The economic viability of wireless local loop and its impact on universal service

摘要

This paper presents an overview of the economics of wireless transport focusing on Personal Communications Service (PCS) and Local Multipoint Dis- tribution Service (LMDS) as compared with the existing incumbent local ex- change carriers, namely the I-LECs. The paper also addresses the issues of universal service and presents an analysis of how wireless may be a viable player in that environment. The paper combines the approaches from several different fields and demon- strates that wireless has applications as a provider of universal services in certain niche areas but it is not a clear universal application.