Hernan Galperin

Wireless Networks and Rural Development: Opportunities for Latin America

Recent developments in wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies are raising new hopes for sustainable Internet diffusion in the rural areas of the developing world. These technologies allow drastic reductions in network deployment costs, particularly for last-mile connectivity in low-density areas. More important, the technologies make possible an infrastructure development model based on community-shared resources, small-scale investments, and user experimentation. This paper argues that the new generation of WLAN technologies can significantly alleviate the constraints that limit Internet connectivity in Latin America to the wealthy, urbanized areas. Yet for this potential to be realized governments must rethink current assumptions about spectrum management and universal service policies.

Beyond Interests, Ideas, and Technology: An Institutional Approach to Communication and Information Policy

This article examines the theoretical assumptions generally used in communication and information policy studies, and suggests that more attention to the institutional determinants of public policies is needed. The first part discusses three alternative theoretical approaches: the interest-group approach, the ideological approach, and the technology-centered approach. The second part outlines the conceptual tools of the new institutionalism approach and discusses its application for the study of regime change in telecoms and media. The third part presents an abbreviated example of such application to the case of U.S. spectrum policies and the licensing of digital broadcasting. The conclusion suggests new directions for research aimed at broadening the set of social actors participating in the global governance of new technologies.

Digital Poverty: Latin American and Caribbean Perspectives

Preface Ben Petrazzini | Introduction | Executive Summary Galperin and Mariscal | 1. The concept of Information Poverty and How to Measure it in the Latin American Context Barja and Gigler 2. Analysis of ICT Demand:What Is and How to Measure Digital Poverty? Barrantes 3. New Market Scenarios in Latin America Mariscal, Bonina and Luna 4. Institutional Design of the Regulator in Latin America and the Caribbean Dussan Hitscherich and Roldan Perea 5. Microtelcos in Latin America and the Caribbean Galperin and Girard 6. Selecting Sustainable ICT Solutions for Pro-Poor Intervention Mallalieu and Rocke 7. Conclusion - ICT and Pro-poor trategies and Research Mahan | About the Authors

One goal, different strategies: an analysis of national broadband plans in Latin America

Purpose – The ambitious government initiatives currently underway to accelerate broadband development indicate a major shift from the consensus that prevailed during the 1990 s in the telecommunications sector. To what extent does this change represent a return to the period before market liberalization and the privatization of government‐run telecom services? What are the main objectives of national broadband plans and which policy tools are best suited to achieve them? This paper aims to analyze these questions through a comparative analysis of the goals, policy instruments and network‐deployment models of the most relevant national broadband plans adopted in Latin America.Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a comparative analysis of the goals, policy instruments and network‐deployment models of the most relevant national broadband plans adopted in Latin America.Findings – Common patterns and key differences between the initiatives adopted in five countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chil...

Localizing Internet infrastructure

This paper offers an overview of the changes in the Internet interconnection regime in the past decade and their key implications for the development of Internet infrastructure in developing regions based on the Latin American experience. The main argument presented is that changes in market conditions and Internet traffic patterns over the past decade have favored the search for new interconnection arrangements between actors located at the outer edges of the traditional Internet topology. Driven by the need to control operating costs and optimize content delivery to end-users, network operators in Latin America (and elsewhere in developing regions) are increasingly experimenting with cooperative peering arrangements to meet interconnection needs. The evidence suggests that these new arrangements are resulting in multiple benefits to local Internet ecosystems, among them reduced transit costs, greater network redundancy, improved service quality, new infrastructure investments and better technical coordination among operators.

Broadband Prices in Latin America and the Caribbean

This study discusses the current situation and evolution of broadband service offerings in Latin America and the Caribbean. The primary source of data is the annual survey of broadband plans conducted by the Center for Technology and Society at Universidad de San Andres since 2010. The survey encompasses all broadband plans (fixed and mobile) offered by service providers with over 10% of market share in the region’s most relevant markets (20 countries in total). The findings reveal a mature fixed broadband market in Latin America. While the cost per Mbps of advertised speed has dropped significantly between 2010 and 2013 (-58%), market entry prices have only dropped 11% over the same period. This indicates that fixed broadband operator prefer to compete on service quality rather than price in the middle and high-income segments of the residential market. Further, despite improvements in some price indicators, the gaps with OECD countries continue to be large. As an example, a 2.5Mbps connection in Latin America is, on average, three times more expensive than in the OECD. The findings also corroborate the opportunity to expand the market frontier with mobile broadband services. A price comparison with similar fixed access services reveals that mobile broadband is, on average, 23% cheaper. Yet the data is not conclusive as to whether mobile broadband prices exert pressure on fixed broadband prices. Also, an affordability analysis shows that, on average, Latin American users must spend six times as much as their OECD counterparts to purchase the same mobile broadband service package. The key potential offered by mobile broadband stems from the greater segmentation of broadband plans, which enables a better fit between user preferences and willingness to pay, particularly in the low-income market segment. Nonetheless, some of the observed segmentation strategies by mobile broadband operators warrant regulatory attention, as they may challenge basic principles about Internet network openness and lead to anti-competitive effects in the so-called OTT (over-the-top) market.

