Examines broadband developments and policies, and highlights challenges such as connecting users to fibre-based networks or coverage of rural areas.

Examines broadband developments and policies, and highlights challenges such as connecting users to fibre-based networks or coverage of rural areas.

As have OECD countries, Colombia has recognised that the communications sector, and in particular high-speed Internet access provided by fixed and mobile broadband, represents a key infrastructure for improving productivity and economic growth and in enhancing the welfare of its citizens. This report reviews policies and regulations in the telecommunication service sector in Colombia. It puts forward recommendations aimed at furthering regulatory reform and stimulating market competition and investment in the sector as a building block for the future development of the Colombian economy. It aims to help achieve one of the government's goals, which is to develop a knowledge-intensive society.

This report updates developments in terms of the roll out of broadband access in OECD countries. It does not aim to provide a definitive description of the technological alternatives or the applications for which it is being used but rather to ...

This joint initiative by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the OECD seeks to encourage the expansion of broadband networks and services in the region, supporting a coherent and cross-sectorial approach, to maximise their benefits for economic and social development.

"Broadband penetration and available speeds vary widely across OECD countries. Policymakers around the world, and especially in countries like the U.S. that lag in the rankings, are searching for policies to narrow those gaps. Relatively little empirical work tests possible reasons for these differences. In this paper I test the impact of regulations and demographics on broadband development in panel dataset across countries. In addition to adding to the meager empirical literature on broadband across countries, this paper is novel in two ways. first, it explicitly takes into account the many different types of unbundling regulations that countries have implemented. Second, in addition to studying the impacts of policies on broadband penetration, it also studis the impact of policies on available connection speeds. Controlling for country and year fixed effects, I find that local loop unbundling has no robustly significant impact on broadband penetration. More extensive "subloop" unbundling, however, is negatively correlated with penetration. Requiring the incumbent to allow on-site collocation is positively correlated with penetration, though regulating collocation charges is negatively correlated with penetration. None of the unbundling regulations are correlated with connection speeds, though regulated collocation prices are generally negatively correlated with speed. In sum, it appears that very extensive unbundling mandates and some types of price regulation can reduce broadband investments incentives, though regulations ensuring easier interconnection with the incumbent can increase investment.

Access to broadband connectivity is a country s passport to the global information society and knowledge economy the future. However, the adoption and use of broadband technology today remains extremely uneven and threatens to create a new digital divide. At the end of 2009, countries in North America and the European Union accounted for more than 50 percent of the world s 1 billion fixed and mobile broadband subscriptions, but South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa together accounted for less than 3 percent. The experience with mobile telephony though shows the potential for growth in the information and communication technology sector in developing countries. Almost 75 percent of the world s mobile telephone subscriptions are in low- and middle-income countries, which have also promoted exciting innovations and realized significant economic development benefits. In fact, a growing number of countries are seeking to spur broadband development. To aid governments as they design their own programs, this volume offers examples and ideas from some of the most successful broadband markets: particularly the Republic of Korea, but also Finland, France, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 'Building Broadband' does not suggest a universal solution but rather provides a long list of policies and programs organized within a strategic framework that allows solutions tailored to country circumstances. The essential building blocks identified are useful everywhere because they focus on improving incentives and the climate for private investment. This is a policy that even countries with very limited resources will be able to exploit.

This report reviews policies and regulations in the telecommunication service sector in Colombia. It puts forward recommendations aimed at furthering regulatory reform and stimulating market competition and investment in the sector.

This book examines how the market for internet traffic exchange has evolved and explores the coherence of policies pursued by developed and developing countries.