Call For Papers
FTTH
The communications infrastructure of the next decades
No. 78 – 2nd quarter 2010
Editors: Karl-Heinz NEUMANN & Lorenzo PUPILLO
Many carriers around the world are investing in high bitrate broadband infrastructure. While most carriers have already developed their core networks towards a modern IP and NGN infrastructure, the access part of the networks in most countries still is the bottleneck for the provision of high bandwidth.
It is common sense among experts that a FTTH network infrastructure will be the most capable and reliable network infrastructure for Next Generation Access. Other NGA architectures will have their role in the transition phase towards a universal FTTH infrastructure. At the same time it is obvious that a move towards FTTH requires significant investment to replace the existing copper network infrastructure. Given the overall financial crisis and the shrinking business of telecommunications carriers it is hard to imagine how today's operators will be able to migrate their current network structures towards FTTH networks in a few years.
In some Asian countries we can observe a significant investment in FTTH and a significant service penetration. Europe in total is lacking behind this development. Only a few European countries can rely on a penetration rate of more than 3% for FTTH access.
Before this background this call for papers invites interested authors to develop their thoughts on how Europe can close its current gap in fibre development. We also invite papers on case studies on successful fibre projects in Europe. Furthermore, we invite papers which will analyse the national broadband plans which have been developed by some European Governments to foster the deployment of NGA.
The papers of this C&S dossier should address the following issues:
• What are the key objectives, elements and instruments of the different national broadband strategies?
• What is the actual role of the state across the different national broadband strategies?
• What are the key elements of public and PPP-operator models?
• What are the economic and regulatory conditions and prerequisites of successful fibre projects?
• What are the options for fiber networks investments and what are the impacts on market structure?
• Which models of network infrastructure sharing are more effective to combine incentives to invest and market openness?
• What are the pros and cons of the current fibre open access models (including operational, functional and structural separation)?
Please send proposals (full papers) on 26 March 2010 at the latest, to:
s.nigon@idate.fr
The economics of cybersecurity
A hitchhiker's guide to trusted third parties and other strange digital encounters
No. 79 – 3rd quarter 2010
Editors: Loretta ANANIA, Johannes M. BAUER & Michel van EETEN
Recent news events prove that cybersecurity concerns are now at the center of attention, not only for specialists and government policy makers, but for individuals and enterprises active in the information societies. Computers worldwide are increasingly infested with malware, often intentionally harmful, and without the knowledge of the machine's owners. Infected computers and botnets are being utilized to commit various types of cybercrime against individuals, organizations, and countries. Malicious uses range from phishing attempts to forms of financial fraud and extortion. In addition to considerable direct costs from damages, the cost of preventative measures can be a considerable obstacle and disincentive to act responsibly. ICT technology convergence and the migration to portable mobile communications, along with the blossoming of social networks and possibly a scenario where cloud computing offers massive storage of personal data, all point to the new challenges for cybersecurity .
Economic analysis suggests that cybersecurity is not only a concern but also an opportunity for the ICT sector, in view of providing new services that can bring significant improvements in the legitimate use of ICT. Soon, knowledge discovery through direct access to heterogeneous databases could be used to identify potential risk and to cross-check for significant events that affect cybersecurity. Factors shaping the economics of cybersecurity include the trustworthiness and interdependence of stakeholders, the heterogeneity of players and sources of malware, notwithstanding technical interoperability and other implicit factors.
In this issue C&S will investigate mainly the economic choices and system aspects of cybersecurity, seen from either a micro or macro perspective. Due to the interconnected and open nature of internet as a global system, devising solutions to the problem of cybersecurity can be difficult to implement as centralized or imposed (top down) solutions. Decentralized solutions need to take factors that shape the economics of cybersecurity as well as the challenges of finding workable policy and management responses into account.
C&S encourages authors to submit new ideas and articles that illustrate the empirical and theoretical approaches that have emerged to safeguard acceptable levels of cybersecurity for all the legitimate internet users and their increasingly sophisticated communicating devices.
Topics of interest for this C&S dossier include but are not limited to:
• How can governments and businesses ensure a strong business case for greater cybersecurity (e.g. by improving coordination, price signalling, reinforcing best practices, mandating standardization, encouraging new forms of financing including private-public partnerships in flagship projects, incentives for R&D and Innovation)?
• What are the economic impacts of different cybersecurity choices and policies at national and global levels?
