Search results

The purpose of this study is to use the structural model to determine the influence of mobile telecommunication on Egypt’s economic growth from 2000 to 2009. By focusing on mobile unique subscribers and mobile broadband-capable device penetration as indicators of telecommunications adoption, the authors seek to understand their overarching effects on the nation’s economic landscape.

The paper uses quarterly time-series data set over the period 2000–2019 and uses a structural econometric model based on an aggregate production function, a demand function, a supply function and an infrastructure function to detect causality and examine long-run relationships between variables.

The findings of the structural model reveal that both mobile unique subscribers and mobile broadband-capable device penetration significantly contributed to Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth from 2000 to 2019. Specifically, a 1% increase in mobile unique subscriber penetration and mobile broadband-capable device adoption is estimated to result in an average annual contribution to GDP growth of 0.172% and 0.016%, respectively.

The scarcity of panel data is the main research limitation for comparative study with other Middle East and North African Region (MENA) countries. Research extensions would include testing the significance of complementarities such as improving governance measures and building human capacity for both households and firms, which are necessary to boost the impact of telecommunication on economic growth in the MENA region.

Based on these findings, the study puts forth policy recommendations aimed at maximizing investment in network utilization, including mobile and internet services, as well as fixed broadband subscriptions. It highlights the crucial role of these investments in promoting social and economic development, not only in Egypt but also across the MENA region as a whole.

The findings of this research emphasize the importance of strategic investments in network utilization, encompassing mobile, internet services and fixed broadband subscriptions. Such investments are pivotal for fostering social and financial inclusion. The study underscores the potential of these investments to drive social and economic progress, not just within Egypt but throughout the entire MENA region.

Overall, existing literature generally supports the notion that the telecommunications sector has a positive economic impact. However, there is a gap in the literature when it comes to understanding the specific effects of the Egyptian telecommunications sector on the country’s economy, particularly in relation to the Egypt Vision 2030. The study aims to fill this gap by focusing specifically on Egypt and providing additional insights into the direct and indirect effects of the Egyptian telecommunications sector on the economy. By conducting a thorough analysis of the sector’s role, the authors aim to contribute to the existing literature by providing context-specific findings and recommendations.

This paper aims to study the economic effects of Cloud Computing for a sample of Israeli firms. The authors propose a framework that considers how this technology affects firm performance also introducing the indirect economic effects that take place through cloud-complementary technologies such as Big Data and Machine Learning.

The model is estimated through structural equation modeling. The data set consists of the microdata of the survey of information and communication technologies uses and cyber protection in business conducted in Israel by the Central Bureau of Statistics.

The results point to Cloud Computing as a crucial technology to increase firm performance, presenting significant direct and indirect effects as the use of complementary technologies maximizes its impact. Firms that enjoy most direct economic gains from Cloud Computing appear to be the smaller ones, although larger enterprises seem more capable to assimilate complementary technologies, such as Big Data and Machine Learning. The total effects of cloud on firm performance are quite similar among manufacturing and service firms, although the composition of the different effects involved is different.

This paper is one of the very few analyses estimating the impact of Cloud Computing on firm performance based on country microdata and, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first one that contemplates the indirect economic effects that take place through cloud-complementary technologies such as Big Data and Machine Learning.

The purpose of this paper is to measure the cumulative, holistic impact of discrete information and communication technologies. It also provides a glimpse of applications and service adoption, which complements more traditional perspectives such as technology penetration. This approach is utilized to measure achievements in implementing a policy such as Europe's Digital Agenda.

Measuring digitization should cover the transition to digitally intensive societies across multiple sets of metrics, capturing not only technology penetration, but also its use in order to understand the full impact of digitization. For this purpose, a composite index was developed based on six overarching components: affordability, infrastructure investment, network access, capacity, usage, and human capital.

These concepts were utilized to assess Europe's performance in terms of its digitization. Significant gaps were highlighted both in terms of its uneven development, but also in terms of lags in the areas of infrastructure investment and digital technology usage. The economic payback to be generated by pro-actively addressing these gaps promises to be significant.

From a policy standpoint, the paper raises an interesting hypothesis to be explored in the European context: while the implementation of the Digital Agenda could be tackled in an overarching continental manner, particularities in each member country digitalization might raise the need for a more differentiated approach. In particular, European countries at the transitional stage should emphasize the creation of necessary incentives to accelerate investment in telecommunications networks. Additionally, demand promotion strategies focused on digital literacy and content development appear to be a critical lever to enhancing digitization. On the other hand, the policy challenges for the advanced countries appear to cluster around investment in infrastructure and the development of human capital.

