Abstract
We model the access uptake on a newly built high-speed fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband network using a computational Agent Based Model (ABM). Two cases illustrate the model analysed in this paper: the Ultra-Fast Broadband (UFB) Network in New Zealand (NZ) and the National Broadband Network (NBN) in Australia. Common learnings of both projects are used in our model to describe and analyse the uptake of fibre connections to households and businesses. By design network operation is decoupled from service provision and the platform is open-access, meaning any provider can operate end-user services. In our model a high-speed broadband network is regarded as a two-sided platform that accommodates both end-users and service providers, creating the conditions for the two sides to exploit mutual network effects. Results show that the greater the number of users (end-users or providers) on one side, the more the number of users (provider or end-users) on the opposite side grows. Providing free connections and raising consumer awareness is a means for driving consumer uptake. Scenario based analysis allows us to investigate the magnitude of network effects’ on the fibre connection uptake.
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Acknowledgements
The authors want to acknowledge the support that Centre of Digital Enterprise (CODE) at University of Auckland – Faculty of Business and Economics has provided to this work.
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Beltrán, F., Mirza, F. (2014). An Agent-Based Model of Access Uptake on a High-Speed Broadband Platform. In: Leitner, S., Wall, F. (eds) Artificial Economics and Self Organization. Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, vol 669. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00912-4_17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00912-4_17
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