Prices and Quality of Broadband in Latin America: Benchmarking and Trends

After several years of growing at rates close to 50%, the fixed broadband market in Latin America is beginning to show signs of slowdown, as a result of saturation levels in higher-income urban areas and low adoption among medium and low-income households. Expanding the boundaries of the fixed broadband market towards these households represents one of the main challenges for telecommunications policy in the region over the coming years.The results of this paper suggest that, in general, fixed broadband prices in Latin America remain above the thresholds that promote the widespread adoption of the service. In particular, a comparison with developed countries suggests that there is ample room for price reductions and improved service quality. The “typical” broadband plan in Latin America is 66% more expensive than in OECD member countries, while, on average, the price per Mbps of download speed in developed countries is seven times cheaper than in Latin America.In regards to the service quality offered in the region, the results show a significant improvement over the past two years. The average download speed of the “typical” plan in Latin America doubled from 2010 to 2012, from less than 2 Mbps to almost 4 Mbps. However, the quality of the “typical” plan in OECD member countries also doubled (from 10 Mbps to 20 Mbps) during the same period. As a result, the gap in terms of service quality that separates the two regions remained constant. On average, the quality of service promised in the “typical” broadband plan in the region is five times lower than that in developed countries.In analyzing the relationship between broadband prices and income, the results indicate that, on average, a household in Latin America must make an effort seven times higher than an OECD household to pay for the “typical” broadband plan available in the respective markets. Bridging this affordability gap represents a major challenge for achieving high penetration of services in the region. Several countries in the region have recognized this challenge, undertaking infrastructure initiatives and regulatory changes to increase competition, and fostering the supply of basic connectivity plans.

Broadband Tariffs in Latin America: Benchmarking and Analysis

We analyze tariffs for fixed broadband services in Latin America and benchmark against tariffs in the OECD. We also develop a new broadband development indicator (the Broadband Performance Index) that compares actual penetration rates with those predicted by our regression model. The results shows that broadband services in Latin America are generally expensive and of poor quality when benchmarked against OCED countries, and that Latin American countries are underperforming in broadband development after wealth, education and demographics factors are accounted for. We also provide price elasticity estimators for broadband demand in Latin America. The results reveal that an average price reduction of 10% would result in an increase of almost 19% in the penetration rate, equivalent to 4.7 million additional broadband connections. Finally we estimate the affordability of broadband services for households in a sample of countries in the region. The results reveal that sharp price reductions would be needed to achieve household penetration rates comparable to the OECD, and that public access initiatives will still be needed to provide services for the lowest-income households.

Connected for Development? Theory and Evidence About the Impact of Internet Technologies on Poverty Alleviation

Based on the assumption that increased access to internet services boosts economic growth and improves the well‐being of the poor, governments in both developed and emerging regions are heavily investing in internet connectivity projects. This article reviews the existing evidence as to the impact of internet technologies on various development dimensions, and articulates the empirical evidence into an analytical framework that seeks to identify the micro‐linkages between internet adoption and poverty alleviation. The review suggests that the development pay‐offs of internet technologies are ambiguous due to two interrelated effects. First, because effective appropriation requires a range of skills as well as complementary investment in human capital and organizational changes. This tends to favour well‐educated workers and firms with more innovative capacity and access to finance. Second, because the positive effects of internet dissemination on market co‐ordination and political institutions grow exponentially with adoption levels. As a result, while the evidence indicates that advanced economies are reaping significant benefits from internet investments, the returns for less advanced economies, and in particular for the fight against poverty in these regions, remain uncertain.

Addressing the Broadband Demand Gap: Drivers and Public Policies

The debate about the digital divide in the field of Internet use and broadband has, in large part, been generated around statistics of households that own a computer and have purchased a broadband subscription (in other words, service penetration). As a result, the political discussion and public dialogue have focused until now on the need to increase adoption based on wider coverage of telecommunications networks. The underlying premise of this statement is that if the problems that delay infrastructure deployment were addressed, the challenge of the digital divide would be overcome. Without denying that there is some causal relationship between investment and adoption, it is important to note that one of the key variables that explains the digital divide is located on the demand side, rather than on the supply side. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the divide from this perspective in industrialized countries and compare it with a similar phenomenon in Latin America.First, quantitative information is presented to demonstrate the existence of a gap in demand, even in industrialized countries. Based on this, the paper reviews the research conducted in the developed world, identifying common causal variables through statistics from different countries, pointing at the root cause of this shortfall. Having presented the situation in industrialized countries, the Latin American demand gap is then examined, focusing first on its size for those countries for which data are available. Following the same process as that of developed countries, the results of research carried out for Latin American countries are presented with the aim to explain the nature of the demand gap. This diagnosis provides a context for outlining policy recommendations that make it possible to address some of the adoption barriers.