Broadband ecosystem elements in techno-economic modelling and analysing of broadband access solutions for rural areas

Abstract

Original scientific paper Encouraged by broadband development initiatives and strategies that aim at the reduction of the existing digital divide between rural and urban European areas by the year 2020, the current situation in the case study of Croatian rural broadband market is analysed, and the possibilities for further broadband Internet access implementation in rural areas are highlighted in the paper within the context of broadband ecosystem elements analysis. Furthermore, in order to address the exisiting digital divide problem, an extended techno-economic modelling process for rural broadband Internet access implementation analyses is proposed. The proposed additional part of model serves as an upgrade for the standard techno-economic models and allows a detailed analysis of the specificities of different rural areas, based on the available data. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed model's application when choosing the best business strategies for different fixed and mobile, wired and wireless broadband access solutions in rural areas is presented. Keywords: broadband ecosystem; broadband implementation; rural broadband access; techno-economic modelling Elementi širokopojasnog ekosustava pri tehno-ekonomskom modeliranju i analiziranju širokopojasnih pristupnih rješenja za ruralna područjaIzvorni znanstveni članak S obzirom na postojeće razvojne inicijative i strategije čiji je cilj smanjenje postojećeg digitalnog jaza između europskih ruralnih i urbanih područja do 2020. godine, u radu je provedena analiza trenutnog stanja na tržištu širokopojasnog Interneta na primjeru hrvatskih ruralnih područja te su navedene mogućnosti daljnje implementacije širokopojasnih pristupnih rješenja u ruralna područja u kontekstu analize elemenata širokopojasnog ekosustava. Nadalje, u cilju rješavanja postojećeg problema digitalnog jaza, pri analizama načina implementacije širokopojasnih pristupnih rješenja u ruralnim područjima predložena je primjena proširenog tehno-ekonomskog modeliranja. Navedeno proširenje nadograđuje standardne modele, a omogućuje

A framework for optimal techno-economic assessment of broadband access solutions and digital inclusion of rural population in global information society

“…This suggested method includes the coordination of broadband service prices with the income levels of rural residents. As noted in [8], a decrease in broadband service prices correlates with an increase in the number of broadband subscriptions. C. A third method for the digital divide reduction is based upon the target that proposes that the 90% of the rural population worldwide should be covered by broadband services by 2020.…”

“…Additionally, higher-quality services and faster access speeds should increase the volume of broadband services adoption [38]. Moreover, the increase in the volume of available high-quality broadband services, i.e., the ones ensuring higher access speeds, as well as greater bandwidths, generally correlates with the increase in the number of broadband subscriptions [8]. To meet the ever-increasing demands on broadband services, both the advanced techniques for increasing data throughput rates and the novel regulatory methods for the provision of the optimal usage of limited resources [39] have to be considered.…”

“…These hierarchical levels include the local (settlements or municipalities), the national (countries), the regional (regions), and the global (world). Therefore, the digital divide analysis should be conducted in view of the existing hierarchical levels [8]. According to [32], the most important global reasons for not having broadband Internet access in households are as follows: -Internet service is not available; -Internet service is available but does not correspond to household needs; -Cost of service is too high; -Knowledge or skills needed to use the Internet are lacking.…”

“…Therefore, in this paper, the proposed solution for addressing the digital divide problem relies on the usage of the extended techno-economic assessment process, which is initially presented in [8]. Unlike the content of the paper presented in [8], which focused on an overview of the competitiveness of different broadband access solutions assessed by the extended techno-economic modelling processes, the focus of this paper is the thorough description of the proposed framework, which extends the existing techno-economic modelling process.…”

“…Unlike the content of the paper presented in [8], which focused on an overview of the competitiveness of different broadband access solutions assessed by the extended techno-economic modelling processes, the focus of this paper is the thorough description of the proposed framework, which extends the existing techno-economic modelling process. The main contribution of this paper is a detailed overview of the proposed framework's structure and implementation.…”