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PRESS RELEASE (final)
High-Quality Broadband Essential to Growth of the Worlds
Knowledge
Economies
New Study Evaluates Nations Readiness to Support Next-Generation
Video and Web Services
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Sept 12, 2008 The results of a new
study into the quality ofbroadband connections experienced by
consumers in 42 countries were released today to highlight
eachnations current ability to benefit from next-generation web
applications and services. The study,focusing on countries in
Europe, North America, the Organization for Economic Co-operation
andDevelopment (OECD), Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs), was
conducted by a team of MBAstudents from the Sad Business School at
the University of Oxford and the University of OviedosDepartment of
Applied Economics, and sponsored by Cisco.
Sweden and The Netherlands had the best performing broadband
connections in Europe, a result ofincreasing investments in fiber
and cable network upgrades, coupled with competition diversity,
andsupported by strong government vision and policy. Over half of
the 42 countries studied enjoyed
broadband connections at the level of performance required to
deliver a consistent quality experiencefor most common web
applications today, but some major countries such as the UK, Spain
and Italy onaverage fell just below this threshold. Japan, a nation
that made an early commitment to investing inbroadband as a source
of competitive advantage, had by far the highest Broadband Quality
score of the42 countries studied and was the only country currently
prepared to deliver the quality required fornext-generation web
applications over the next 3 to 5 years.
The Broadband Quality study was developed on the premise that
the new generation of webapplications will rely on a higher level
of performance of broadband connections, explained
AlastairNicholson from Sad Business School at the University of
Oxford. Average download speeds areadequate for web browsing, email
and basic video downloading and streaming, but we are seeing
moreinteractive applications, more user-generated content being
uploaded and shared, and an increasing
amount of high-quality video services becoming available.
Moreover, because the study also foundsignificant correlation
between a nations broadband quality and its advancement as a
knowledgeeconomy
1, policy makers may need to consider how to create an
environment to improve key
broadband performance parameters in the future.
1 Based on the World Banks Knowledge Economy Index which
measures how each country uses knowledge efficiently to
develop its economy
http://www.oecd.org/http://www.oecd.org/http://www.oecd.org/http://www.oecd.org/
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The broadband gap can no longer be seen as a penetration divide,
Professor Mara Rosala Vicentefrom University of Oviedo pointed out.
It is also a quality and capacity divide, and therefore, a dividein
the range of services people can access and use.
Using nearly eight million records from actual broadband speed
tests conducted by users around theworld during the month of May
through www.speedtest.net, the research team calculated
statisticalaverages for each country of several key performance
parameters used to determine the quality of abroadband connection.
The team concluded that broadband experience is mainly affected by
broadbandspeeds in both directions, latency, network
oversubscription, and packet loss. These parameters weregrouped
into three major categories: downloadand uploadthroughput, and
latency. The BroadbandQuality Score (BQS) for each country was
determined using a formula that weighted each categoryaccording to
the quality requirements of a set of popular applications now and
in the future. Typicalapplications for today include web browsing,
social networking, music downloads, basic videostreaming and video
chatting, standard definition IPTV, and enterprise-class home
offices. Futureapplications include consumer telepresence for
communications, healthcare and education, high-qualityvideo file
sharing and streaming, high-definition IPTV, cinema-quality live
event broadcasts andadvanced home automation.
By using actual broadband-quality test results, the research
team has given us a fresh insight into whatusers around the world
are really experiencing and whether they can look forward to
enjoying newapplications, said Fernando Gil de Bernab, managing
director at Ciscos Internet Business SolutionsGroup. A nations
leadership in broadband was typically determined by its ranking on
penetration,and now we know that this will not be enough. This
study gives broadband stakeholders, fromgovernments through to
telecom and cable operators and vendors like Cisco, as well as
consumers, abetter understanding of the importance of quality
broadband connections. Without high-qualitybroadband, we will not
be able to take full advantage of the next wave of productivity,
collaborationand entertainment that can be gained from the web.
Fig. 1: Summary of Broadband Quality scores by country.
http://www.speedtest.net/http://www.speedtest.net/
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Notes to Editors:
About the Said Business School, University of Oxford
Established in 1996 the Sad Business School is one of Europes
youngest and most entrepreneurial businessschools with a reputation
for innovative business education. An integral part of Oxford
University, the Schoolembodies the academic rigour and forward
thinking that has made Oxford a world leader in education.
TheSchool has an established reputation for research in a wide
range of areas, including finance and accounting,organisational
analysis, international management, strategy and operations
management. The school is dedicatedto developing a new generation
of business leaders and entrepreneurs and conducting research not
only into thenature of business, but the connections between
business and the wider world. In the Financial Times ranking ofMBA
programmes (Jan 08), Sad is ranked 19
thin the world. This achievement follows the Schools success
in
HM Treasurys 2005 ranking of the top 50 MBA programmes in the
world, where it finished number one out ofall the UK business
schools. In the university league table published by The Guardian
(May 2008), Sad rankedfirst of all UK universities for
undergraduate business for the fifth successive year. The
University of Oxford hasranked top for business studies in The
Times annual report in six of the last seven years. For more
information,
see www.sbs.ox.ac.uk.
The Research TeamSad Business School, University of
OxfordPrashanth AnganiTaegyue KimUtkarsh GuleriYukihiro MisawaThe
research project was undertaken by four MBA students from Sad
Business School as part of theStrategic Consulting Project within
the MBA programme. Working in teams, students undertake an
eight-weekconsulting project for a corporate sponsor.
University of OviedoProf Mara Rosala Vicente
