LINK Centre, University of Witwatersrand

Commissioned by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), this 19-page paper argues that well-balanced public policy is a precondition for addressing the universal information and communication technology (ICT) access gap. It discusses the issues at stake, strategies that have been undertaken, and interventions needed to make equitable access a reality in developing societies.


The document provides International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 2007 data on the gap in ICT access, showing, by continent, gaps in mobile access, internet access, access to main communication lines, and population without computer access. The inhibitors to access are enumerated through categories including: geography; gender; physical disability; economics; and skills. The document summarises issues that have arisen from a market-based economic approach, and includes, by way of illustration, the example of telephone line penetration where privatisation was negatively correlated to the extent of line penetration. However, as stated here, those governments that did not privatise prior to 1999 have had challenges finding financing and subsequent private sector participation in the fixed, mobile, and internet ICT segments. In addition, regulatory liberalisation of the mobile phone sector and the internet sector did not bring the costs of access down and, in the case of the internet, did not lead to an automatic increase in the number of users. The most significant challenge to internet diffusion in the developing world, according to the document, has been limited access to affordable bandwidth.


The document lists and discusses universal access policies and strategies that have been introduced by governments and international development aid agencies to redress the problems of market failure and to achieve universality, affordability, and equity in underserved areas, including:


* Universal access strategies
* National e-strategies
* Advocacies for content, applications and skills
* Advocacies for access rights


Support and interventions to bridge the access gaps include:


*Evaluating national policies to make them responsive to equitable access challenges and to enable them to meet technological changes and consumer needs;
*Capacity building to enable policy-makers, regulators and experts to develop the next generation of national ICT policies and awareness raising to make senior policy-makers aware of the advances of broadband technologies, and of trends in promoting affordable access through community-led innovations;
*Ongoing research to understand access gaps;
*Capacity building for regulators; and
*Regional infrastructure deployment and policy harmonisation


The document concludes that "equitable access to ICT services cannot be attained without the participation of the communities concerned. Leveraging community resources, including organisational, social and leadership capital, is essential to improving access to and the use of ICTs."

APC website on December 22 2008.