Telecommunications Policy

The Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) Auction has become a defacto standard auction mechanism for the award of radio spectrum for commercial mobile services around the world. The winning bid price in such SMRA spectrum auctions is of interest, as it determines the valuation of the scarce resource by the mobile operators, and also indicates the revenue accrued to the governments as auction proceeds. This report uses a cross-country panel dataset to examine the determinants of spectrum prices of all the SMRA auctions held in 25 countries from 1994 to 2019.

The Internet has proliferated unevenly across the world, resulting in a global digital divide. In the past decade, concerns related to technology ‘haves’ and ‘haves not’ have grown in prominence in the countries of South Asia (including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal) that are witnessing an increased digital divide. This study specifically looks at the case of Pakistan, and how the country's digital inequalities are increasing in terms of the public's access and their use of the Internet and information and communication technology (ICT) devices.

There is a vast literature that examines the determinants of the gender digital gap in developing countries, and puts forth policy recommendations to mitigate it. However, few studies examine how gender differences in labor force participation and employment patterns affect ICT adoption in general, or Internet use in particular.

This paper analyses the deployment of high-speed broadband networks in the European Union (EU). Its aim is to assess the investment required to meet the targets set by the European Commission (EC) for 2025, within the framework of the European Gigabit Society (EGS). This plan aims to ensure the availability and take-up of very high-capacity fixed and wireless networks, in both urban and rural areas, among households and the main socio-economic drivers.