Thank you, Geoff.
Hello, everyone. Since I have about a minute, I'm going to be brief.
At R2B2, we completed some preliminary estimates of the economic benefits, namely consumer surplus and telecommuter surplus. Depending on the assumption of consumer surplus, we see the private net benefit to consumers ranging essentially from $2.6 billion to $6.5 billion. Through our continued research, we'll be able to provide more precise estimates. Right now, the estimates are rather wide, but through our research we'll be able to provide more precise estimates.
Also, please note that this is actually not the social net benefit. To estimate the social benefit or its equivalent, which is a return for the broadband investment in terms of society's point of view, we will have to put a social cost on the total social benefits. This is what we are really hoping to answer in the near future. I think that is the most important question at R2B2.
Now I'll quickly introduce another type of benefit that we had estimated, which is the telecommuter surplus. As you can see in the second-last line, the benefits could be very significant to the average telecommuter—anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000.
Other economic analyses of broadband in our research include the impact of broadband on wages, income, property values, and so forth. At R2B2, the research topics extend further to other areas as well, such as precision agriculture, health care, and so forth.
Thank you.