Bits of power : the involvement of municipal electric utilities in broadband services

Municipal electric utilities have been increasingly involved in telecommunications during the last decade. This research investigates why, with three hypotheses. First, the probability of MEUs involvement in telecommunications responds to technology-based economies of scope from internal services deployed to support their power business. Second, MEUs' likelihood for offering telecommunication services decreases in presence of restrictive regulatory framework and low levels of local discretionary authority (LDA). Third, MEUs involvement in telecommunications decreases in the presence of competitive alternatives. The hypotheses are tested using quantitative response models, controlling for deployment cost and demographic characteristics. Results confirm the existence of a technology-push generated by economies of scope between internal services supporting the power business and offering external telecommunication services. One reason for this, as qualitative analysis supports, would be the uniqueness of MEU communities as resulting from historical and technological path-dependence, which makes the MEU phenomenon unlikely to be repeated by local governments in non-MEU communities. Additionally, results support that MEUs' likelihood for offering telecommunication services is reduced by regulations explicitly prohibiting it, but shows that low LDA, as measured by Dillon's Rule, does not have a significant effect. Results show a complex effect for competition. MEUs likelihood for offering telecom services in residential markets decreases with cable modem competition, but their activity in business market increases with competition from DSL. This suggests that MEUs' services substitute for cable television companies', but are non-redundant

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Osorio Urzúa, Carlos A. (Carlos Alberto), 1968-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Sharon Eisner Gillett and William H. Lehr.

• Technology and Policy Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/27021

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/27021