Following our previous reports on the total cost of administration to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and the impact of late payments, this study examines the issue of taxation on SMEs. For many new and small companies, profit margins can be very low, particularly when the cost of finance and building up stock is taken[…]
Plum carried out a study for Rain, a mobile operator in South Africa, on the value of 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz spectrum in South Africa. Taking account of the remaining time left on licences, a direct benchmarking approach was used to estimate a range of values for each band. Plum then assisted Rain with[…]
Plum was appointed by Ofcom’s Competition Group (Financial and Economic Modelling Division) to carry out an external and independent review to assess the quality of a series of LRIC modelling workbooks and associated documents, in association with the wholesale local access charge control WLACC market review in the UK. Our work included a detailed review[…]
This study for the Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) provided an independent assessment of the impacts on service quality arising from reassignment of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrum in Hong Kong. The assessment model developed by Plum analysed the network infrastructure requirements of mobile network operators under various market, technology evolution and spectrum[…]
In conjunction with TTC, Plum provided the NCC – the Taiwanese regulator – with three reports examining the current market for leased lines in Taiwan, providing input to a consultation on the appropriate regulatory mechanisms, and specifying how a regulatory cost model should be built. The leased line market in Taiwan has historically been regulated[…]
This report examines the issue of late payments, which can have significant impacts on smaller businesses. Based on a survey of around 3000 companies across 11 countries, our analysis indicates that 11.0% of all invoices issued by SMEs are paid late, equivalent to a total of USD 1.01 trillion per year. Worse, 7.5% of invoices[…]
Plum carried out a study of mobile spectrum harmonisation and availability across the Middle East, considering how the ever-increasing demand for new services and higher quality of service impacts on the types and amount of spectrum required. Our white paper considers how coverage and capacity requirements of end users can be delivered based on best[…]
This report, commissioned by the UK Spectrum Policy Forum, considers future flexible spectrum access methods. Flexible access and spectrum sharing were key features of the UK Strategy Published in 2014. In this report we consider the state of play on spectrum access in the UK (from dedicated national licensing through to licence-exempt), techniques for enabling[…]
The telecommunications sector is characterised by substantial fixed costs and significant economies of scale. In a macrostate this usually does not matter because the main operators function at a point well above minimum efficient scale. But in a typical island state in the Caribbean the main operators usually operate at a point well below minimum[…]
Whilst discounted-cash-flow methods are prevalent for project appraisal within many firms, overall performance, influenced by market pressures and managements’ own self interests, is often focused on short-term measures such as quarterly earnings. In this Insight paper, we examine the efficacy of capital investment in the telco industry; by definition, ‘investment’ suggests a focus on the[…]