Library

Arthur D. Little: “National Fibre Strategies”

The socioeconomic benefits of advanced telecommunications infrastructure and services are intuitive, as well as definitive. Global studies by Arthur D. Little on the socioeconomic benefits of broadband have demonstrated the links between advanced telecommunications and the diversity and strength of economies.

A Gigabit Garden Begins to Grow: Lessons from the First Planting

Is the wireline network that serves your community good enough to meet your  needs 10 years from now? If the answer is “yes”, you’re in luck. Because we can guarantee you will be able to have that network. If the answer is “no”, then the question is: what are you going to do about it?  Because if current trends continue, what your community has today might well be what it has a decade hence.

An approach to forecasting requirements for the period 2013-2023

This paper sets out the methodology and results of a model that seeks to forecast UK domestic demand for broadband capacity. As far as we are aware, it is the first such model to be put into the public domain. It has been developed by Communications Chambers, and commissioned by the Broadband Stakeholder Group (BSG) with support from BSkyB, BT, Ofcom, TalkTalk, Three and Vodafone.

Cost of Connectivity 2013

From New America Foundation

Last year, the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute published The Cost of Connectivity, a first-of-its-kind study of the cost of consumer broadband services in 22 cities around the world. The results showed that, in comparison to their international peers, Americans in major cities such as New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC are paying higher prices for slower Internet service. While the plans and prices have been updated in the intervening year, the 2013 data shows little progress, reflecting remarkably similar trends to what we observed in 2012.

Planning for Progress: Why National Plans Matter

In today’s digital era, the role for broadband – and the benefits of broadband connectivity – in underpinning a country’s progress have never been greater. That is why ITU and the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development have conducted research into the role of policy frameworks for broadband, in conjunction with Cisco.

This Report finds that there has been strong recent growth in Plans, with some 134 Plans in force by mid-2013. Plans may take different forms (e.g. legislation, policy framework, strategy and/or regulations) and vary in emphasis (e.g. IT, Information Society, ICT,
Digital Agenda, or Broadband). Plans prior to 2005 tended to focus on Information Technology (IT) or Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The Information Society proved most popular as the focus of Plans in 2007-2008, with broadband growing sharply as the focus of Plans from 2008 onwards. Most recently, Digital Agendas account for a small, but growing, number of Plans. However, all of these Plans share a common emphasis on the vital role of broadband in underpinning national competitiveness, and aim to extend national footprint of broadband networks and usage of broadband-enabled services and applications.

Evolution and Prospects of Cable Networks for Broadband Services

In the summer of 2012, an excellent TNO report appeared, describing the evolution and prospects of Cable networks for Broadband services. In it, TNO set out how owners of a coax cable network can upgrade in steps and withstand the competition from an optical fiber network as long as possible. The provision of Gigabit broadband services is the new challenge for cable networks. With existing DOCSIS3.0 techniques, cable networks are marketing broadband services to 150 Mb/s.

Sourcewatch Background Report Website

The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) publishes SourceWatch, this collaborative, specialized encyclopedia of the people, organizations, and issues shaping the public agenda. SourceWatch profiles the activities of front groups, PR spinners, industry-friendly experts, industry-funded organizations, and think tanks trying to manipulate public opinion on behalf of corporations or government. We also highlight key public policies they are trying to affect and provide ways to get involved. In addition, SourceWatch contains information about others who help document information about PR spin, such as reporters, academics, and watchdog groups.

Broadband’s Contribution to Economic Health in Rural Areas

This paper uses the latest data on both broadband availability and adoption to empirically gauge the contribution of broadband to the economic health of rural areas. Researchers utilize availability data from the National Broadband Map aggregated to county level, and county-level adoption data from Federal Communication Commission’s Form 477. Economic health variables of interest are gathered from a variety of sources and include median household income, number of firms with paid employees, total employed, percentage in poverty, and the percentage of employees classified as either creative class or non-farm proprietors. A propensity score matching technique (between a “treated” group and a control group) is used to make causal statements regarding broadband and economic health. Researchers measure whether the growth rates between 2001 and 2010 for different economic measures are statistically different for the treated and non-treated groups, restricting the analysis to non-metropolitan counties.