WSIS C2C / CàC SMSI : Broadband access - what are the results at the micro stage?

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Broadband access - what are the results at the micro stage?

by DrJ on 2005, May 6 - 9:12am

Question Is there data that broadband increases growth, productivity, or quality of life?
[the aoir list - association of Internet Researchers is one place among many that has been debating this importantn question]
Conclusion 1: Not yet at the 'everyday life' level. There may
have >>been macro-economic studies....

Some resources, some debate.
The Economist has published an article on the issue
rebutting Thomas Bleha's findings.

"Prophet of American technodoom"
http://www.economist.com/printedition/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=3887163
[visited May 6, 2005]

Incidentally, this Discussion Paper published in 2003
by the Oxford Internet Institute may be of interest
to some degree.
"Broadband Internet: The Power to Reconfigure Access"
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/resources/publications/OIIFD1_200308.pdf
[acrobat opens]

Bob Crandell's study from a few years ago:
"The $500 Billion Opportunity: The Potential Economic
Benefit of Widespread Diffusion of Broadband Internet Access,"
http://www.criterioneconomics.com/docs/Crandall_Jackson_500_Billion_Opportunity_July_2001.pdf
[acrobat opens]

Firth, L. and D. Mellor (2005). "Broadband: benefits
and problems."
Telecommunications Policy 29(2-3): 223-236.

What other evidence do you fiund relevant?

The McLuhan global research network/ U of Toronto has been looking into this in one of the policy memo strands in the NMP-2005 grad seminar/ think tank that I direct. Masters candidate Hanna Cho has been working on wirless broadband, especially in development.
Dr J
PS This is one of the Wsis Key Topic areas that we are developing for the eCommons/agora civil open society submission on Canada's position. Comments and more resources welcome.
We will assemble a summary on this theme, so pls send what you have.
Dhirender, what about India??

Trai (Telecom Regulatory Auth

by Dhirender on 2005, May 26 - 9:33am

Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) http://www.trai.gov.in/ - the regulatory body govering Internet access in India, has specified that only speeds above 256kbps would be classified as Broadband. So far, however, most ISPs such as Satyam, still refer to an always-on connection as Broadband, typically starting at 40kbps upwards and provided either through a shared LAN, or a dedicated line.

Thanks to the Government allowing private players, the bandwidth entering the country has increased, but due to a lack of too much of research on the topic, there is not much clarity on which cities account for what capacity of bandwidth. My guess would be that barring the metros and some of the sub-metros, most of the other cities would still be managing on dial-up.

Due to a steady decrease in bandwidth rates, it is now possible to get a dedicated 256kbps connection with a 1 GB data download cap for as low as INR 550 (or less than CnD 17) a month in Mumbai. With rates expected to fall even further, this would speed the adoption of the Internet and specifically Broadband among the computer owning households.

Reliance Infocomm was among the first Telcos to offer wireless access over their CDMA network (other telcos with GSM networks such as Orange, BPL or Airtel had offered GPRS in select cities earlier). Wifi is still heavily regulated, making it difficult for the average citizen to set up wifi access points and hence aid in its proliferation.

Rich media content, which would be instrumental in the acceptance of broadband still needs a boost. There have been instances where the movie Rok Sako to Rok Lo was provided via EDGE to subscribers on their cellphones, but they are not very common not very successful so far.

eCommerce is definitely on the rise, (though I currently do not have any statistics). For instance, it is now possible to book both airline and railway tickets online online, something that was impossible just a few years back.

The government using the Internet to provide services to the citizens in the rural areas is also on the rise which is aided through private sector projects such as eChoupal.