Telecommunications Policy最新文献

This paper studies the impact of the introduction of fiber broadband in North Carolina, through the lens of student achievement. I link granular data on new fiber construction and advertised download speeds with administrative test score data and local labor market data. Exploiting variation in fiber availability at the census block group level, I implement a difference-in-differences design and find modest effects on educational outcomes, roughly equivalent to lowering class sizes by one student. I show fiber increases local employment and search intensity for supplementary educational materials. Last, I show that increased competition from fiber providers drives quality improvements in other available technology.

Technology design, development and evaluation has long been driven by functional performance optimization and estimated market opportunities. Today, societal challenges and sustainable development goals are calling for a paradigm shift towards aligning technology development with a values-based consideration and re-prioritization of different ecological, social and economic outcomes. Values have been identified as key drivers of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) research. They are taken into account in the development of 6G networks, e.g. in the context of EU research funding frameworks, but a clear conceptual framework for values-driven development is still missing. This paper deals with the concept of Key Value Indicators (KVIs) as a method for analyzing the values-related outcomes stemming from ICT developments. Leveraging established definitions, frameworks and value identification methods, the paper proposes a structured KVI framework tailored to the ICT research and development (R&D) sector. The proposed framework comprises five steps, starting from the use case-related identification of values to the assessment of value outcomes. ICT-enabled smart cities are analyzed as an example use case to illustrate how this framework can be applied. The KVI framework is aimed to be a useful tool for the ICT research sector (to be used - primarily but not exclusively - by ICT research projects and programs) to address social challenges in technology design and development phases and to identify and estimate value outcomes from technology use. In addition, the proposed framework aims to assist policy makers to establish value-related targets and set requirements and conditions for ICT developments.

As societies and economies continue to digitize, the need to understand the digital divide beyond binary availability or adoption metrics is increasing. Understanding the quality and performance of home internet—measured by internet speeds—among different socioeconomic groups contributes to the complex digital equity landscape at a time when all U.S. states and territories are completing digital equity plans. Using 2021 speed test data from Ookla, this study conducts spatial regressions at the census tract level to find that most of the sociodemographic factors associated with lower home internet adoption rates (e.g., rural, poor, older) remain when looking at actual internet speeds. However, an unexpected finding—supported by emerging research—that White non-Hispanic residents are using the internet at slower speeds compared to the two largest minority groups of Blacks and Hispanics suggests a need to potentially reassess the design of digital equity programs and policy interventions.

This article discusses how content ranking algorithms are positioned within the AI Act. It seeks an answer the quesetion whether content ranking algorithms could count as high-risk systems under the Act? It examines the possibility of later inclusion into the list of high-risk systems by Commission action. Then, it compares the envisioned obligations of high-risk systems with those provided by the Digital Services Act. The article puts forward arguments that content ranking algorithms should be subjected to strict ethical requirements due to their impact on the democratic public discourse, and therefore indirectly, democracy.

With the arrival of the peak smartphone era, users are upgrading their smartphones less frequently, and data growth is decelerating. To ensure effective spectrum management decisions, policy makers require a thorough understanding of prospective wireless broadband technologies, current trends and emerging issues. Here, we review the sixth cellular generation (‘6G’), in comparison to two new Wi-Fi standards, including IEEE 802.11be (‘Wi-Fi 7’) and IEEE 802.11bn (‘Wi-Fi 8’). We identify three emerging issues necessary for successful telecommunication policy. Firstly, evidenced-based policy making needs to be able to measure effectively how much demand takes place where and how. Thus, new datasets are needed reflecting real usage by different wireless broadband technologies, for indoor and outdoor users. Secondly, with data consumption growth slowing, there needs to be an urgent reassessment of spectrum demand versus allocation. Past forecasts do not reflect recent data and regulators urgently need to re-evaluate the implications for spectrum management. Finally, regulators need new and improved Lifecycle Impact Assessment metrics of cellular versus Wi-Fi architectures, to support successful policy decisions which mitigate energy and emissions impacts.

Digital literacy is a crucial skill for accessing the benefits of the digital economy. Analyzing the impact of digital literacy on the risk of falling back into poverty is of great practical significance for achieving sustainable poverty alleviation. Based on data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2018, this paper examines the impact of digital literacy on the risk of returning to poverty for poverty-alleviated households, and investigates its underlying mechanism. The study finds that digital literacy can reduce the risk of returning to poverty by promoting local non-farm employment and migrant work, improving entrepreneurial performance, and expanding entrepreneurial scale. However, digital literacy plays a relatively minor role in reducing the risk of returning to poverty through entrepreneurship compared to employment. In the heterogeneity analysis, this paper concludes that digital literacy is more advantageous for disadvantaged groups. Furthermore, compared to digital entertainment literacy, digital learning literacy is more effective in reducing the risk of returning to poverty. This study has significant implications for understanding and improving the governance mechanism of sustainable poverty alleviation through digital literacy.

