Impact of PPPs to broadband diffusion in Europe

Purpose Broadband access plays a major role for economic growth and for social and cultural development of urban and rural areas. A provision of broadband infrastructure and services in these areas is not attractive for private investments because of a low or even negative expected rate on return. The purpose of this paper is to identify different modes of public private partnership (PPP) funding and organizational models of collaborations among public and private partners to establish broadband infrastructures. Decision makers get insights about innovative financial and structural models to bring broadband into rural areas. Design/methodology/approach Organizational and financial structures of PPP projects will be analyzed by six PPP case studies from the broadband sector in Sweden, Great Britain, and France. This research adopts a data triangulation approach. Findings A comparative case study analysis about “broadband‐PPPs” from different countries depicts that the organizational and financial funding models differ from project to project. PPPs represent a good alternative to build a broadband infrastructure through mutual collaboration between public and private partners. The examined case studies verify that a PPP is an appropriate instrument to implement broadband infrastructures, especially in case of market failure. Research limitations/implications The paper is mainly based on case studies. Thus, the significance of the derived results is limited. Practical implications Companies in the sector of telecommunication as well as decision makers learn about different financing models to implement broadband in rural areas and to increase broadband penetration. Originality/value This contribution shows that there are relationships among three key factors of PPPs: environmental conditions (risk, social structures, density of population, etc.), organizational model, and funding modes. This knowledge helps researchers and decision makers to measure different scenarios to bring broadband access into rural areas.