Techno-economic characteristics of infrastructures
Network innovations are constantly reducing costs and expanding the capacities of networks. However, innovations do not only affect total cost and capacities in general, they also affect the relative costs of different network technologies and of each network element. Both are affecting the overall trends in the structure of the supply side of the market for provision network access. Cost characteristics of telecom networks are affected by new technologies in two ways:
- New technologies are being implemented in existing networks, affecting cost structures of these networks
- New types of networks are being established through the use of new technologies. These networks may be entirely new or based on existing facilities in other networks.
This section provides an overview of trends in the cost structure of existing and new types of communication networks.