| Summary: | Broadband technology has in recent years experienced a substantial growth, and is still rapidly evolving. Many new kinds of content-rich and bandwidth demanding broadband Internet applications have emerged, aiming to make day-to-day tasks easier and more efficient. A strong broadband connection provides the platform for an optimal broadband utilization, but equally important is the adapting and implementing of these Internet applications, or ”e-solutions”, so that broadband can lead to socioeconomic benefits for individuals, businesses and for a society as a whole.This thesis reviews some of the areas where enterprises can utilize broadband opportunities in order to achieve social- and economic development. A broadband utilization benchmark study is carried out on a selection of geographical areas in the accommodations sector in Norway. By analyzing the recieved data from this research, this paper identifies gaps and opportunities for the increased adaption of broadband-enabled services and further economic development for the businesses. Also, by performing a comparative analysis between the data collected in the Norwegian research population and equivalent data from the US, similarities and differences regarding the two countries’ utilization of the Internet are analyzed and discussed. Some important fields that are examined are broadband connectivity, barriers preventing the efficient use of broadband services, and the use of a selection of e-solutions.Also presented is an independent calculation of a broadband utilization index, constructed with the thought of providing a quick representation of a company’s use of the Internet and its applications. This calculation will be subject for analysis, so as to understand the construction and potential outcomes that are derived by changing the input data. Resulting in an output-utilization score, this calculation, the Stople-Index, is constructed to give companies and organizations an easy way to promote awarness and identify opportunities for them to utilize their broadband Internet properly.
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