Telecom infrastructures are facing unprecedented challenges, with increasing demands on network capacity. Today, network operators must determine how to expand the existing access network infrastructure into networks capable of satisfying the user’s requirements. Thus, in this context, providers need to identify the technological solutions that enable them to profitably serve customers and support future needs. However, the identification of the “best” solution is a difficult task. Although the cost of bandwidth in the active layer has reduced significantly (and continually) in recent years, the cost of the civil works—such as digging and trenching—represents a major barrier for operators to deploy NGA infrastructure. Duct is a critical part of the next-generation access networks, and its sharing would reduce or eliminate this capital cost and this barrier to entry. The aim of this paper is to provide a better understanding of the economics of broadband access networks technologies (wireline and wireless), their role in the deployment of several services in different regions, and the development of competition in the access networks. 1. Introduction The need for telecommunication networks with higher capacity is becoming a reality all over the world. However, there is a recognized disparity between broadband availability in urban and rural areas. Preexisting rural telecommunications infrastructure is generally poor and unevenly distributed in favor of urban centers [1]. In most rural areas, low population density and high deployment costs discourage private investment, creating a negative feedback of limited capacity, high prices, and low service demand. It is costly to build telecommunications networks in rural areas. Further, in many cases, there is not a good commercial business case for rural deployments; established, competitive service providers already offer solutions for urban and suburban areas, yet there is little or no commitment to connect areas that include smaller towns and rural villages [2]. The deployment of access network broadband services in low competition areas is characterized by low subscriber densities, longer loop lengths, lower duct availability, and, consequently, higher infrastructure costs compared to high competition areas. The rapid development of new-generation applications requires upgrading the access infrastructure a necessity for higher throughput requirements and communication demands. These applications include high-definition television (HDTV), peer-to-peer (P2P) applications, video on demand, interactive games,
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