"The Public Sector's Role in Broadband Internet Development"

Sharon Gillett
Executive Director and Research Associate
MIT Program on Internet & Telecoms Convergence

eBusiness Research Seminars
NE20-336 (3 Cambridge Center)
Wednesday, April 30, 11:30 PM-1:00 PM
Refreshments Provided

Abstract

Ongoing FCC mapping efforts show a clear tendency toward greater broadband availability and competition in more densely populated areas. While much attention focuses on debates over nationally applicable broadband policies such as unbundling, in geographic areas that remain inadequately served, broadband manifests as a quintessentially local problem. As a result, a natural experiment is being carried out by local, regional and state governments. By crafting a diverse range of locally based initiatives to stimulate the supply and innovative use of broadband, policy makers at these levels are testing theories that range from the optimal structure of public-private partnerships to the economic impacts of communications infrastructure.

This talk will review theoretical and practical rationales for and against public sector involvement in communications infrastructure, and give an overview and examples of four categories of local and regional initiatives our research has identified: demand stimulation and aggregation, policy rule changes, subsidies, and infrastructure development. I'll discuss how the emergence of unlicensed wireless
technologies (such as WiFi) has facilitated public-sector involvement, and present results from our statistical analysis of local infrastructure development initiatives.

Calendar for Spring 2003 Research seminars