digital divide and broadband territorial coverage

8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org

Digital Divide and Broadband Territorial Coverage

Katica Neceva

MASIT, Executive Director


Complexity of the phenomenon

Differences between individuals, households, companies, or

regions related to the access to and usage of ICT (OECD (2001) )

• The term “digital divide” does not refer exclusively to the Internet. Other important ICTs (e.g., personal computers, cellular phones, etc.) are also highly relevant => Even if focus narrowed down to Internet-related differences, the topic remains relatively complex– there are at least five dimensions of digital inequality: equipment,

autonomy of use, skill, social support, and the purpose of using the Internet (DiMaggio and Hargittai (2001)),

– ….distinguish between an access divide, a skills divide, an economic opportunity divide, and a democratic divide (Stansbury (2003) ).


Multiplicity of divides

• The first and more “usual” (basic) =simple differences with respect to the availability of Internet access (or any other ICT)

or the frequency of usage.• Second digital divide (e.g., Gartner Group, 2001; Hargittai,

2002)- Internet users can be also further segmented on the basis of skills and experience.

The first digital divide—which refers to differences in access and usage—will inevitably disappear when the Internet becomes universally accessible. However, the digital divide relating to experience and advanced usage will exist after this takes place


4

Macro-level: social structural context

• Level of socioeconomic development

• Governmental policy

• NGO/ International development initiatives

• Technological infrastructure

• Culture

• Democracy

Individuals

• SES

• Gender

• Ethnicity

• Life-stage

• Language

• Media use

macro

meso

micro

Meso-level

• Geographic location

• Community resources

• Social network

• Organization

• Neighborhood

Access

Causes ConsequencesThe Digital Divide

Use

Meso-level

• Social network/Social capital

Individual• Human Capital

• Social capital

• Cultural capital

• Getting a job/

labor market performance

• Health

• Time use

• Entrepreneurial activities

• Civic engagement

Societal Impact

• Civic participation

• Social Cohesion

• Social Inclusion

• Place in the world system

Framework for Analyzing the Digital Divide (1/2)


5

Framework for Analyzing the Digital Divide (1/2)

Access Use

Technological Access Digital Literacy

ICT infrastructure

Hardware, software, bandwidth

Technological skills

Social and cognitive skills

Social Access Social Use

Affordability

Awareness

Language

Content /Usability

Location

Information seeking

Resource mobilization

Civic engagement

Social movement

Social inclusion


Focus first on the issue of access

- Level and types of telecommunications

infrastructure/networks, regional and international connectivity,

transmission capacities and main operators in the market;

- Provision of services – telephone (fixed and mobile),

Internet, cable television (CATV), data services

(communications, transactions, content - based), VPN, etc.

- ICT equipment and services penetration and patterns of

usage in homes, business, public institutions – availability

of PCs, Internet, types of Internet access/bandwidth (LAN, dial-

up, DSL, WLAN, etc.), location of Internet access (home,

business, public place), frequency and purpose of usage, etc.

- Security and trust infrastructure penetration – penetration

and usage of secure servers, digital signature, encryption,

Digital Rights Management technologies, etc.


Qualitative overview of the various technologies available for providing broadband access delivery

Near-reach

<10 km

Middle reach

10 – 100 km

Unlimited reach

Fixed

transmission

medium

New

infrastructure

HFC

Optical fibre

(FTTU)

Legacy

infrastructure

ADSL,

HDSL, VDSL

PLC (low

voltage

network)

HFC

PLC (medium

and high-voltage

networks)

Non-fixed

transmission

medium

B-WLL

unlicensed

B-WLL 10-40

GHz (LMDS)

W-LAN

B-WLL 2-10

GHz (MMDS)

3G Cellular radio

WiMax W-LAN

Satellite

HAP


Best performing technologies according to remoteness and density of population


Broadband can have a much larger impact on the development of rural areas than any other communications infrastructure (roads, railways, telephone).

It is logical to define broadband today in terms of service demand, in a seamless environment from fixed to mobile focusing on three basic service segments: business services, public services and residential services including entertainment.

Conclusions (1/3 )

When determine the minimum bit rate the requirements of e-education and e-health have to be considered.

While it is clear that both services and regulation need to be technologically neutral, it is equally clear that the actual implementation of networks requires technology choices.


When extending the coverage, technology selection should be made based on number of users per location, and the distance from the village to

the nearest network node.

Important obstacles to investment in broadband services:

- Open & interoperable standards, home networking- Creation of broadband content and services-Regulatory uncertainty- Consumer confidence and awareness- e-Payments- Spectrum planning- Security and trust

Conclusions (2/3 )


Conclusions (3/3 )

For sparsely populated areas public private partnerships is a viable solution to overcome the high cost for a single operator.

Public authorities must continue to support the emergence of new technologies by ensuring priority R&D funding for ICT and especially broadband.

Continuous innovation and uncertainty about costs in broadband technologies makes estimates of commercial deployment difficult to forecast.

The optimal mix of technologies for under-served areas depends on local geography (distance from the point of presence), topography and demography (density of population and/or assessment of demand). For these reasons, technological choices should be made at the local level.


Thank you for your attention

Contact information:

MASIT, Executive Office

www.masit.org.mk

Tel. + 389 2 32 38 601

E-mail: [email protected]

http://www.masit.org.mk/

mailto:[email protected]


Glossary

ADSL Asymmetric digital subscriber line ADSL2 and ADSL2+ Enhanced ADSL –greater bandwidth on short-mid length lines ARPU Average Revenue Per User B2C Business to Customer BFWA Broadband Fixed Wireless Access CAPM Capital Asset Pricing Model CATV Cable Television CBA Cost Benefit Analysis EC European Commission EMRP Equity Market Risk Premium ESA European Space Agency

FTTB/U Fibre To The Building/User FTTC Fibre To The Cabinet/Curb HFC Hybrid Fibre Co-ax LAN Local Area Network NPV Net Present Value PLC Powerline Communications PPP Public Private Partnership PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP SME Small & Medium-Size Enterprises

SoHo Small Office Home Office VAT Value Added Tax VoIP Voice Over Internet Protocol VSDL Very high speed digital subscriber line WACC Weighted Average Cost of Capital WiFi WLAN used in the wide area WLAN Wireless Local Area Network


Referent documents:

• “National Strategy for Information Society development”- Ministry of Information Society Macedonia,

• I2010 “Benchmarking Digital Europe 2011-2015 a conceptual framework”, October 2009

• “Status of e-Inclusion measurement, analysis and approaches for improvement e-Inclusion Hand book, Version 2: February 2007”-Tavistock Institute

• “Technical assistance in bridging the digital divide- cost benefit analysis for broadband connectivity in Europe”- Price WaterHouseCoopers, 2005

• “ICT Adoption and the Digital Divide in Serbia: Factors and Policy Implications”, Zlatko J. Kovačid-The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand, Wellington; Dragan Vukmirovid-Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, Belgrade, Proceedings of the Informing Science & IT Education Conference, 2008

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