Broadband Infrastructure in the County of Møre and Romsdal and Rural Regional Development Judith Molka-Danielsen, Ottar Ohren, & Bjørn Jæger Molde University College, Molde, Norway

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Outline 1.Background 2.Motivation and Research Objectives 3.Research method 4.The county of Møre & Romsdal 5.Findings 6.Conclusion and Implications

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Background The eNorway plan, from the national government, describes a demand driven broadband policy Competition among network providers should give broadband access to everyone Local governments are supported with partial funding for buying broadband services Municipalities are expected to stimulate demand by Being an active user of broadband services (schools, administration, health, etc) Offering broadband services to people (e-Government) Cooperate and co-ordinate with local businesses to increase demand for broadband services

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november A snapshot of Møre and Romsdal Motivation Local administrators and policy makers are afraid that their region will be left behind in the competition. There is a belief that access to broadband services could reduce centralization, or reinforce decentralization. Uncertainty on how a demand driven model will work in rural areas.

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Research Objectives 1.How does the demand driven policy work in rural areas? 2.To investigate the broadband expectations from local governments, what they planned for, and to what degree the expectations where fulfilled. i.Availability of infrastructure ii.Types of public service units w/BB access iii.Applications of ICT used by communities

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Research method One survey in April 2001 to M&R municipalities and businesses to find out about plans and expectations –(1260 businesses and 38 municipalities where asked. 17 of 38 responded.) Follow up survey to M&R municipalities Nov to check status regarding broadband adoption (38 of 38 responded.) Comparison with other studies (Andalucia region and Madrid region, Spain)

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Møre & Romsdal County citizens, sq km, 16 person/sq. km 2 3 urban centers with population of – % of population lives in urban centers 84 % of companies have < 10 employees 38 municipalities

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Findings i.Availability of Broadband Infrastructure ii.Types of Public Service Institutions or departments with Broadband Access iii.Applications of ICT Used by Communities

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november i) Availability of Broadband M&R Network access technology Technology municipalities with-> % in 4/2001 % in 11/2002 % change Wireless radio % ADSL /SDSL / VDSL 63125% Fiber244016% Coaxial cable network 660%

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Regional Comparisons AreaM&R Norway Andalucia Spain Madrid Spain Tot.pop.244k7,478k5,527k Area km 2 15k87,3k8k Density=per/km ,7688,4 % of nat. pop.5,37%17,9%13,2%

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november The Madrid region (Spain) ADSL Deployment Cable Deployment Number of Madrid municipalities with ADSL by number of inhabitants pop/km 2 ADSL < ,000 1,001- 1,500 1,501- 2,500 > 2,500 Yes No 0 + (4) (3)

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november The Andalucia region (Spain) 32 % of population is located in provincial capitals 18 % of population has access to internet 17 % of the households have access to internet 96 % of companies have < 10 employees 3% of households have access to cable networks. 14 % of households in Spain have the possibility to have broadband access (ADSL).

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november ii) Access to BB via Public Service Unit Organizational units with broadband access Broadband usersECON Analysis 2003 % of municipalities Norway (all)M&R(all)Rural Central admin.49%4841 Primary schools34%5145 Healthcare inst.4539 Preschools2016 Cultural inst. (library, movies) 43%3126 Other institutions or departments 87

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november ii) Are social factors an inhibitor for obtaining access to Broadband? Norway: (This seems to not be an inhibitor.) –75 % of the population (70% households) has access to internet (persons > 13 years) –65 % of the population lives in the southern part of the country, 64 % in urban areas –But the population is very homogeneous in education, income, and language skills. Spain and the Andalusia region: –23% of the population of Spain have access to the internet. –18.2% of the region have access to the internet. –23% of the population under 15 years old. –Andalusia is below the national average in education and income. (Related to population youth.)

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november In M&R geography creates a challenge for transport and communication services.

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november iii) Applications of ICT used by communities:.. first the prerequisites Applications and Bandwidth requirements ECON Analysis (2003) needs for basic QoS uplinkdownlink Information searching, browsing on the Internet 64k 64k File transfer128k Video conferencing256k Video on Demand (MPEG 4)64k500k

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november iii) Applications of ICT used by communities Applications% of municipalities All municipalitiesUse at all (2-5) Much use (4-5) Information searching on the Internet9147 Web site of community information Education of employees293 Network meetings00 Purchasing via public e-marketplaces509 Electronic invoicing66

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november E-applications usage by M&R communities Urban (3) Rural (35)

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Expected vs Actual use of applications- all municipalities

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Conclusion and implications Communities in M&R are achieving access to Broadband as planned 1,5 years earlier. But: –The adoption or use of broadband applications is taking longer time than expected. –Many communities are using middle bandwidth access. It is a problem if their expectations of Broadband is too general. But, realized QoS is a gradient function of the bandwidth. Maybe they feel the applications are not ready yet. This could justify their decision to delay investments in even higher bandwidth access. (This is a chicken and egg problem.) expected QoS of BB investment real QoS based on investments H L time

NOKOBIT, Oslo, november Conclusion and implications A purely demand driven model seems to be insufficient to ensure broadband access in rural areas. –Market size is a big challenge in M&R for attracting broadband providers. The population density in M&R is smaller than in even the most rural areas of Spain. –National policies and support are needed in these areas. Investments in technology types in Spain seem to follow national policies (ADSL is easier). –The relative density differences between urban and rural area in Spain is larger than in Norway. There should be a more equal distribution of investments between urban and rural areas in Norway. Other solutions may be needed to extend availability. –Aggregation of demand across telecom services (electricity + internet).