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Empirical Economics

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01-12-2014

Timing and determinants of local residential broadband adoption: evidence from Ireland

Author: Sean Lyons

Published in: Empirical Economics | Issue 4/2014

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Abstract

This article examines the time path of broadband adoption for households in areas that are offered broadband service for the first time and the socioeconomic characteristics of broadband users generally. Using cross-sectional data on broadband take-up and socioeconomic characteristics of small areas in Ireland, linked to GIS data on ADSL availability over time, I find that local penetration growth rates are elevated immediately after service is offered. Local growth rates then decline towards the national average, reaching it after about 3.6 years. The article also includes estimates of the effect of various household characteristics on adoption, finding effects broadly consistent with the previous literature. Simultaneity in demand and supply are addressed using 2SLS regression.

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ADSL refers to “asynchronous digital subscriber line”, a technology and set of associated standards that permit high-speed digital communications to be carried over copper telephony circuits.

Information and communication technologies

This is essentially the demand model in Taylor (1994), Chap. 2, expressed with a spatial dimension appropriate to the data used in this study.

The incumbent operator’s supply of broadband access services was subject to wholesale price control and other regulatory measures by Ireland’s Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) throughout this period; see ComReg (2010a, b).

Intercept and error terms are shown as the same letters for simplicity but are unrelated to one another.

A small number of EDs were omitted or amalgamated to allow matching of data sources. Details are available on request from the author.

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Title: Timing and determinants of local residential broadband adoption: evidence from Ireland
Author: Sean Lyons
Publication date: 01-12-2014
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Empirical Economics / Issue 4/2014
Print ISSN: 0377-7332
Electronic ISSN: 1435-8921
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00181-013-0790-6

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