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Factors determining municipal broadband strategies across Europe

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  • Troulos, Costas
  • Maglaris, Vasilis

Abstract

Recognizing that high-speed broadband connectivity emerges as a key element for growth, city authorities engage in fiber access deployments to empower their local communities in the digital economy. Currently, a growing number of municipal fiber projects are underway or planned while the international community and the telecommunications industry are yet undecided about the role and type of municipal intervention. This paper takes a holistic view of municipal broadband in Europe, aiming to understand the factors that determine municipal strategies in fixed Next-Generation Access (NGA) networks and the implications of municipal broadband to regulation and markets. The data suggests that the determining factors are (a) the engagement of public utilities; (b) the involvement of the private sector in joint infrastructure projects; (c) the local demand for retail and wholesale services; and (d) the institutional and regulatory framework at the European and national scale. The findings of the study indicate that (a) municipal initiatives are highly dependent on national factors, thus the resulting interventions fare strong resemblance within a single country, while they can be substantially different across national contexts; (b) current EU provisions for public involvement in broadband development stimulate municipal plans for large scale arrangements; and (c) national regulatory frameworks, that primarily address vertical integrated incumbents and nationwide markets, may need adjustments to handle emerging access monopolies of regional and city broadband infrastructures.

Suggested Citation

  • Troulos, Costas & Maglaris, Vasilis, 2011. "Factors determining municipal broadband strategies across Europe," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 842-856.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:35:y:2011:i:9:p:842-856
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2011.07.008
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    7. Gerli, Paolo & Van der Wee, Marlies & Verbrugge, Sofie & Whalley, Jason, 2018. "The involvement of utilities in the development of broadband infrastructure: A comparison of EU case studies," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(9), pages 726-743.
    8. Siddhartha Menon, 0. "The role of civil society groups in improving access to the DC-CAN," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-15.
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    10. Navío-Marco, Julio & Arévalo-Aguirre, Adrian & Pérez-Leal, Raquel, 2018. "WiFi4EU: Techno-economic analysis of a key European Commission initiative for public connectivity," 29th European Regional ITS Conference, Trento 2018 184973, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
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