Nicola Matteucci

The Status of Italian Broadband: Statistics, Diffusion Models and Policy Implications

Are you already subscribed?
Login to check whether this content is already included on your personal or institutional subscription.

Abstract

Despite the relevance of broadband, empirical evidence on its status is scattered and inadequate, especially for Italy; this also affects the debate on ngn (Next Generation Networks). We collect and systematize a large set of data and statistics, and we propose new original comparative indicators. This is followed by a diffusion analysis, aimed at studying the morphology of fixed broadband subscriptions in a set of eu and oecd countries; the logistic and Gompertz models are estimated. A few noticeable findings stand out: 1) Italian digital divide comes to be heavily underestimated by current statistics and studies; 2) the diffusion path of Italian fixed broadband is peculiar, and shows an early inflection point and a growing inertia, since the period 2004-5; 3) its «prospective market potential» appears to be the lowest among the reference eu countries; 4) data on fixed broadband coverage and quality are even messier; on overall, they point to severe infrastructural, technical and commercial shortcomings, which are usually understated or even neglected by existing literature; instead, they might explain a sizable share of the recent subscriptions inertia - especially for the business segment. This status can even dampen the deployment and take-off of the most promising types of ngn, especially when considering the recent parallel boom of mobile broadband. Finally, after more than a decade of absence, a clear need for Government intervention emerges.

Keywords

  • Broadband
  • Methodology
  • Statistics
  • Diffusion Analysis
  • Logistic and Gompertz Models
  • Italy
  • eu

Preview

Article first page

What do you think about the recent suggestion?

Trova nel catalogo di Worldcat