| Summary: | Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Abstract: High-bandwidth Internet connectivity is proving to be critical infrastructure for the 21st Century and national leaders are looking to shape existing policies and identify new policy tools and initiatives to stimulate the enhancement and expansion of broadband infrastructure. There are a wide variety of national and market-specific factors thought to facilitate increased broadband deployment and adoption of the technology. Demand factors like levels of income, education, and age; supply factors like the existence of legacy infrastructure that can be converted to broadband or the local population density; factors related to the competitive market like price, quality of service, and the number of providers; and policy factors that might ease market entry or incentivize innovation and build-! out of existing infrastructure are all potential drivers of broadband penetration. This thesis presents a broad survey of these factors through the existing econometric literature, next tests these factors through regression analysis, and then examines the broadband market at work in a case-study review of the impact of these factors. The concluding analysis answers the following question: what are the key market factors driving broadband penetration among the leading nations? What are the available policy tools that have been proven to positively stimulate the drivers of broadband deployment and adoption? Is there room for improvement in the United States when it comes to broadband and if so, how can policies that have proved successful in other nations be adapted and applied to the U.S. context?
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