Telecommunications Policy最新文献

This paper examines the governance models of State aid measures for broadband network deployment in European Union Member States. The research is based on 199 decision letters collected from the European Commission's competition cases database, published between 2003 and 2023. Deploying a theory-driven content analysis approach, the analysis reveals and categorises a variety of governance models. These models vary regarding the authority responsible for the decision-making and, in the case of national schemes, the authority responsible for the implementation, including centralised and decentralised arrangements. Different legacies and institutional set-ups explain the governance models, including the typology of state structures, the constitutional powers, the traditions of participation in the telecommunication sector, policy diffusion and regional development. There are several possible pathways to a gradual transition from one model to another. The design of flexible national schemes, which offer subnational authorities the option to implement them in their regions or to rely on central management agencies for specific tasks adapted to their interests, resources and capacities, could be the optimal solution to prevent the launch of ad hoc measures by subnational authorities and to adapt to different institutional arrangements.

This study investigates the impact of consumer data protection laws on the business models of technology companies through a mixed methods research (MMR) approach. In an era where data privacy concerns are paramount and regulatory landscapes are rapidly evolving, understanding how businesses adapt their models for compliance while fostering innovation is crucial. This paper offers a detailed examination of the legislative requirements imposed by prominent global data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), as well as frameworks from Asia and Africa, such as Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). This inclusive perspective enhances our understanding of how technology businesses strategically adapt across various regulatory environments and explores the operational, financial, and strategic impacts of these laws on tech companies. Utilizing a dual-phase mixed methods research (MMR) design, the study initially analyzes quantitative data from surveys conducted with a wide range of technology firms, assessing the direct effects of data protection legislation on business operations and financial performance. This is complemented by qualitative insights drawn from in-depth interviews with business leaders and legal experts, shedding light on the strategic adaptations, challenges, and opportunities these laws present. The findings reveal a multifaceted impact, highlighting not only the compliance challenges but also the strategic opportunities for innovation and competitive differentiation that data protection laws offer. Integrated analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data provides a nuanced understanding of how tech companies navigate the complex interplay between legal compliance and business model innovation. This study contributes to the existing literature by offering empirical evidence and practical insights into the adaptation processes of tech companies in response to consumer data protection laws. It also provides valuable recommendations for both policymakers and business leaders, aiming to foster an environment where legal compliance coexists with technological innovation and business growth.

Blockchain technology has received increasing attention from academia, practitioners, and policymakers alike for its potential to disrupt business processes and structures of trade in global value chains (GVC). Amidst the ongoing digitization of economies and societies, blockchain holds promise for addressing unresolved challenges. However, current research on this topic primarily consists of either abstract conceptual work or case studies. To bridge this gap, our study conducts a systematic literature review, aiming to comprehensively explore and structure the realm of blockchain and its impact on international trade. Key research questions explored include: What role do blockchain innovations play in facilitating trade within GVC? Additionally, what are the primary barriers hindering the adoption of blockchain innovations in trade within GVC? Our main contribution lies in categorizing these applications into five distinct categories: Trade Documents; Trade Finance; Trusted Real-Time Information Sharing; Provenance; and Sustainable GVC. Contrary to portraying blockchain innovations as a panacea or universal solution, our findings highlight the technologies’ potential rather as a core technological infrastructure when integrated with complementary technologies such as the Internet of Things. Moreover, we identify 11 significant barriers to blockchain adoption in international trade, underscoring the need for concerted efforts to address them. From these insights, we derive implications for policymakers and practitioners, and propose avenues for future interdisciplinary research.

This study uses the Hicks-Moorsteen index method to examine the impact mechanism of the digital economy on the total factor productivity and its decomposition efficiencies of the high-tech industry in China. The results show that the total factor productivity of the high-tech industry in the research and development phase is significantly and positively influenced by the primary phase of digital economy development. Digital economy development has a positive impact on technical change, according to the specific path analysis, which has an inverted U-shaped nonlinear characteristic. With a U-shaped nonlinear characteristic, it has a significant and persistent negative impact on efficiency changes, where the positive impact of technological spillovers on the digital economy outweighs the negative impact of technological shocks. The threshold effect test shows that the best condition for promoting total factor productivity and its decomposition efficiency in the R&D stage of high-tech industry was achieved when the digital economy composite index was between 2.611 and 2.747.