• How to avoid excessive rule-based rigidity and achieve greater risk efficiency in ICT usage ?
• How can governments and businesses encourage more cybersecurity conscious or savvy behaviours from end users in their daily use of ICT?
• What role can and should intermediaries like ISPs and financial institutions play in the protection of end users?
• How to coordinate the upgrading of broadband networks and Cloud computing or ICT Grids to support development of trusted systems that respond to user needs?
• What are the challenges for cybersecurity created by the rapid expansion of mobile data communications and social networks?
• How can the gaps between ICT users, security experts, and policy makers be bridged effectively?
• How to cope with the fact that ICT cybersecurity covers widely separate industries with different modus operandi and regulatory bodies?
• How can the Internet and the ICT research communities help tackle cybersecurity challenges in developing nations?
Please send proposals (full papers) before April 26th 2010 to:
s.nigon@idate.fr
Broadband for All
No. 80 - 4th quarter 2010
Editors: Ken DUCATEL & Marc LEBOURGES
In a few short years access to high speed internet services has become all but essential to full participation in society. Not only is such access necessary for basic services such as communication by email and for surfing the web but government services are often now much more easily available on line than through traditional over-the-counter services. In the short term, it is expected that other essential services such as ehealth and telemedicine will rise in importance, nor least because the ageing of the population in many developed economies is promoting a search for cost effective care in their own homes for people with chronic medical conditions. In addition, online information and participation in societal affairs over the internet is growing in importance.
These developments raise the question as to whether access to broadband has not become a basic right. The best mechanisms for assuring universal broadband coverage and penetration are however not the same in one place as another. In some countries effective 100% coverage has been achieved without direct political intervention. Licence coverage obligations may also contribute to geographical coverage, as can be observed in mobile markets Elsewhere, different approaches for achieving universality have been tried ranging from spectrum licences with overage obligations, grants and loans to attract investments into underserved areas, through subsidies for take-up in order to increase effective demand to the establishment of a sectoral universal service fund. In a few countries this right has been formally recognized in a universal service obligation and other countries are considering such steps. These different approaches have different impacts on competition depending on the nature of the broadband services provided (e.g. the minimum speed defined as necessary), the geography of networks, the effectiveness of competition and the capacity and willingness of public authorities to invest where markets fail.
Comparing the relative performances of fixed and mobile markets regarding coverage and of penetration may also bring light on the impact of market structures on the universality of service.
The papers of this C&S dossier will address both theoretical and empirical aspects of achieving broadband for all, including:
• Critical analysis of the logic for intervening in the provision of broadband: why should the state get involved?
• Timing issues
• Central vs. decentralised responsibility in BB for all policies
• Pros and cons of technological neutrality in the provision of BB, taking into account differences in performances and in costs of technologies
• Analyses of the impact of different mechanisms (e.g. market structure, obligation, grants, state provision, stimulation of demand) for achieving 100% broadband coverage especially as regards outcomes and effect on competition
• Critical review of experiences with universal service regimes and other broadband for all policies so far.
• The economic efficiency trade-offs between a 100% target versus coverage targets of high speed broadband for a more modest proportion of the population
• Cost benefit analysis of pursuing high coverage targets versus the stimulation of take-up, given that more than 50% of potential subscribers do not take-up broadband.
• BB service price, e-literacy, computer financial and cultural affordability as critical parameters of universal BB penetration
• Rationales for choosing certain speeds over others in terms of the functionality of internet services
• Ability of different policy regimes to accommodate the trend towards faster broadband and to accommodate an eventual shift to next generation access
• The prospective roles of fixed and wireless modes of access
• Likely impact of changes in legal frameworks on the roll-out of broadband for all.
Please send proposals on 15 May 2010 at the latest, to:
s.nigon@idate.fr
Submission of papers
All papers submitted for publication will be reviewed using the "double blind" system by at least two referees, selected based on the subject matter of the paper, from the journal's panel of referees. Shorter articles appearing in the "Features" section are refereed at the discretion of the Editor.
Proposals must be submitted in Word format (.doc) and must not exceed 6,000 to 7,000 words. Please ensure that your illustrations (graphics, figures, etc.) are in black and white - excluding any color - and are of printing quality. Please put bibliographical references at the end of the article. Should these references appear in the text, please indicate the author's name and the year of publication between brackets.
