Infrastructure investment on the margins of the market: The role of niche infrastructure providers in the UK

Gerli, Paolo; Wainwright, David; Whalley, Jason

doi:10.1016/j.telpol.2017.03.005

Cited by 10 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 49 publications

(30 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Established and competitive service providers already offer solutions for urban and suburban areas, but there is little or no commitment to connecting zones that include smaller cities and rural villages [60]. The study of the role of niche technology infrastructure providers in the UK carried out by Gerli et al [61] suggests that alternative suppliers may take advantage of unmet demand for ultra-fast broadband. These companies tend to develop unique business models, based on key partnerships and a modular approach, which compensates for problems associated with their small scale.…”

Section: Design and Implementation Of Policies And Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rural Digital Divide in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe—Recommendations from a Scoping Review

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the digital vulnerability of many citizens of the rural world. This article identifies and analyzes the proposals made by academic literature to overcome the digital divide in the European rural world for the five-year period 2016–2020. A scoping review has been carried out according to the PRISMA methodology in the two dimensions of the digital divide: access and connectivity, and use and exploitation. Online databases were used to identify scientific articles from which, after screening, 28 key documents were selected. The results update Salemink systematic review of articles published between 1991 and 2014 on digital and rural development in Western countries and it also intends to go beyond by extracting recommendations. A variety of political, social, educational, technical and economic issues has been exposed, with a common emphasis on the empowerment of rural populations. The findings provide actionable evidence and proposals to facilitate decision-making in current policy information to overcome rural digital divide. From them, seven recommendations that could have a wide and rapid impact to minimize the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic linked to the rural digital divide are synthesized. Three lines of action in the medium term are also proposed: the evaluation of national and regional public policies; the consideration of digital inclusion as a potential instrument to reduce rural depopulation; and the training in advanced digital skills to improve the social communication processes, considered key to promote empowerment and entrepreneurship.

show abstract

Section: Design and Implementation Of Policies And Programsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Rural Digital Divide in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe—Recommendations from a Scoping Review

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As outlined in Figure 1, the policy dimension comprises all the measures discussed in Section 3 and summarised in Table 1. The investment strategy of broadband providers can be described in terms of technology, geographic scope, investment model, business model and financing model (Gerli et al, 2017).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, local and central governments have been actively supporting the supply of NGA networks where the market has failed to provide superfast broadband access (Cave & Martin, 2010). Alongside public authorities and broadband companies, alternative infrastructure providers have also contributed to NGA development (Gerli et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The new company inherited the infrastructure built in partnership with utility providers and launched an ambitious expansion plan across the UK. Although Cityfibre no longer engages with utility providers, its growth strategy mainly relies on leveraging existing infrastructures previously developed by local network providers(Gerli et al, 2017).Since 2011, Cityfibre has either acquired or built pure fibre networks across the UK, focusing on second-tier cities. It is emerging as a major competitor to BT in the provision of pure fibre metro networks 11 (PRISM, 2014), by offering passive and active services on an openaccess basis.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The involvement of utilities in the development of broadband infrastructure: A comparison of EU case studies

Gerli

Wee

Verbrugge

et al. 2018

Telecommunications Policy

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Energy companies and other utility providers have been often involved in the provision of telecommunications services. Nevertheless, their contribution to broadband development has varied significantly over time. In the late 1990s, both local and national utilities in the European Union (EU) engaged in the provision of broadband networks, but only few of them managed to establish themselves as major broadband providers. More recently, new projects involving national utilities have been announced in several EU countries, opening new scenarios for utilities' contribution to Next Generation Access (NGA) development. This paper identifies and explores the factors affecting the entry and the success of utilities in the EU broadband market, through the comparison of four case studies from four EU countries (Germany, Italy, Sweden and the UK). The evolution of utility involvement in the EU broadband markets is assessed against the interaction of market, technology and policy factors, focusing on the impact of policy and regulatory measures. As a result, this paper provides fruitful insights into the relevance and effectiveness of public interventions in broadband markets. Across the four case studies, public support and public ownership emerged as the main drivers for the involvement of utilities in EU broadband markets, with regulatory measures and economies of scope exerting a limited and decreasing influence. However, the contribution of utilities has varied significantly across the cases studied, reflecting the different approaches taken at national and local level to support broadband development, in spite of the common regulatory framework.

show abstract

“…Local wireless access has been typically provided through IEEE technologies, given a more flexible architecture than their mobile counterparts 9 (Halepovic et al, 2009;Lehr and McKnight, 2003). These technologies have enabled different regional and local wireless access provision models, ranging from Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) to community networks (Baig et al, 2015;Gerli et al, 2017;Saldana et al, 2016;Tadayoni and Sigurdsson, 2007). This flexibility in service provisioning has led to alternative market structures.…”

Section: Market Structures For Local Wireless Access Provisionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Value network analysis in a low-cost and affordable internet

Benseny

Hämmáinen

2016

2016 European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Infrastructure investment on the margins of the market: The role of niche infrastructure providers in the UK

Cited by 10 publications

References 49 publications

The Rural Digital Divide in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe—Recommendations from a Scoping Review

The Rural Digital Divide in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Europe—Recommendations from a Scoping Review

The involvement of utilities in the development of broadband infrastructure: A comparison of EU case studies

Value network analysis in a low-cost and affordable internet

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About