Public-private partnership for broadband access: case study evidence from Italy and the Netherlands

The paper characterizes the role and function of public-private interplay in the development of municipal initiatives in the broadband sector. The analysis – focused on a number of major initiatives in Italy and the Netherlands – shows how the interaction between public and private stakeholders facilitated local broadband initiatives. This interaction has been vital in aligning the interests of different private and (semi-)public parties, in designing the network and in aggregating sufficient demand for broadband services. Our conceptual model has been aimed at disintegrating the different initiatives into four main stages in order to examine the strengths and weaknesses of joint public- private activities. The paper shows that the challenge for cooperating stakeholders has been to foster further re-investment in the upgrading of the network and the provision of additional broadband services.