Abstract
While governments are still debating feasible (cost effective) ways of delivering ‘standard' broadband access to all, there is already a push from some stakeholders around the world for national governments to fund high-speed access - using technologies such as fibre-to-the-x (FTTx) - to all homes and business premises. The reasoning behind these calls is the belief that such investment will lead to greater economic wealth and social fulfilment for that particular country - and if not acted upon soon, some of the opportunities will be lost as other countries seize the advantage - at least when it comes to industry competitiveness. The issue is that FTTx investment can run into billions of dollars, and the real benefits are hard to quantify and prove.
This report explores whether there is any evidence that high-speed broadband may indeed lead to greater socio-economic benefits.
Table of Contents
Executive summary
- Benefits of broadband access in general
- Additional benefits of high-speed broadband access
Addressing the digital divide
Is there any evidence of benefits from ‘standard' broadband?
- Direct benefits of standard broadband access
- Indirect benefits of standard broadband access
Additional benefits of high-speed broadband
- Direct benefits of high-speed broadband
- Indirect benefits of high-speed broadband access
Table of figures
- Figure 1: Consumer broadband penetration by households 2006- 2011
- Figure 2: Average revenues and broadband subscriber base for the top five operators (2000- 2006)
- Figure 3: Average wireline and wireless revenues for the top five operators 2000- 2006
- Figure 4: Telkom South Africa: average wireline and wireless revenues 2000- 2006
- Figure 5: Total telecoms revenues as a percentage of GDP for selected countries
- Figure 6: Communication availability per 100 inhabitants
- Figure 7: Internet activities in the UK: 2006- 2007
- Figure 8: Korean domestic music industry
- Figure 9: Average time saved per transaction per service
- Table 1: Time and cost reductions resulting from e-health implementation of ICT facilities/services
- Figure 10: Historic FTTx subscriber figures
- Table 2: Korea: BcN construction timeline and goals
