drivers for broadband deployment and adoption, respectively.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Local Loop Unbundling (LLU): A regulatory requirement that enables a competing telecommunications operator to use the twisted-pair telephone connections from the telephone exchange’s central office to the customer premises. This local loop is owned by the incumbent local exchange carrier.
Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines Regression (MARS): An adaptive procedure for function approximation and regression. The structural model built by MARS considers a set of expansions in piecewise linear basis functions (BFs) of the form (x - t)+ and (t - x)+, where the subscript “+” means “positive part” whose corresponding weighs are adaptively tuned.
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL): A family of technologies that provide digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL takes advantage of the unused bandwidth of the local loop (frequencies above 3.4KHz) by creating 4312.5?Hz wide channels starting between 10 and 100 for digital data transportation. Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is the most chosen broadband option in the world, holding more than 60% of the broadband market. The access device is a DSL modem.
Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC): A type of network based on both optical fiber along with coaxial cable to provide interactive broadband services. The fiber optic network extends from the cable operators central office, to the area’s head end, out to a neighbourhood’s hub site, and finally to a fiber optic node which serves from 1 to 2000 homes. The fiber optic node converts optical signals to electronic and vice versa, and from this node to the user premises, the network is based on coaxial cables that connect 100 to 2000 homes in a tree-and-branch configuration. By using frequency division multiplexing, an HFC network may carry a variety of services, including noninteractive (TV services) and interactive services such as broadband access to Internet. The access device is a cable modem.
Digitalization of Telephone Network: The replacement of analogue exchanges by digital exchanges. It allows the extension of ISDN coverage and improves the reliability and quality of the network.
Multivariate Linear Regression: A regression method that assumes that the relation of the response to the explanatory variables is a linear function. The basic assumptions of multivariate regression are (1) multivariate normality of the residuals, (2) homogenous variances of residuals conditional on predictors, (3) common covariance structure across observations, and (4) independent observations.?
Broadband Digital Divide: The gap between those with effective access to broadband services and those without. The term refers not only to the unavailability of physical access to broadband networks, but also to the difficulties in using these technologies because of lack of skills and literacy. Given that broadband is seen as the key driver for future social and economic development, the digital divide widens the gap in economic divisions around the world.