@article {4060, title = {Broadband and e - Government Services in South East Europe: Comparative Analysis, Impact and Policy Recommendations}, journal = {International Journal of Interdisciplinary Telecommunications and Networking, IGI Global}, volume = {6}, year = {2015}, pages = {39-56}, abstract = {

The European Commission acknowledging the significance of broadband for the improvement of citizen welfare and its economic benefits, has put in place targets for the diffusion of broadband to all citizens and businesses in the European Union. This manuscript comparatively assesses the current state of affairs in broadband and digital public services in selected South East Europe (SEE) countries in order to identify weaknesses and highlight strengths, and attempts to measure the impact and effectiveness of broadband on the economy. To this direction, the authors focus on evaluating the correlation between broadband and growth and employment. They also estimate the savings achieved by the usage of e-services and the potential savings that will follow their increased utilization over the next years. The analysis is followed by a number of recommendations that aim to support informed decision making. The manuscript builds on four surveys that took place during the second quarter of 2013.

}, author = {Konstantinos Antonis and Christos Bouras and Fabrizio D{\textquoteright}Elia and Annalisa Di Vincenzo and Georgios Diles and Vasileios Kokkinos and Andreas Koskeris} } @conference {4070, title = {A Novel Tool for Cost-Efficient Broadband Development through Infrastructure Sharing}, booktitle = {The 20th IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications, Larnaca, Cyprus}, year = {2015}, month = {July 6-9}, pages = {323-328}, abstract = {

Broadband is a public utility with positive effects on competitiveness, employment and growth. Although evidence shows that broadband development is increasing, this increment is not homogeneous between urban and rural areas. The main cause is the high cost for deploying next generation networks in rural areas, and especially the cost linked to civil engineering works. In order to overcome the investment challenges arising in the context of broadband deployment, the European Commission made mandatory the sharing of existing telecommunication and non-telecommunication infrastructures and facilities. This paper proposes and presents a novel tool that enables the estimation of the expected savings from exploiting existing infrastructures when deploying a broadband network. This is followed by a number of general principles and recommendations that policy makers and national authorities could embrace to diminish deployment costs and promote broadband deployment.

}, author = {Christos Bouras and Georgios Diles and Vasileios Kokkinos and Konstantinos Antonis and Leonidas Loukopoulos} } @article {4106, title = {Economic Broadband Development through Infrastructure Sharing}, journal = {International Journal of Business Data Communications and Networking, IGI Global}, volume = {10}, year = {2014}, pages = {21-42}, abstract = {

Broadband is a public utility with positive effects on competitiveness, employment and growth. Although evidence shows that broadband development is increasing, this increment is not homogeneous between urban and rural areas. The main factor is the high cost for deploying next generation networks in rural areas, and especially the cost linked to civil engineering works. In order to overcome the investment challenges arising in the context of broadband deployment, the European Commission made mandatory the sharing of existing telecommunication and non-telecommunication infrastructures and facilities. This manuscript proposes and presents a novel tool that enables the estimation of the expected savings from exploiting existing infrastructures when deploying a broadband network. This is followed by a number of general principles and recommendations that policy makers and national authorities could embrace to diminish deployment costs and promote broadband deployment.

}, author = {Christos Bouras and Konstantinos Antonis and Georgios Diles and Vasileios Kokkinos and Leonidas Loukopoulos} }