A Cross-Country Analysis of Fixed Broadband Deployment: Examination of Adoption Factors and Network Effect

Broadband infrastructure is a key component of the knowledge economy. Employing a secondary data set, this study examines adoption factors of fixed broadband among OECD countries. The results suggest platform competition, income, and education positively influence fixed broadband diffusion. Light form of Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) was positively associated with high levels of fixed broadband diffusion. Results show that it may be beneficial for countries to pursue light-touch LLU regulation like bitstream access instead of strong regulation. This study also suggests that network effects and the effects of platform competition coexist in many OECD countries.