Advanced economic evaluation techniques for rural telecommunications projects

Following some general observations on the role of economic evaluation in rural telecommunications planning, the paper illustrates the application of computer-based modelling to some examples, both real (case studies) and hypothetical. The authors begin with a hypothetical example-the introduction of telephone service into villages clustered around an urban centre. They then consider some examples taken from the work of the REVOLVE Project within the CEC´s RACE Programme, where case study models have been used to investigate the economics of introducing broadband technologies into the rural and peripheral areas of Europe; issues considered include technology choice, provision strategy, and economic constraints on demand