Broadband Diffusion--estimate the Value of National Broadband Network - Report Example

? Broadband diffusion--estimating the value of national broadband network and Contents PROPOSAL 2 Research problem 2 Research questions 3 Approaches and methods 3 Required resources 3 Research plan 3 Study design 4 Data collection tool (Questionnaire) 5 Recommendations 11 Conclusion 12 Broadband diffusion--estimating the value of national broadband network PROPOSAL Research problem Australia has recently been faced with a significant rise in population coupled by change in climate, hence experiencing significant impacts on the well-being of Australians. These issues present serious challenges, hence calling for innovative ways of using the existing infrastructure, without the need to invest in additional capacity. In regards to this, smart use of an NBN-empowered digital technology could be a significant tool to help in managing of these challenges. Research questions 1. Who are the users of NBN in Melbourne? 2. What are the major applications of NBN by those who have adopted it? 3. What are the benefits/values of NBN to its users? 4. What barriers and problems do the users of NBN face during its application/adoption? Approaches and methods This study will adopt a positivist quantitative approach. The data will be collected from a 40 households from Melbourne area, who will be randomly selected. This will be achieved by use of a survey designed with relevant questions to examine the value of NBN amongst its users. The results of the survey will be analyzed quantitatively, with the aim of finding common patterns that will lead to conclusion. Required resources To effectively conduct the study, the researcher will require about 50 copies of questionnaires, services of two research assistant, stationery such as pencils, rubbers, and two note books. The researcher will also require budgeting for the major expenses that will be incurred in conducting of the study such as transport, communication, and ancillary expanses. Research plan The following table shows the study’s timeline, from development of a plan through submission of the report. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Development of a plan x x Analysis of historical data x x x x Conduct field work x x x x x x x Submit manuscript x x x Model development x x x x x x x x x x x Defend the concept x Submit final report x x Study design The premise of the paper has been defined within a positivist dimension, and as such a quantitative analysis of the data collected will be conducted to try and estimate the value of NBN in Melbourne. A Survey will be conducted, targeted on a total of 40 households and business people from Melbourne area. This survey will be intended to provide insight into household adoption of NDN and its value. The survey will aid in examining how the households and business people have adopted NBN; the reasons they have adopted them; how they preserve NBN; and how they understand broadband services. Other areas of interest will be on how adoption of NBN affects households’ devises at home, use of internet, and the cost of communication, among other related issues. The survey will be conducted using questionnaires, designed to give answers to the research questions. Some of the advantages that have inspired the researcher to select questionnaire over other data collection tools include the following: (1) It is less expensive because it requires less financial and human resources; (2) Its use can ensure reach of many respondents; (3) The respondents get opportunity to think about how to answer the questions; (4) Since there is no face-to-face interaction, the respondents who would like to hide their identity will be encouraged to participate; and (5) The data is pre-coded and hence its analysis is quite easy (Berg,1998). Once collection of data was completed; it was captured in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. This data was then analyzed using the IBM SPSS 11.0 package. The data was described using descriptive statistics as well as frequency tables. According to Hussey and Hussey (1997), descriptive statistics are ideal for reviewing and displaying of quantitative data, hence producing relationships and patterns that can be explained, something that is not possible with raw data. In order to check data errors and consistency, the researcher produced frequency tables for the questions posed in the questionnaire. In addition, the researcher worked out the means, sample sizes, standard deviations and any other statistical measures that helped derive more meaning from the questions. Data collection tool (Questionnaire) The following questionnaire was presented to the sampled households for filling. 1. What kind of user you are? (If you choose B, please skip to question 8) A. Personal 65% B. Business and Enterprise 35% 2. What is your age? A.0 to 17 2.8% B.18 to 21 9.0% C.22 to 25 12.8% D.26 to 30 16.8% E.31 to 40 24.1% F.41 to 50 15.4% G.51 or more 19.0% 3. How many people frequently use your broadband connection? A.1 15.0% B.2 39.9% C.3 19.2% D.4 15.8% E.5 or more 9.7% 4. When the NBN is rolled out in your neighborhoods. A.I will ensure my house/unit is included 69.9% B.I won't do anything 15.0% C.I will ensure my house/unit is opted out 3.5% D.I do not own a property 11.6% 5. What speed would you select if you were to move onto the NBN? A.I wouldn't switch 9.8% B.12 Mbit down / 1 Mbit up 8.6% C.25 / 5 13.7% D.50 / 20 19.2% E.100 / 40 20.5% F.250 / 100 or faster 22.8% G.No choice: probably in a wireless zone 4.1% H.No choice: probably in a satellite zone 1.2% 6. How much more per month would you be willing to pay to get this speed? A.I wouldn't switch 4.2% B.I wouldn't switch unless it was cheaper 12.9% C.I wouldn't pay more 35.5% D.