The studies which analyzed the impact of technology innovation on income inequalities have considered only one factor of change at a time. The results are overall inconclusive: technology innovation appears to either reduce or increase inequality, depending on which factor is considered. In the literature of technological change, there is a technology innovation indicator that comprises multiple factors simultaneously. Using this technology innovation indicator and three different measures of income inequality (Gini index, Atkinson index, and the ratio of Palma), the paper analyzed the effect of technology innovation on income inequalities into Sub-Saharan Africa countries. A dynamic panel model was specified and estimated with the Generalized Moments Method (GMM) in System. The data used come from the Global Consumption and Income Project (GCIP), the World Development Indicator (WDI) and the World Governance Indicator (WGI). They were observed over the period 1996–2014 of 30 Sub-Saharan Africa countries. The paper finds robust evidence that technology innovation contributes to reducing income inequalities into Sub-Saharan Africa countries. The implementation of learning policy through improving education condition associated with social policy can contribute to limit the income inequalities due to technologies change into Sub-Saharan Africa countries.

This paper addresses a critical gap in telecom regulators' awareness of the climate impact of their policy decisions and highlights the substantial potential of broadband technology to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe). Empirical evidence shows that broadband can achieve a GHGe reduction of approximately 15–20%, a notable efficiency given its relatively low direct emissions of around 0.4–1.0% of global emissions. This analysis substantiates the premise that effective telecom policy serves as robust climate policy. The paper argues for a global alignment of telecom and climate policies, advocating for an integrated approach that acknowledges the deep interdependencies between these sectors. Key policy recommendations include targeted subsidies for broadband in rural areas, strategic spectrum allocation, and comprehensive incentives for green technology adoption across consumers, industries, and governments. The goal is to prompt a reevaluation of policy frameworks, urging advanced economies to harness the full potential of digital infrastructure to combat climate change.

Although the urban–rural digital divide is a globally common phenomenon, less is known about the social determinants of the digital divide within rural and urban areas. Understanding this relationship is important for assessing the equity implications of telecommunication policy given the ongoing and significant public investment into high speed broadband infrastructure. This paper contributes to this discussion by connecting high speed broadband maps in Ireland to measures of social deprivation constructed from detailed population-wide Irish census data collected in 2022. Linking to newly available maps of urban boundaries, the results show that the availability of commercially provided high speed broadband (i.e. coverage) is highly divided; urban areas have near complete coverage, whereas rural areas have little to no coverage. Exploring determinants of coverage in rural areas, we observe that coverage increases with affluence. This suggests that rural areas, which are relatively socially deprived, are being further disadvantaged through inequalities in the availability of high speed broadband.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred global change from traditional office-based work to remote work, driven by policy interventions, and resulting in a significant number of employees worldwide transitioning to working from home. Existing research presents conflicting evidence regarding the relationship between remote work and productivity. However, few have examined the specific mechanisms through which remote work affects productivity. Given this, the present study bridges this gap by examining changes in job assignment as one mechanism in which working from home affects labor productivity. We empirically examine the impact of work-from-home (WFH) on job tasks using original data collected before and during the pandemic. Our results demonstrate that WFH increases non-routine analytic tasks and decreases routine manual tasks, while non-routine interactive, routine cognitive, and non-routine manual tasks remain unchanged. Furthermore, the negative impact of WFH on routine manual tasks is more significant for the groups that had more routine manual tasks before the pandemic. Meanwhile, the positive impact on non-routine analytic tasks is more pronounced for employees with fewer non-routine analytic tasks before the pandemic. Finally, through such task changes, WFH leads to higher wage rates. Our findings suggest that the switch to WFH and increased use of information and communication technology capital increases the input for non-routine tasks performed by labor, and, in turn, increases labor productivity.

An open-access market design is presented to manage network congestion and optimize network use and value. Open access eliminates the walled-garden approach; instead, it commoditizes communications network capacity while decentralizing access to a transparent wholesale market. It ensures that scarce capacity is put to its best use by providing a platform for efficient trade. The market operates without friction using flow trading. It allows participants to bid persistent piecewise-linear downward-sloping demand curves for portfolios of products, gradually adjusting positions toward targeted needs. Flow trading allows fine granularity of products in time and location, creating complete markets. Liquidity and computational feasibility are maintained despite trading millions of interrelated forward and real-time products. Participants manage risk and adverse price impact through trade-to-target strategies. The market operator clears the market every hour, finding unique prices and quantities that maximize as-bid social welfare. Prices, aggregate quantities, and the slope of the aggregate net demand are public. The market operator observes positions, enabling it to optimize collateral requirements to minimize default risk. Priority pricing is used to manage real-time imbalances. An application of the model is developed for intersatellite wholesale communications with optical (laser-beamed) mesh networks in space, showing several efficiency gains.