Competing against yourself: State duopoly in the Luxembourg telecommunications industry

Binsfeld, Nico; Whalley, Jason; Pugalis, Lee

doi:10.1016/j.telpol.2015.06.002

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(34 reference statements)

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“…Competition in several segments of the ICT ecosystem has increased, which has led to more appropriate pricing levels and a good level of take-up of these services. This can largely be attributed to the creation of Luxconnect as a second state-owned operator with the consequence that the state competes with itself rather than relying on market forces (Binsfeld et al , 2015). Luxembourg has, however, not developed local electricity production capability and instead relies on imports from surrounding countries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the many critiques and limitations of ICT-related aggregated indices in general, and the specific limitations of the NRI, this analysis is far from definitive and needs to be confirmed by additional research. This additional research could take the form of including the views and opinions of actors in the ICT ecosystem in Luxembourg (Binsfeld et al , 2015). While the small size of Luxembourg has facilitated direct access to the sector’s major stakeholders and decision makers, the scope of this research could be expanded.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It would, however, appear that the efforts made by politicians and regulators have been able in recent years to counter this trend and have put Luxembourg amongst the top 10 countries in the world ( Dutta, Geiger, & Lanvin, 2015). Examining the policy initiatives that subsequent governments have taken over time (Binsfeld, Whalley, & Pugalis, 2015), it can be seen that this was the period when Luxconnect, a second state owned telecommunications operator, was established and became operational. Indeed, in 2006, the government decided to directly invest into telecommunications networks infrastructures by creating a network operator and providing it with the necessary capital to build alternative national and international fibre optical networks as well as data centres.…”

Section: The Evolution Of Luxembourg's Nri Position Between 2003 and mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Playing the game: explaining how Luxembourg has responded to the Networked Readiness Index

Binsfeld

Whalley

Pugalis³

2017

DPRG

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Over the past decade or so, successive Luxembourgish governments have sought to develop the country's information, communication and technology (ICT) sector. In this paper, we will examine how Luxembourg's relative position in the Networked Readiness Index (NRI), a key international benchmarking exercise published by the World Economic Forum, has evolved over time as these ambitions have been achieved. The paper also explores what policy initiatives could be implemented to further improve Luxembourg's ranking in the NRI. Design/methodology/approach: A longitudinal case study based approach, drawing on secondary data and the annual publication of the NRI between 2003 and 2016, was adopted. Findings: Luxembourg's position in the NRI has improved from 27th in 2003 so that it now ranks among the top ten countries in the world. In particular, Luxembourg has substantially improved its position with regards to "infrastructure" and "international connectivity". However, there are also areas, mainly linked to education, the provision of human resources and policies that allow for and stimulate entrepreneurship where further improvements appear possible. Social implications: The paper highlights the need for an overall, holistic, ICT development strategy. Such a strategy would cover not only cover infrastructural and technical aspects but also educational, social, regulatory and economic issues as well. Originality/value: The paper charts the evolution over time of Luxembourg's position in an important international ICT index and identifies its current strengths and weaknesses in terms of the different elements that constitute the NRI. This paper represents the first attempt to investigate the position of a small country, which are often overlooked in the literature, in terms of its changing position and the policies developed and enacted by a national government.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Evolution Of Luxembourg's Nri Position Between 2003 and mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Playing the game: explaining how Luxembourg has responded to the Networked Readiness Index

Binsfeld

Whalley

Pugalis³

2017

DPRG

Self Cite

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“…Even in countries that have moved steadily to build technical infrastructure and availability, skills training often lags. As one prime example, although early policy in Luxembourg designed to stimulate the information and communication technology (ICT) sector succeeded in establishing the underlying telecommunications infrastructure, it fell short of addressing the digital competence needed to take advantage of these new digital tools (Binsfeld et al, 2016). In this particular case, this stimulated the debate about the second-level digital divide among public, private, academic, and governmental stakeholders and, as a result, raised the importance of collaborative investments in training and education programs aimed at improving not only technical competences but also managerial and business competences necessary for sustainable ICT growth in the country (Danescu, 2019).…”

Section: Digital Skills Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Multisolving innovations: How digital equity, e‐waste, and right‐to‐repair policies can increase the supply of affordable computers

2022

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Policy debates about the digital divide often focus on the availability and quality of Internet access, despite the fact that device inequities are persistent and widespread. To address this important but often overlooked policy concern, we present findings from a systematic literature review of policy research that informs the supply of low‐cost, large‐screen computers. Using the framework of multisolving innovations, we explore policies from across three disparate sectors—e‐waste, right‐to‐repair, and digital inclusion—to determine whether any of these policies can serve as cross‐sector solutions that work simultaneously to help reduce digital inequalities and e‐waste, while strengthening secondhand device labor markets. As a result, we highlight a wide range of policies that would optimize both the supply and distribution of affordable devices to low‐income consumers and, at the same time, broaden the base of stakeholders invested in digital equity.

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Looking beyond official success measures: tales from the field of the complex forces shaping Luxembourg’s ICT ecosystem

Binsfeld¹,

Whalley²,

Pugalis³

2017

jim

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Information and communication technologies (ICT) are increasingly becoming an important component of economic development. Luxembourg’s ICT sector is usually characterized as performing admirably - it is often at the top-end of different indices and international league tables. Nevertheless, headline statistics and high-level assessments often disguise the complexities of dynamic relations. Ecosystems are one way of understanding complex interactions and relationships. It is in this respect that this paper deploys the concept of ecosystems to investigate Luxembourg’s ICT sector. The layered ecosystem model, devised by Martin Fransman, was utilized to map key actors that comprise Luxembourg’s ICT ecosystem, following which a program of unstructured interviews were conducted. This empirical material, combined with documentary analysis, provides the basis for an analysis of the interrelated elements that are shaping the development of Luxembourg’s ICT ecosystem.The study has identified the main forces that affect the ICT ecosystem and concluded that Luxembourg’s strengths are related to its well-developed ICT infrastructures such as international fiber and national ultra-high broadband connectivity and high quality datacenters and its political vision for ICT that has led to a supportive policy environment. Its main weaknesses are related to an inappropriate educational system in which technical and scientific training is less developed, missing e-skills such as coding, application development, technical IT know-how as well a non-entrepreneurial mind-set and a risk averse culture. The paper highlights the importance of the different socio-economic, political, strategic and technological forces that shape the ICT ecosystem of a small country in order to provide a comprehensive basis for its policy makers. An empirical focus on a small country helps to redress the research imbalance, whereby small countries are often overlooked by scholars. Nevertheless, we contend that such “smallness” engenders a unique opportunity for research engagement with a majority of primary actors in ecosystems, which might be unfeasible in larger countries.

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Competing against yourself: State duopoly in the Luxembourg telecommunications industry

Cited by 4 publications

References 38 publications

Playing the game: explaining how Luxembourg has responded to the Networked Readiness Index

Playing the game: explaining how Luxembourg has responded to the Networked Readiness Index

Multisolving innovations: How digital equity, e‐waste, and right‐to‐repair policies can increase the supply of affordable computers

Looking beyond official success measures: tales from the field of the complex forces shaping Luxembourg’s ICT ecosystem

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