Previous attempts to measure the impact of ICT have focused primarily on measuring and assessing the economic effects of widespread access to either wireless or broadband technology. This approach puts additional emphasis on two dimensions: cumulative impact of information and communication technologies and usage.

Digitization is defined as the social transformation triggered by the massive adoption of digital technologies to generate, process, share and transact information. This paper seeks to present a methodology followed to calculate the Digitization Index, a concept originally developed by Booz & Company, the global management consulting firm, with the support of the authors.

This index consists of six elements capturing Ubiquity, Affordability, Reliability, Speed, Usability and Skill and 24 sub‐indicators measuring tangible parameters of perceived digitization metrics.

The index indicates that countries are clustered as Digitally Constrained, Emerging, Transitional or Advanced, with varying degrees of contribution of digitization to economic growth. The Index is used to assess the situation of Latin American countries in terms of their progression to digitally advanced societies. In this context, the areas to focus on in the formulation of Latin America digital agenda are outlined.

Until now, most indices that measure progress towards this new era have focused primarily on metrics such as wireless telephony penetration, access to the internet and broadband adoption. The paper argues that these indices, even those that are more comprehensive in scope (Network Readiness Index by the World Economic Forum, or the Digital Opportunity Index by the International Telecommunication Union) capture only a portion of the ongoing transformations.

This paper aims to describe best practice in pricing strategy for new products and services being introduced to a market.

A review of introductory pricing patterns across a number of industries shows there are some common patterns in customer evaluation of new products and services. Study of customer behavior can be closely tracked where there is an ongoing relationship with the buyer, e.g. online services, software as a service, professional or technical services, consumables, consumer products and sometimes capital items with service suites and warranties (e.g. medical devices). The means for inferring and tracking customer understanding, beliefs and values is to quantify usage patterns, service call‐ins, warranty requirements and trade‐out of the new product/service for newer products and services.

This article examines customer behaviors to suggest that there are three phases to customer product or service adoption: a “learning” phase, where the customer or potential customer (in trial) learns about the products, its attributes, features, utility and value; a “use” phase where the customer has learned how to use the service or product, and is appreciating the value of the product, and using a lot; and a “reassessment” phase. Now the customer is very familiar with the product, the novelty and mystery has worn off, and they wonder if there is an equivalent substitute available for a lower cost.

A bad introductory pricing strategy can destroy price levels and destroy a market, not to mention cost a company a lot of money. For some years many new product/service sponsors believed the best pricing approach for new products and services was to offer it for free. This paper shows that this simple approach is both ineffective and impracticable for most companies. The better approach is to understand customer product adoption cycles, and link the introductory pricing strategy to customer understanding and behavior.

Contends the Internet is a medium for commerce, marketing, advertising and distribution, as well as invention, entertainment and discussion. Reckons that on the Internet there is only on certainty – when creative destruction reigns it is business as usual. Concludes that succeeding in the global Internet economy is very difficult, and survival is far from assured.

For the 15 member states of the Caribbean Community (Caricom) to join and to introduce a measure of equity to the emergent global information society, they must be able to manage and exploit digital communication networks, technologies, products and services in ways that nurture and advance Caribbean knowledge, culture and development. This requires a type of digital access to the new telecommunication infrastructures these small developing countries as yet have been unable to attain. As a consequence, this paper develops a six‐layered model of societal access that includes physical, financial, cognitive, secure, administrative and operational components, and argues that in the absence of all of these layers functioning together, less advanced economies like those in the Caricom grouping cannot begin to build local innovation, foster knowledge creation and advocate increased equity in the evolving networked society.

Governments around the world are providing multi‐billion dollar subsidies to roll out fiber to the home (FTTH) to enable superfast broadband (50 Mbps and above). The premise for this is a belief that superfast broadband brings substantial economic and societal benefits. This paper's purpose is to examine whether this belief is well founded.

The authors critically review the arguments most commonly made in favor of FTTH, examining their logic and underlying evidence.

The paper finds that these arguments often inappropriately use benefits of basic broadband to make the case for the upgrade to superfast broadband, or use the benefits of providing superfast to business premises to argue for providing superfast to homes. The authors find the evidence that basic broadband brings economic growth is patchy, and that frequently studies that argue for a link do not adequately distinguish between correlation and causation.

Thus the authors conclude that the conventional wisdom that FTTH will bring substantial economic and societal benefits and therefore deserves a subsidy is, at best, much overstated. The case has simply not been made that FTTH has sufficient incremental externalities over other forms of broadband. This is an important conclusion for politicians, policy makers, telecoms providers and taxpayers, and suggests that billions of dollars of public money may be being wasted.