Supporting Broadband Policy
Access to affordable broadband services has a direct impact on the economic and social wellbeing of individuals, communities, countries and entire regions.
It is at the heart of various nations’ national broadband plans as well as the European Union’s Digital Agenda. Looking to the future, the take-up of superfast broadband enabling more sophisticated and as yet unknown applications will become a key shaper in how successful and competitive both local and national economies will be.
As evidence builds regarding how societies can gain from ubiquitous and increasingly higher bandwidth internet services, the consensus is that not having such access is detrimental to a country or region’s fortunes. It is simply no good standing still while others are advancing the health of their broadband provision. The ‘digital divide’ is not necessarily confined to particular geographies or socio-economic groupings, but can be experienced by entire nations.
Cities are increasingly competing to attract businesses and an educated workforce; and this is not simply against their immediate neighbours and traditional rivals, but internationally against cities in other countries. For local government operating in rural communities retaining and growing existing businesses as well as attracting new enterprises, keeping their young people and preventing a ‘digital divide’ between rural and urban environments is vital for a vibrant local economy.
How Point Topic Can Support Policy Makers
Point Topic can help local and national governments plan, implement and monitor their efforts to leverage the benefits of broadband:
Using our mapping and statistics to evaluate current levels of broadband availability, take-up and propensity for take-up at local authority level or a national basis;
Drill down by technology, broadband speed and socio-economic grouping to find detailed data at postcode or regional level;
Use our data to determine where public intervention is required and where the market alone will provide;
Understand the situation and experiences of your peers and rivals at community, municipal, local authority and national levels;
Learn from others around the world through case studies highlighting the innovative strategies being pursued by individuals and communities, operators and local authorities. These range from deployment strategies through demand stimulation campaigns to engagement campaigns with businesses;
Understand the make-up of your broadband market using our profiles covering 350 broadband players in terms of leading as well as smaller innovative operators and service providers. These provide details on services, tariffs, network coverage and corporate strategies;
Keep pace with broadband take-up using our quarterly subscriber ISP statistics by technology as both national and local governments increasingly monitor and compare their broadband health;
Use our reports to keep up to date with public policy developments, the spread of broadband technologies including DSL, fibre, satellite and fixed wireless, as well as the progress of superfast broadband infrastructure deployment.