Business case assessments of fixed and mobile broadband access networks deployments

The use of high-speed broadband communications is proven to enhance the quality of life of residential users and to increase the overall productivity for business users. Moreover, broadband access implementation in rural areas overcomes a digital divide between urban and rural areas, currently present in Croatian areas, as well. Hence, this paper deals with the broadband deployment in Croatian rural areas encouraged by the new Croatian Broadband Development Strategy. The objective of the paper is to compare and highlight the differences between the results of several previously conducted analyses concerning broadband access implementation in Croatian rural areas, giving special attention to differences in costs and benefits between fixed and mobile broadband access implementation scenarios. In the first chapter, an overview of an existing situation in the EU and the Croatian broadband markets is presented. Furthermore, the second chapter introduces the techno-economic planning process of fixed and mobile broadband networks implementation carried out in a several types of Croatian rural areas. In addition, the results of the techno-economic analyses of the deployment of fixed and mobile broadband access networks in a given scenarios are referred and the cost-effectiveness of broadband implementation networks for that scenarios are presented using basic profitability evaluation methods. The results of the sensitivity analyses for the key input cost parameters are also referred. Finally, the results of these analyses are compared, and the specificities of different analyzed cases are highlighted.