$10 more per month 17.9% E.$20 more per month 13.9% F.$30 more per month 5.1% G.$40 more per month 2.0% H.$50 more per month 4.4% I.Whatever it costs 4.2% 7. Why do you have broadband? From this list, pick what is important to you. (When finish this question, please skip to question 14.) A.Fast downloads 77.8% B.Always-on web access 77.3% C.Fast web surfing 76.3% D.Always-on email 66.3% E.Downloading TV shows/movies/music 55.5% F.BitTorrent 45.4% G.Online gaming 44.1% H.Working from home 40.8% I.Voice over IP (phone calls over the internet) 37.4% J.Instant messaging 36.8% K.Video chat with friends and family 30.5% L.Purchasing or renting TV shows/movies/music 19.7% M.Running a server 16.8% N.Podcasts 16.6% 8. Job sector (any data you want) 9. How easily can you budget for an internet connection? A.Difficult - "I have difficulty finding the money each month." 2.9% B.Borderline - "There's room in the budget, but only just." 18.2% C.Moderate - "Internet fees generally aren't an issue." 38.8% D.Easily - "I have the service I want, price not a big concern." 22.7% E.Very easily - "I wouldn't give a moment's thought to it." 15.6% 10. What brand of modem are you using? (any data you want) 11. What is the main use of NBN? A. Internet Direct B. Office Mobility C. Whispir Messaging D. Messaging E.WAN Optimizations 12. How many employees you have in your company? (any data you want) 13. How many computers (desktops or laptops) are connected to your broadband connection? (any data you want) 14. What is your current sentiment about the National Broadband Network? A.Very positive 25.0% B.Positive 33.7% C.Neutral 19.3% D.Negative 12.1% E.Very negative 7.7% F.No opinion 2.2% 15. What is your future expectation for NBN? Findings The study’s findings show that, despite the ongoing challenges facing the introduction and adoption of NBN in Melbourne, many households and business people are significantly interested with the new technology. Between 2010 and 2012, the number of users in Melbourne who have adopted an active NBN connection increased from 15% to 35%. This rate is likely to increase further in the future considering that the number of those who strongly agreed that the NBN is a good idea was more than those who had adopted the technology. Despite the fact that many people acknowledged the usefulness of NBN, many of them had not connected its network because of a number of factors, which they revealed (Bowles, 2009). These include user’s unfamiliarity with broadband network, lack of awareness of the availability of NBN, potential; user’s waiting for retail initiatives to come up, potential user’s unfamiliarity with broadband technology, and confusion of the process of installation especially the requirement that landlords, rather than tenants, to sign off on the agreement, among many other reasons. Generally speaking, the majority of those who took up NBN were home-owners (62%), followed by business people (26%), while the tenants trailed at 15%. Nevertheless, the tenants seemed to have penchant for individual wireless broadband services for the purposes of flexibility, housing mobility, and individual billing. An increase in household adoption of NBN was also witnessed from the data, which could be understood to mean that most of the hurdles, including installation and awareness issues, had been addressed accordingly. In all types of household connections, NBN decision-making is essentially enhanced by the perception of the value of internet service. In connection to this, many of those who were interviewed, including those who adopted NBN and those who did not adopt it, reported that value was the leading motivating factor. For those who had NBN connections, they cited that the value for their current internet service was motivated by satisfaction by the current plan, satisfaction with ADSL, performance, and the reduced cost. In addition, those with NBN connection maintained that value was associated with personal advantages in respect to wider economic and community benefits, as well as speed and data volume. In spite of the challenges faced by those who did not adopt NBN, from the data collected, it was evident that the cost of household internet did not necessarily increase due to adoption of high-speed NBN. In this view, for almost half of those who participated in this study, they stated that NBN had no real impact in the cost of internet. However, for those who revealed that the cost increased as a result of NBN adoption (22%), this came with an added value such as increased speed of internet. On the other hand, for those whose cost diminished (9%), they revealed that this reduction was associated with a change in the service plan; that is, shifting from an expensive plan to a cheaper plan such as a VoIP telephone service. Of those who had adopted NBN, 59% revealed that