Diffusion of broadband services: an empirical study

The purpose of this article is to broaden our understanding of the broadband Internet diffusion process. Generic models of the process are analyzed based on the real-world data collected in seven developed countries during the years 2000-2010. The key contribution of this study is threefold: (a) Comparison of simple model predictions with an ensemble of empirical data, showing excellent agreement (b) Introduction of alternative ways of the determination of model parameters from empirical data (c) Introduction of a two-component continuous model, and a discrete-time model that covers monotonic, periodic, or chaotic growth paths The models may be useful in research, planning, managing, and monitoring of broadband services deployment, and in policy considerations.