Digital divide in a developing country

Abstract Enthusiasm for the benefits of the information revolution is boundless; it promises to provide economic opportunity, growth and democratic communication. Yet, these promises are fulfilled only to those with access and competence to use these new technologies. Stark international and national contrasts exist between those who have access to the information technologies and those who have not. Despite the increasing attention digital divide issues have received in the public arena, in the academic literature, there is no consensus regarding the appropriate policy to implement. This paper draws on the different policy trajectories recommended by the literature of telecommunications development and uses them as an analytical lens to examine the case of a developing country like Mexico. It explores the underpinnings of the digital divide in Mexico and provides the data that substantiates the concept. The argument in this paper is that the Social Capital concept is useful in the design and implementation of a universal access policy. From this standpoint, the focus of the debate moves beyond short-term supply considerations to dynamic issues such as technological adoption in an asset-based community development.

[1]  Charles Kenny,et al.  Can information and communication technologies be pro-poor? $ , 2002 .

[2]  Milton L. Mueller,et al.  Universal Service: COMPETITION, INTERCONNECTION, AND MONOPOLY IN THE MAKING OF THE AMERICAN TELEPHONE SYSTEM , 1996 .

[3]  D. Narayan,et al.  Bonds and Bridges: Social Capital and Poverty , 2002 .

[4]  Randal D. Pinkett,et al.  Bridging the Digital Divide: Sociocultural Constructionism and an Asset-Based Approach to Community Technology and Community Building , 2000 .

[5]  François Bar,et al.  Tapping User-Driven Innovation: A New Rationale for Universal Service , 2000, Inf. Soc..

[6]  Amy M. Hightower,et al.  Science and Engineering Indicators , 1993 .

[7]  John L. Sullivan,et al.  The importance of trust and community in developing and maintaining a community electronic network , 2003, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[8]  R. Wade.  Bridging the Digital Divide: New Route to Development or New Form of Dependency? , 2002 .

[9]  Andrew Dymond,et al.  Telecommunications and Information Services for the Poor: Toward a Strategy for Universal Access , 2002 .

[10]  B. Baltagi,et al.  Econometric Analysis of Panel Data , 2020, Springer Texts in Business and Economics.

[11]  Martin R. Hilbert,et al.  Benchmarking the plan of action of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Latin America and the Caribbean (version 3.0) , 2005 .

[12]  Richard Joseph.  Understanding the Digital Divide , 2001 .

[13]  Carsten Fink,et al.  W(h)ither the Digital Divide , 2003 .

[14]  An Empirical Analysis of Competition, Privatization, and Regulation in Telecommunications Markets in Africa and Latin Am , 1999 .

[15]  Theodore H.K. Clark,et al.  Costs and benefits of telecommunications liberalization in developing countries , 1996 .

[16]  Ithiel de Sola Pool,et al.  Technologies of Freedom , 1983 .

[17]  John P. Kretzman,et al.  Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community's Assets , 1993 .

[18]  R. Putnam.  The Prosperous Community: Social Capital and Public Life , 1993 .

[19]  J. Horrigan.  Universal service: Competition, interconnection, and monopoly in the making of the American telephone system , 1998 .

[20]  Aaditya Mattoo,et al.  An Assessment of Telecommunications Reform in Developing Countries , 2002, Inf. Econ. Policy.

[21]  Jan L. Youtie,et al.  Regulatory Reform and the Promise of New Telecommunications Infrastructure in New Jersey , 1996, Inf. Soc..

[22]  Randal D. Pinkett,et al.  Closing the Digital Divide: An Asset-Based Approach to Community Building and Community Technology , 2000 .

[23]  Robert W. Crandall.  Bridging the Divide: Naturally , 2001 .

[24]  C. Grootaert,et al.  Social capital: the missing link? , 1998, Welfare and Well-being.

[25]  Donald A. Schön,et al.  High Technology and Low-Income Communities: Prospects for the Positive Use of Advanced Information Technology , 1997 .

[26]  Loy Van Crowder.  Marketing Information Systems for Small-Scale Farmers , 1997 .

[27]  P. Romer.  Increasing Returns and Long-Run Growth , 1986, Journal of Political Economy.

[28]  Wilson P. Dizard.  Old Media New Media: Mass Communications in the Information Age , 1993 .

[29]  Andrew Calabrese,et al.  Broadband telecommunications in rural America: Emerging infrastructures for residential service , 1992 .

[30]  S. Wallsten.  Ringing in the 20th Century: The Effects of State Monopolies, Private Ownership, and Operating Licenses on Telecommunications in Europe, 1892-1914 , 2001 .

[31]  Cheng Hsiao,et al.  Analysis of Panel Data , 1987 .

[32]  Shane Greenstein,et al.  Promoting Efficient Use of Spectrum Through Elimination of Barriers to the Development of Secondary Markets , 2001 .