the volume of internet had at least gone up to some level. The households that adopted NBN were more likely to be associated with use of internet especially the advanced online activities, though the study could did not get any evidence that this relationship is causal. The household adoption of NBN is almost twice (35%) compared to adoption for the purpose of business (17%). The most significant value that was attached to NBN adoption includes its data capacity and speed. Such value is known to be associated with upsurge in the digital economy for both leisure time and official duties. While there were a variety of reasons why different participants adopted NBN in Melbourne, there was an undisputed agreement that NBN was of critical importance to the whole nation especially in the promotion of the economy and provision of universal digital inclusion. The other important factor that was cited by many is that NBN can lead to competitiveness of the national economy. By and large, 75% of those who participated in the study strongly supported that NBN is an important initiative, especially because it contributed to development of the whole nation, enhanced national productivity, led to connection of the rural areas, improved the country’s future prospects, and helped the entire Australia gain global competitiveness. Recommendations In view of this study, introduction of NBN has added innumerable benefits to many households and business people in Australia, though there are a few hurdles that need to be addressed to make the initiative more valuable. In this regards, the following strategies can be undertaken by the government with the help of Innovative & Business Skills Australia (IBSA), in order to ensure the users enjoy full potential of the initiative. Improve the pool of IT labour in order to support NBN implementation and maintenance. Enhance the level of digital literacy skills in Australia. This would help improve the problem of access and equity as well as the rural-urban digital divide perceptions. Besides, this would help maintain the investment and the continuing competitiveness of investors and telecommunications companies, in high broadband that depend on swift adoption by critical mass users. Encourage small business involvement and adoption of new ways of doing business such as the e-business model. Encourage businesses to participate in innovation in order to create competitive advantage by developing new devices, services or applications that use high speed broadband. Engage in improvement of education and training policy and incentives, with the aim of enabling adoption of ICT in Australia, especially through regional or industry programmes that are dependent of high speed broadband. Conclusion Although most of those who were surveyed agreed that NBN has a significant value that contributes to multiple aspects of personal and national development, the consumers of NBN remains in the darkness regarding many fundamental technical components of NBN, especially the structures of retailing. For a case in point, while many households are fully aware of monthly data allowance, many of them do not understand the speed of their data plans. This problem has impeded the adoption and usability of the rather beneficial NBN plan. Apparently, the past retail pricing have continued to dominate the consumers’ knowledge about internet plans, whose measurements were based on volume rather than speed. As a matter of fact, the essence of NBN is its upload and downloads speed, and therefore it is important that NBN Co. creates awareness on this issue so this problem can be tackled once and for all. Furthermore, the government and other interested stakeholders should come up with policies to aid development of extensive, integrated supply-side education and training in order to improve adoption of ICT and more so to encourage investment in businesses that require use of high speed broadband infrastructure. The findings of this report also clearly confirm that adoption of NBN can help households and business people in Australia compete in digital economy, which offers paramount value to Australia. It is also evident that there is a strong relationship between Australia’s economic development and improvement in social wellbeing through adoption of NBN, especially if efforts are made to drive the development of ICT skills, innovation, use and implementation (Gyarmati, et.al. 2010). References Berg, B., 1998. Qualitative research methods for the social sciences. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. Bowles, M. (June 2009), IBSA and the National Broadband Network rollout and Digital Economy. Melbourne: Internal Report, IBSA. Gyarmati, A., Solyom, B. Csoto, M., Nyary, M., Molnar, S., Borovitz, T. & Kovacs, T. (February 2010), Information Society Policies. Annual World Report 2009. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) & Information Society Research Institute of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics: Budapest. Sourced August 2010 at http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29547/12668551003ifap_world_report_2009.pd f/ifap_world_report_2009.pdf. Hussey, J. and Hussey, R., 1997. Business research: a practical guide for undergraduate and postgraduate studies. London: Macmillan Business. Read More