The regional cost gap of the Japanese local telecommunications service

Abstract

The focus of the Japanese local telecommunications policy is shifting towards solving the problem of the digital divide that accompanies the spread of high-speed and broadband services. The article estimates a translog cost function of two outputs - the standard telephone service and the leased circuit service - and measures the regional gap of those stand-alone costs and incremental costs. The main point we make is that the cost gap for the leased circuit service is larger than that for the standard telephone service among the 11 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) regional offices. Copyright RSAI 2005.

Matrix Analysis of the Digital Divide in eHealth Services Using Awareness, Want, and Adoption Gap

“…Moreover, demographic variables and socioeconomic status are factors influencing the digital divide [ 24 , 25 ]. Previous studies have indicated that the digital divide across demographic variables, including gender [ 20 , 26 , 27 ], age [ 20 , 26 , 28 , 29 ], education [ 26 - 31 ], income [ 26 , 27 , 29 , 32 ], marital status [ 26 , 30 ], geographic area [ 13 , 20 , 29 , 31 , 33 ], and ethnicity [ 20 , 31 , 34 ], are significant. Low-income [ 35 ] and elderly people, and those living in rural areas constitute the digitally underserved population [ 20 , 33 ], whereas people with higher education levels or of younger age are considered the digitally leading population [ 28 , 30 ].…”

“…eHealth is particularly useful in linking specialists in academic health centers with health care professionals in areas short of facilities for patient care [12]. Following the rapid development of broadband Internet access services, the digital divide across demographic variables has become a huge social issue [13]. Affordable, high-speed wireless Internet access can be provided in rural and remote areas, bridging the gap between health care service and customers [14].…”