Consider the case in which we have data from repeated surveys covering several geographic areas, and our goal is to characterize these areas on a latent trait that underlies multiple indicators. This characterization occurs, for example, in surveys of information and communication technologies...

Across Europe, policymakers and market forces are striving to deploy next generation access (NGA) networks and ensure ubiquitous access to superfast broadband services. Due to scale economies and sunk costs, the roll-out of NGA is expected to be profitable only for large-scale providers and in...

There is growing awareness amongst policy makers, scholars and practitioners that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector plays an important role in a country's economy and welfare. The ICT sector relies on highly performing technical infrastructures but also needs skilled...

The UK economy is unbalanced, with the country's economic activity being dominated by London and the south-east of England. To address this imbalance, governments have initiated a series of initiatives aimed at creating a "Northern Powerhouse" that will realise the north of England's economic...

With the development of information technology, the connotation of the Digital Divide has evolved constantly. At present, we have entered the new era of "Digital Economy" and newer information technologies such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, and Cloud Computing have...

Digital technologies sometimes create digital divides. One of the remedies for certain divides in Europe is the creation of the Digital Single Market, of which e-commerce is one of the main elements. The focus of this work is e-commerce in Spain. The current study improves substantially on...

With the WiFi4EU initiative, the European Commission intends to reinforce local wireless Internet connectivity free of charge and without discriminatory conditions in the EU. This paper aims to analyse if this policy measure achieves its goals: to contribute towards digital inclusion and to...

This paper analyzes the adoption patterns of selected internet services such as eCommerce, eBanking and eGovernment in Spain. High quality official data from the Survey on Equipment and Use of Information and Communication Technologies in Households (ICT-H) of the National Institute of...

Any assessment of ubiquitous, intelligent and mobile communication networks has to start with an adequate assessment of the underlying infrastructure. As the digital age continues its evolution into the new paradigms of big data and smart things, the digital divide evolves with it. While the...