Business planning for ICT infrastructure development

The expert guidance offered in this course is based on the ITU ICT infrastructure business planning toolkit - 5G networks, 2023 and aims at facilitating the development of credible and coherent business plans adaptable to a wide range of broadband infrastructure deployment projects. The main objective of this hands-on training is to build knowledge and skills of participants on the principles of business planning and practicing it, in the context of supporting policy and regulatory decision-making on infrastructure development. It will discuss the main aspects related to the theme, such as: the estimation of demand, expected revenues and operational costs, d efinition of parameters related to investments and definitions related to the Weighted Average Cost of Capital â (WACC). There is also a specific section aimed at identifying public mechanisms for financing ICT infrastructure projects.

Target Audience

ICT professionals from Policy-makers, National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs) and ITU Sector Members in need to get a deep understanding of ICT Business Planning design and implementation for the deployment of ICT infrastructure in rural and isolated areas.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

- list theories related to how to evaluate projects by using the Net Present Value (NPV) of a cash flow;

- explain a practical methodology for the accurate economic evaluation of broadband infrastructure installation and deployment plans;

- describe the principles and technical practices related to building business plans focusing on 5G technologies, that support policy and regulatory decision-making for infrastructure development.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to :

recognize the main aspects regarding using business planning as a public policy tool;
analyse and compare different infrastructure projects;
apply the key elements for a successful business planning implementation for ICT infrastructure development (estimating demand, revenues, CAPEX, OPEX and WACC);
discuss financing mechanisms for the implementation of a broadband public policy.

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

identify, quantify and objectively compare different infrastructure projects in order to evaluate a given public policy based on solid technical parameters;
estimate the demand for broadband services;
estimate the revenues from broadband services provision;
estimate the investments required to deploy fixed and mobile broadband networks;
estimate operational expenses related to the provision of broadband services;
estimate the weighted average capital cost (WACC) of a broadband infrastructure project;
analyse the financing mechanisms related to broadband infrastructure projects.