3.09.09
Technological innovation has become a driving force in the re-evaluation of regulatory policies around the world. Latin America as a region has been successful at increasing basic voice penetration, however, there is currently no business model for delivering voice and data at an appropriate price to those at the bottom of the income pyramid. In some countries, policy makers are attempting to deal with the problem with emerging policies in the region such as unique licenses, technology neutral policies and the debates on open network access. However, competition, investment and connectivity have not grown enough to meet the region’s ICT needs.
A fundamental cause of the low availability and high cost of bandwidth in the region is the lack of high-capacity backbone networks. The backbone provided by incumbent operators is often of low quality and covers few geographical areas. Indeed, networks are concentrated on highly populated areas, for example in Mexico; only 43 percent of the population has access to a competitive fixed network.
This line of research addresses two key questions:
- Under what conditions would an alternate IP backbone network be viable and efficient?
- How can it be institutionalized such that the region does not experience the same problems of uneven network development and insufficient market efficiency that were previously caused to a significant degree by weak institutional regulation?
These questions will be addressed through the analytical lens provided by economic regulatory theory. We will first examine the current literature on competition models in the context of technological convergence and contrast the main findings with national case studies that have implemented facilities based competition by building an alternate backbone. This analysis will offer an overview of best practices including details on institutional design; decisions on public or private property, financing mechanisms and regulation. Also, we will construct infrastructure maps by identifying IP networks by operators (publicly available) and measure their level of market and geographic concentration. This information will provide a detailed perspective which will allows us to identify IP network deficits as well as competition variables with the objective of formulating evidence-based policy suggestions.
Expected Outputs:
Phase 1: Identify the current state of backbone development in the region by constructing a report mapping of backbone networks in selected countries of the LA region; a benchmark report on the construction of an alternate IP backbone in other developing regions.
Phase 2: Three (03) national case studies that identify the necessary conditions for the design and implementation of a viable policy for promoting the development of backbone networks; one (01) final report.
Lead researchers: Judith Mariscal
Below this text you will find information related to this project as it becomes available.
DIRSI undertook an analysis of the feasibility and impact of building a backbone network in Mexico that will be subject to a tender offer by the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE). The study began with a diagnosis of the availability of and access to telecommunications infrastructure in Mexico, particularly the long haul segment.
Last reviewed / Última revisión 21.10.09
