We investigate the role of language barriers on both computer adoption and Internet connection in Paraguay, a country in which about 40% of the population is monolingual in Guaraní, 50% bilingual and 6% monolingual in Spanish. Our empirical results show that the ICT diffusion process is highly...

In March 2010 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued the National Broadband Plan (NBP) detailing strategic proposals to increase broadband availability in the US. One of the sweeping suggestions of the NBP is to convert all incumbent local exchange carriers from rate-of-return (RoR)...

We analyse the impact of regulation, industrial policy and jurisdictional allocation on broadband deployment using a theoretical model and an empirical estimation. Although central powers may be more focused and internalize inter-jurisdictional externalities, decentralized powers may internalize...

The liberalization of telecommunications is largely based on the premise that increasing competition will encourage investment. The hypothesis that liberalization promotes investment has received the most empirical support in recent research. However, a key question that has been largely ignored...

Broadband internet is widely considered an important determinant of economic growth that has a positive effect on various economic variables. This paper addresses the question whether differences in the availability of broadband internet between German municipalities can explain differences in...

In this paper we study how the migration from an old to a new technology is affected by the access price to the old technology, when it is set after investments have taken place. We show that both the incumbent and the regulator are willing to set a very high access price to accelerate...

We analyze the incentives of a vertically integrated firm, which is a regulated monopolist in the wholesale market and competes with an entrant in the retail market, to invest and to give access to a new wholesale technology. The new technology represents a non-drastic innovation that produces...

A vertically integrated incumbent and an OLO (Other Licensed Operator) compete in the market for broadband access. The incumbent has the option to invest in building a Next Generation Network that covers all urban areas with similar demand structures. The investment return in terms of demand...

We analyze a simple, feasible improvement to the current email system using an uncensored (open) communication channel. Such a channel could be an email folder or account, to which properly tagged commercial solicitations are routed without filtering along the way. We characterize the...

The US high cost loop support (HCLS) program, formerly referred to as the Universal Service Fund (USF), has been a key component of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) program to promote telephone access in rural, high cost areas. This study uses data from 1136 rural telecom firms in...