Efficiency of broadband internet adoption in European Union member states

This paper is devoted to econometric analysis of broadband adoption efficiency in EU member states. Stochastic frontier models are widely used for efficiency estimation. We enhanced the stochastic frontier model by adding a spatial component into the model specification to reflect possible dependencies between neighbour countries. A maximum likelihood estimator for the model was developed. The proposed spatial autoregressive stochastic frontier model is used for estimation of broadband adoption efficiency. We confirmed a negative impact of average prices of broadband services on broadband adoption in a country and also discovered a significant negative influence of a level of population income inequality. Significant positive spatial effects also have been revealed, so higher broadband penetration rates in neighbour countries have a positive impact on broadband adoption in a given country.