Numerous startups are leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to create innovative solutions across a wide range of sectors, positioning themselves as central figures in the AI business ecosystem. Particularly notable is the marked increase in the initiation and investment in AI startups within South Korea. To delve deeper into the AI business ecosystem, this study examines its collective understanding from the viewpoint of AI startups in South Korea. We carried out semi-structured interviews with 16 CEOs and managers of AI startups in the country. This study utilizes a core-periphery analysis of the social representation of the AI business ecosystem. In doing so, it addresses an existing knowledge gap and augments the current body of research pertaining to the AI business ecosystem and the present-day opportunities and challenges it confronts. Our findings serve not only to advise practitioners, governments, and businesses but also underscore the importance of ongoing dialogue among government agencies, leading tech companies, and AI startups to foster a more sustainable AI business ecosystem.

Youth engagement has been declared a priority by European Union and United Nations policy-makers, and the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) faces demands to the same end. At the IGF 2021, youth called for more youth participation, more representation at the IGF Multistakeholder Advisory Group (MAG), and for acknowledgement of youth as a separate stakeholder category. In order to better understand why and how youth participate - and want to participate - in Internet governance, there is a need for a critical reflection on their presence, the spaces and activities they engage in. Therefore this paper looks at the complexity of the youth identity and at youth meta-participation: a process in which young people and facilitators create participatory spaces for youth to reach their political agency and where they do not only seek to engage in existing participation spaces but also to reshape them. The main research question is how youth want to change their participation at the IGF, specifically, which activities and mechanisms are being created to improve the ways in which they can exercise their agency. Actors meta-participate when the existing participation opportunities are not sufficiently reflecting their needs. Thus, a clearer understanding of current and demanded participation mechanisms may lead us to a broader set of questions concerning the effectiveness of the current multistakeholder model. This paper, based on interviews with stakeholders and desk research, argues that youth do not always accept the status quo if it does not represent their needs or does not allow for them to explore their ideas, and they will sometimes utilise processes to build the space they need or create activities in a bottom-up manner, that allow them to change the mode of their participation.

Using a 2003–2019 dataset on broadband adoption in Algeria, we explore its pattern and the market structure, institutional, and socio-economic factors that influenced its pace, which was considerably delayed due to political and social instability during the decade of the 1990s. We propose an integrative model selection approach that simultaneously searches for the best diffusion model among the Bass, Gompertz, and Logistic diffusion models, as well as relevant explanatory variables. The Logistic model chosen strongly aligns with Algeria's historical context compared to the Gompertz model selected by the standard sequential approach. Market concentration exhibits a U-shaped impact on adoption rates, while institutional quality, mobile technology, and higher education enrollment consistently have a positive impact. Introducing differentiated broadband access to stimulate competition and lower prices can promote adoption among sub-populations in Algeria who currently find it financially inaccessible. Additionally, broadband uptake can be further accelerated by enforcing transparent governance, supporting regulatory policies, and boosting digital literacy.

This article proposes an informed debate on the politics of citation in internet governance (IG), focusing on gender. To this end, we use the Bibliographic Reference Index (BRI) to examine the prominence of female and male names in the IG references. The BRI is based on an action research process (“pesquisa-ação”), in which authors fill out information about their citation practices. The aim is to promote self-reflection on authors’ selection of references whilst collecting bibliographic data. We applied the BRI to 1113 citations from 35 papers published in the Proceedings of the Brazilian Internet Governance Research Network (REDE) throughout 2017–2021. Results show that male-gendered names were cited more than double the number of times of female-gendered names (47% vs. 20%). To situate these results vis-à-vis global IG, we analyze the gender gap in the curriculum of IG schools and courses, by applying the index to an Internet Governance Forum compilation of 22 IG syllabi and course programs, comprising 96 references and the names of 217 IG experts worldwide. Results show that female names authored only 19% of the syllabi readings and materials featured vs. 29% by men. Also, the gender rate among experts is 63% vs. 37% in favor of men. Based on the structural gender inequalities that we have found in global and local IG contexts, we recommend interventions to increase the conscious engagement with bibliography and syllabus preparation on two fronts: 1) we recommend the application of the BRI to IG syllabi and course programs to monitor and reduce the gender gap; and 2) we provide a citation diversity statement that IG scholars can add to their publications in order to promote self-reflection about their knowledge production and add transparency to the politics of citation in IG.