Telecommunications Policy

The influence of digital divide frames on legislative passage and partisan sponsorship

Government funding is essential for digital equity. Scholarship on policies to improve internet access often examines the funding mechanisms behind subsidies, or the quality and reach of services provided.

The South Korean case of deploying rural broadband via fiber networks through universal service and public-private partnerships

Despite broadband being an essential infrastructure for conducting basic socio-economic activities and reducing inequality and the digital divide, expanding broadband coverage in rural areas remains a significant challenge in many countries due to high deployment costs.

The heterogeneous role of broadband access on establishment entry and exit by sector and urban and rural markets

Broadband access has heterogeneous effects on establishment entry and exit across industries and across urban and rural markets.  Research highlights the following points:

Evaluating the impact of broadband access and internet use in a small underserved rural community

Despite increased investment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of households in the rural United States still lack adequate access to high-speed internet. In this study, we evaluate a wireless broadband network deployed in Turney, a small, underserved rural community in northwest Missouri. In addition to collecting survey data before and after this internet intervention, we collected pre-treatment and post-treatment survey data from comparison communities to serve as a control group.

The role of mobile network operators in next-generation public safety services

The purpose of this research is to provide a review of ongoing public safety mobile broadband projects in which mobile operators play a key role. The results show that mobile operators have new business opportunities in the public safety market. Their existing mobile networks can be used for public safety services with certain enhancements. Within existing projects, mobile operators have different business models. The two analysed models were found to require different resources and offer different business opportunities for mobile operators.