AN EVALUATION OF THE BROADBAND ECOSYSTEM IN WESTERN DOWNS REGION (WDR) A Thesis submitted by Sanjib Tiwari BInfoTech (WBUT), MInfoSys, MBSR (USQ) For the award of Doctor of Philosophy 2017 Abstract There is a large body of research on broadband adoption and use at the macro and national level, however, there is limited research on rural and remote areas. This research provides an in-depth understanding of the broadband ecosystem in terms of supply (broadband infrastructure), and household demand (adoption and use) of broadband Internet and its impact (building and maintaining social capital) in the Western Downs Region (WDR) of Queensland, Australia. Using the broadband ecosystem as an overarching framework, three phases and a mixed methods approach was used to conduct an in-depth explanatory case study of the WDR. The first research phase collected publicly available archival (primarily quantitative) data and field data from testing of mobile networks to determine and evaluate the status (supply) of broadband infrastructure in the WDR (RQ1). The second research phase collected primarily qualitative information using semi- structured interviews to address research questions (RQ2 and RQ3). The third phase, using a survey, collected quantitative data to validate and test broadband adoption, use and impact components of the broadband ecosystem (RQ2 and RQ3, 13 hypotheses). Thereby, the second and third research phase determined the extent of adoption and use of broadband Internet services by households and its impact in helping to build and maintain social capital in rural communities in the WDR. The research findings show that there are limitations in broadband infrastructure in remote and outer regional locations. In these locations, most households rely on mobile broadband services which were clearly demonstrated to be patchy at best in most areas of the WDR. To a lesser extent in remote and outer regional locations affordability of mobile broadband is also an issue for households given the lower socio-economic status of much of rural Australia including the WDR. Furthermore, data quotas are much more expensive for mobile broadband and satellite broadband in comparison to wired broadband. Hence, there would also appear to be a digital divide, particularly between remote and outer regional locations of the WDR and inner regional and urban locations in Australia. The researcher also demonstrated that this reflects a similar situation in many other remote and outer regional locations in Australia. The findings indicate that most households have moved beyond the adoption phase to the use phase Sanjib Tiwari ii and indicate that hedonic outcomes, self-efficacy and number of years of Internet use are significant determinants of actual use of broadband. Conversely, perceived cost, prior knowledge and experience factors were found to be significant determinants of intention to adopt and use broadband services. However, utilitarian outcomes and purchase complexity had no significant impact on intention to adopt and use. The study also found that broadband Internet use has significant impact for rural communities in the WDR by helping to build and maintain social capital (bonding and bridging). This research has made several important contributions to knowledge, theory and practice. Firstly, this research adapted the Broadband Ecosystem framework to incorporate system quality and impact components of information systems success theory, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Model of Adoption of Technology in Household (MATH) technology adoption theories and two dimensions of social capital theory (bridging and bonding theory) which complement the overarching economic theory of supply and demand in this theoretical and conceptual model. Secondly, this research addressed an important gap in information systems research - the lack of empirical research on digital infrastructure. In this study, broadband infrastructure was included in a comprehensive evaluation of the broadband ecosystem in a rural setting, the WDR. Thirdly, by focusing on two units of analysis—broadband infrastructure in a rural region and household adoption, and use and impact of broadband—this study addresses important research problems from a societal and government policy perspectives. Fourthly, this research examined and validated the broadband ecosystem framework using mixed methods approach in a rural context. Finally, this research has made significant practical contributions which can inform government policy by identifying that availability, reliability and affordability shortcomings of broadband infrastructure in outer regional and remote regions is impacting household adoption, use and benefits of broadband services in rural Australia. Hence, future government policy needs to ensure that access to reliable and high speed broadband services is part of its Universal Service Obligation so that the current shortcomings in broadband infrastructure in rural Australia are prioritised and addressed. This study confirms that improved access and more effective use of broadband could help to address the digital divide that currently exists between rural and urban Australia and also help to build and maintain social capital in rural communities. Sanjib Tiwari iii Sanjib Tiwari iv Certification of Thesis This thesis is entirely the work of Sanjib Tiwari except where otherwise acknowledged. The work is original and has not previously been submitted for any other award, except where acknowledged. Dr Michael Lane --------------------------------------------------------- Principal Supervisor Associate Professor Khorshed Alam ---------------------------------------------------------- Associate Supervisor Student and supervisors signatures of endorsement are held at USQ. Sanjib Tiwari v Acknowledgements I sincerely wish to thank the following people for their encouragement and help in the researching and writing of this thesis. Firstly, I would like to thank the Australian Government's Collaborative Research Networks (CRN) program and Research Training Program (RTP) for funding this research project. I am also very grateful to the Western Downs Regional Council for their support and additional funding for this project. I would especially wish to thank my supervisor, Dr Michael Lane, for his patience, his professional advice and his faith in me to complete this thesis. Without his supervision and expert guidance this thesis would not have been possible. I would like to thank my associate supervisor, Associate Professor Khorshed Alam, for his tremendous support and encouragement throughout my PhD journey. I would also like to remember and pay special thanks to Mrs Marisa Parker for her support during my hard days of the research journey. I also thank Chris O'Reilly for her proofreading, which has improved the composition of this thesis. I would like to remember all those who have contributed directly or indirectly to the successful completion on my study. In particular, special thanks goes to all of my PhD colleagues for their support, the interview participants and survey respondents for taking the time and effort to participate in this study. Special thanks to my parents for their hard work and support throughout my entire life. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge and dedicate this thesis to my family, especially my little 2-year-old daughter Saanvi, and my lovely and caring wife Sunita for her constant care, love and encouragement. I owe much to them for where I stand today. Sanjib Tiwari Sanjib Tiwari vi Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... i Certification of Thesis ............................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. v Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................... vi List of Figures ......................................................................................................................................... x List of Tables ......................................................................................................................................... xi List of Publications ............................................................................................................................... xv List of Research Presentations ............................................................................................................. xvi List of Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1.1 Rural Australia .................................................................................................................. 2 1.2 Justification and motivation for this research .............................................................................. 4 1.3 Conceptual framework of this research ......................................................................................