at very low transmission rates using telephone lines and dial-up modems. Large scale broadband telecommunications service delivery to subscriber premises only gained popularity with services such as email and the World Wide Web. Higher transmission rates became possible as technologies such as digital subscriber line (DSL), and optical fibre based systems such as Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH) and hybrid fibre-cable (HFC) were devel- oped in the late 1990s. The introduction of wireless broadband technologies within the 3G standards in the early 2000s made it possible for nearly a third of the world's population to access the data communications network from individual subscriber premises. In most OECD countries the total fixed and wireless broadband subscription numbers are at near saturation levels (Figure 1.8). The main reason for such growth is the economic benefits of broadband connectivity. Efficient provision of broadband telecommunications services is an important business and policy issue in virtually every country around the world. The growth of broadband telecommunications services has profoundly impacted many facets of our lives. It has significantly changed the way we study, work, play, entertain, take care of our health, share knowledge, socialise, and even wage war. The way we do business has changed to an extent that a whole new field of business - electronic commerce - enabled by the advance- ments in the telecommunications technology has emerged, and given rise to many successful new companies over the past two decades. The impact of the telecommunications industry may be measured by the fact that while the costs of making long distance phone calls has fallen to nearly zero, investment in infrastructure equipment as a share of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has risen significantly. The OECD reports a CAGR of 5.7% over the 2000-2009 decade in the ICT industry. As a share of GDP, the ICT industry has been growing as shown in Figure 1.9. It is expected to grow further over the coming decade as our li