Optimal purchasing strategy for bandwidth: a buyer's perspective

Elizabeth Sharer, Hari K. Rajagopalan and Sanjaya Mayadunne

International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking, 2025, vol. 19, issue 2, 238-265

Abstract: The price of internet bandwidth contracts depends on two parameters: size, or amount of bandwidth, and duration, or length of contracts. For a given planning horizon, managers must decide on the number of contracts to purchase, their bandwidth (size), and their lengths (duration) to minimise costs. This research analyses bandwidth contracting decisions from a buyer's perspective. Historical data is used to estimate bandwidth cost as a function of contract size and duration at a point in time, and to estimate bandwidth cost overtime. We first build an integer linear programming model, and then show that evolutionary algorithms can match the performance of mathematical programming and achieve close to optimal solutions for problems under increasing bandwidth demand.

Keywords: bandwidth contract; mixed integer linear programming; evolutionary algorithms. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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