broadband strategies handbook.pdf - Khazar University

Box 7.3 continuedThis resulted in intense competition withthe existing mobile operators and led tothe rapid adoption of 3G services, whichsoon passed wireline broadband subscriptions.By the end of 2010, there were1.4 million 3G subscribers in Morocco, almostthree times the number of wirelinebroadband connections. Wana had 41 percentof the mobile broadband market.The lesson for developing countries isthat, while it is critical to open broadbandmarkets to competition, it is just as importantto introduce brand new operators. Settingaside spectrum for a new operator andlowering other market entry barriers, particularlythose relating to the ability to provideconvergent services, can encourage this.Source: Adapted from ITU 2008 and operating reports of the companies discussed and regulatory authoritiesfor broadband market shares; Softbank 2007; FASTWEB, “2010 NGN and Executive Customers Highlights of theYear,” http://company.fastweb.it/index.php?sid=6.Several developing countries in the region have deployed telephone andCATV network infrastructures, but often they are not adequately upgradedfor wireline broadband access. For example, the region’s developed economieshave been successful in developing broadband access through CATVnetwork infrastructure. This is not the case in the region’s developingnations. Despite large CATV markets in some countries such as China, thePhilippines, and Thailand, broadband competition from CATV providers isgenerally low. One reason is that networks have not been upgraded to supportbroadband access via cable modem. For example, despite having theworld’s largest CATV market, with almost 175 million subscribers in 2009,China has relatively few cable modem subscriptions, and only about a quarterof its subscriptions are digital. This is likely to change with China’s newTriple Network project announced in 2010. 6 The project aims to enhanceconvergence among telecommunications, Internet, and broadcast networksby reducing barriers so that each market segment can provide any broadbandservice.Most East Asian nations have licensed mobile broadband spectrum, andin several of the region’s developing nations, mobile broadband subscriptionsexceed wireline subscriptions. In Indonesia, Telkom had 3.8 millionmobile broadband subscriptions using data cards, compared with 1.6 millionwireline broadband subscriptions in December 2010 (Telkom Indonesia2010). Mobile broadband coverage, however, still needs to be extendedthroughout the region, mainly from urban to rural areas.Global Footprints: Stories from and for the Developing World 305