MODELING THE ECONOMIC-IMPACTS OF BROAD-BAND RESIDENTIAL SERVICES

Significant capital investments are being made by the telecom, cable, data and multimedia industries to deliver a spectrum of broadband serv ices to the residential customer. A total of nearly 0.5 x 10(12) dolla rs of investment is projected for the US alone; yet very little is kno wn about the demand characteristics for such services. While the techn ology push has resulted in a myriad of broadband delivery network arch itectures, no reliable method to capture the ''market pull'' and to do cost/benefit assessment is yet readily available. We survey a variety of economic modeling work done to date, put the research methods into perspective and comment on the results obtained. We point towards the need for more detailed models to analyze market demand and profitabil ity forecasts, raise the issues and challenges in this important field , and give an overview of a comprehensive set of projects held under a state-wide initiative in Georgia funded by the Georgia Research Allia nce and industry partners. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights r eserved.