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madic broadband. While information on nomadic
broadband users is limited, there appear to be few
differences between fixed, mobile, and nomadic
broadband customers in terms of hours of use,
implying that at least fixed and mobile broadband
are viewed as substitutes by many customers. The
differences shown using both 2006 BCS and 2008
ICSCE datasets include the following statistically
significant findings:
fixed telephony, mobile telephony, as well as actual
usage of each service for fixed and mobile (num-
ber of hours, not just number of occurrences) are
needed. It is difficult to analyze bundles without
detailed knowledge about the package, but since
this is how customers are purchasing the services,
these details are important to gather.
Several important research questions could
drive future directions, including those relating to
nomadic use, market competition, and resolving
cause and effect questions. Regarding nomadic
usage, the analyses indicate that nomadic subscrip-
tions in Portugal follow a different pattern than
does the development of hotspots. This implies
that hotspots are a broader market than nomadic
Portuguese customers. The location choices
and technology impacts of hotspots should be
explored, as should the types of customers who
find nomadic use to be a substitute for fixed or
mobile broadband descriptions. Such analyses
could inform important public policy questions
about regulatory oversight (if any) that might
be appropriate for nomadic subscriptions and
hotspots. This could be particularly important in
countries that are growing rapidly and have large
geographic space.
Market performance is an important ques-
tion. Further work on price elasticities and cross
elasticities would be valuable in the study of a
country's markets and the development of ap-
propriate regulatory policies.
As a matter of important developments for
research techniques, the choice of broadband plan
and usage are endogenous, and the hours of use
of different services are likely correlated. Future
work should examine carefully the cause and ef-
fect relationships, paying particular attention to
the interdependencies.
Finally, it is understood that broadband has
economic impacts. Less well understood are the
societal impacts, more specifically, the impacts of
citizen participation in government, educational
achievement, and other societal engagements.
For example, in Brazil children in low-income
•
Mobile broadband users are slightly less
satisfied than fixed and nomadic with their
service, but fixed and nomadic broadband
customers have about the same degree of
satisfaction.
•
Customers of the three types of access -
fixed, mobile, and nomadic - are similar in
their satisfaction with their service speeds.
•
Most customers do not switch providers.
•
Mobile broadband customers are heavier
users in terms of hours of use than are cus-
tomers of fixed broadband.
•
Mobile broadband subscription is higher
relative to fixed in older age groups.
•
Most regions are similar in their use of
fixed and mobile broadband, but Açores
and Madeira, both island regions, show
relatively more mobile broadband usage
than the other regions.
•
Most respondents who are accessing the
Internet from home multiple times per day
are doing so via fixed communications.
FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
The surveys in Portugal serve to provide important
information on customers and usage. Additional
data on prices for narrowband and broadband (both
fixed and mobile), as well as nomadic, would al-
low the determination of the elasticity between
technologies. Speed information and volume of
traffic both would improve the strength of the
models employed. Actual expenses per month for
service bundles including broadband, television,
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