8 th SEEITA – 7 th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7 th MASIT Open Days Conference 14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org Digital Divide and Broadband Territorial Coverage Katica Neceva MASIT, Executive Director
Oct 31, 2014
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
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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) ).
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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)
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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.
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
Best performing technologies according to remoteness and density of population
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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.
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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 )
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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.
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
Thank you for your attention
Contact information:
MASIT, Executive Office
www.masit.org.mk
Tel. + 389 2 32 38 601
E-mail: [email protected]
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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
8th SEEITA – 7th SEE ICT Forum Meeting & 7th MASIT Open Days Conference14-15 October 2010, Ohrid www.seeita.org
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