Plum carried out a study supporting the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to assess barriers to connectivity and adoption of digital services in the Cheshire and Warrington area in the North-West of England. The study analysed the availability and reach of digital infrastructure in the region. It also investigated demand-side barriers to take-up[…]
Digital services are already a central feature of our everyday lives. However, we may be just at the start of a journey on which more and more transactions and experiences will migrate from the physical to the digital world. Development of digital services in the coming decade has the potential to deliver innovative use cases[…]
In the European Union (EU), representative bodies of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), such as ETNO (the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association), have recently reopened the debate requesting that Content and Application Providers (CAPs) pay a content levy of sorts for traffic routed to the ISPs’ networks. We describe this as a “Sender Party Network Pays”[…]
Plum prepared a major study exploring the mutually beneficial relationships that exist between participants in the telecommunications sector, including connectivity providers and online service providers. The study sets out a view of the wider telecoms sector and value chain, and identifies a number of mutually beneficial relationships that exist between sector players, and which serve[…]
The Internet has been one of the most life-changing and fast-growing technologies in the world. According to the latest ITU estimates, 4.9 billion individuals around the globe are using the Internet, which is 4.8 times more than in 2005. The average global Internet user spends around 7 hours per day online, and in 2021 alone,[…]
In July 2022, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and Ofcom published a joint statement on online safety and competition in digital markets.[1] The statement follows the introduction of the Online Safety Bill to the UK parliament in March 2022. The current draft of the Online Safety Bill requires firms in scope – including[…]
Online advertising is a key enabler of the digital economy and supports a wide range of digital services enjoyed by consumers today. However, as the industry has grown in size and sophistication, concerns over the harmful aspects of online advertising have put the spotlight on the way in which the sector operates. The fast-evolving nature[…]
The omnipresence of digital technology in our daily life, its use and its impact on organisations and individuals, raises ethical questions about its role in our society. These concerns include consent and privacy, security, inclusion and fairness, protection from online harm, transparency and accountability. Notable examples include the Cambridge Analytica scandal and concerns about racial[…]
Plum was recently engaged to develop the latest ASEAN Digital Masterplan (ADM 2025). The ADM takes stock of the current state of digital development in ASEAN, and envisions ways for the ASEAN region to deepen its use of digital technologies to spur economic and social development. ADM 2025 was the third strategic masterplan for the[…]
Sam Wood was seconded to the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports. Sam worked as an economist within DCMS’ Security and Online Harms Directorate to assist with developing the UK policy approach to tackling online harms. His primary role was to develop a quantified impact assessment of the proposed policy approach. This included[…]