2. WHAT IS A LOCAL BROADBAND ACCESS NETWORK? A local broadband access network is a network covering a limited area (e.g., a neighborhood, town, rural villages or province) and offering to the local population internet access and related services (e.g., phone calls, distance learning, telemedicine) at a speed higher than 256 kbps in one or both directions. These five elements are briefly described below. •
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Network. A network is a series of points or nodes interconnected by communication paths. Networks can be characterized in terms of spatial distance as local area networks (LANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), and wide area networks (WANs). The networks we analyzed in this study are MAN or WAN that can carry both voice and data, are public and have always ‐on connections using any technology. We do not cover private or dial‐up networks. Limited area. A local broadband access network covers a local community ranging from a town or a province or a region. It could also cover under‐served urban sub‐areas (for example, a slum). Local population. These networks need to provide open access for the entire local community: public and private, business and residential. Access could of course be either free or for a fee. Internet access and related services. The main purpose of these networks is to provide access to the Internet but this may not be the main service offered though. Using voice‐over‐IP, the provider may offer voice services (local and/or regional and/or national and/or international phone calls), telemedicine (i.e., access to a skilled physician through videoconferencing and remote control of medical equipment), e‐learning (the ability, for example, of a student from the Amazon to get a university degree using a computer and webcam without having to migrate to an urban area) or e‐ government services (e.g., access to municipal authorities for certificates and permits). High speed. The speed of a connection (also called its “bandwidth”) is the amount of data that can fit through it per second. It is expressed in thousands (kbps) or millions (Mbps) of bits per second. The definition of “broadband” or “high speed connection” varies from country to country and different international organizations use different minimum speeds for broadband: 128 kbps (Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development), 256 Kbps (OECD) or 256 kbps in one or both directions (ITU). In this study we use the ITU definition of broadband: any always‐on connection to the Internet at a speed of 256 kbps or higher in one or both directions.
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