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Building and Delivering the Virtual World: Commercializing Services for Internet Access

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  • Shane Greenstein

Abstract

This study analyzes the service offerings of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the commercial suppliers of Internet access in the United States. It presents data on the services of 2089 ISPs in the summer of 1998. By this time, the Internet access industry had undergone its first wave of entry and many ISPs had begun to offer services other than basic access. This paper develops an Internet access industry product code which classifies these services. Significant heterogeneity across ISPs is found in the propensity to offer these services, a pattern with an unconditional urban/rural difference. Most of the explained variance in behavior arises from firm-specific factors, with only weak evidence of location-specific factors for some services. These findings provide a window to the variety of approaches taken to build viable businesses organizations, a vital structural feature of this young market.

Suggested Citation

  • Shane Greenstein, 2000. "Building and Delivering the Virtual World: Commercializing Services for Internet Access," NBER Working Papers 7690, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7690
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    Cited by:

    1. SeungJae Shin & Martin B. Weiss & Jack Tucci, 2007. "Rural Internet access: over-subscription strategies, regulation and equilibrium," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 1-12.
    2. Steve Thompson & Mike Wright, 2005. "Edith Penrose's contribution to economics and strategy: an overview," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 57-66.
    3. Bart van Ark, 2015. "From Mind the Gap to Closing the Gap. Avenues to Reverse Stagnation in Europe through Investment and Productivity Growth," European Economy - Discussion Papers 006, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    4. Sinai, Todd & Waldfogel, Joel, 2004. "Geography and the Internet: is the Internet a substitute or a complement for cities?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 1-24, July.
    5. Shane Greenstein, 2006. "Innovation and the Evolution of Market Structure for Internet Access in the United States," Discussion Papers 05-018, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    6. Stenberg, Peter L. & Morehart, Mitchell J. & Vogel, Stephen J. & Cromartie, John & Breneman, Vincent E. & Brown, Dennis M., 2009. "Broadband Internet's Value for Rural America," Economic Research Report 55944, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    7. Rajeev Goel & Edward Hsieh & Michael Nelson & Rati Ram, 2006. "Demand elasticities for Internet services," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(9), pages 975-980.
    8. Xiao, Mo & Orazem, Peter F., 2011. "Does the fourth entrant make any difference?: Entry and competition in the early U.S. broadband market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 547-561, September.
    9. Stenberg, Peter L., 2014. "The Farm Bill and Rural Economies: Broadband Investment Over the last Decade," 2014 Annual Meeting, July 27-29, 2014, Minneapolis, Minnesota 173277, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    10. Peter Stenberg, 2011. "Investment in Rural Broadband Technologies," ERSA conference papers ersa11p1028, European Regional Science Association.
    11. Angelique Augereau & Shane Greenstein & Marc Rysman, 2004. "Coordination vs. Differentiation in a Standards War: 56K Modems," NBER Working Papers 10334, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Xiao, Mo & Orazem, Peter, 2006. "Do Entry Conditions Vary over Time? Entry and Competition in the Broadband Market: 1999-2003," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12500, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • C80 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - General

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