Georgetown University

STIA-369-01 Information and Communication Technology for Development

Internet in developing
countries
Michael.Minges@gmail.com

Topics

Intro
Global development goals
The digital divide
ICT4D 2.0
Death of distance
Broadband

MDGs
ICTs

Enemies of the Internet

Syria

Iran

Uzbekistan

Turkmenistan

North
Korea

China

Cuba
Vietnam

Tunisia

Egypt

Saudi
Arabia
Burma

Who is developing?
Population by Human
Development status, millions,
2010

Distribution of population by
economic development status,
2010

4000
Advanced (33)
15%

3000
2000

Emerging & Developing (150)

85%

1000
0

Very High High Medium

Low

UNDP, Human Development Report 2010

IMF, World Economic Outlook, Oct. 2010

MDGs
People living on less than $1.25 a day (millions)

1,815
683

China

1,371
208

579

295
190
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/

68

1990

South Asia
Sub-Saharan Africa
East Asia & Pacific
Other

Source: World Bank (http://go.worldbank.org/JIO7WY61V0)..

595

387

109
72

2005

ICT is playing a vital role in advancing economic growth and improving governance. There are many
opportunities for developing countries to advance development through innovative use of ICT. To
realize this great potential to contribute to growth, governments need to ensure that supportive
conditions are in place through regulatory and policy reforms as well as strategic investments and
public-private partnerships.--World Bank

Browsing through a UN
publication entitled "The
Millennium Development
Goals Report" when I found a
picture I took on page 33. It's
a scene from Phnom Penh,
Cambodia taken back in July
2001.

Gender, pollution & telework in Ireland

Telework: persons who work from home and could not do so without the use of a
computer with a telecommunications link.

More teleworkers = more people working at home = less car pollution (MDG #7)
Telework: 2.3%

Teleworkers
All workers

Public
transport,
walk, bicycle
36.2%

100
75

72
56
41

25
0

Car 54.1%

68

50

College

44
33

Women

41

Have Children

Home 6.6%

49

Married

Number of
vehicles increased
by 68% from
1990-2001. Related
CO2 emissions
increased by 122%
in the same period.
Getting to work

Away
from
home
91.1%

Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland).

Work at home 9.7%

Location of work

More tertiary education = more women with small children teleworking (MDG #3)

Impact of ICTs on MDGs

End Poverty
& Hunger

Universal
Education

24

% change

5.7

Gender
Equality

Child
Health

Maternal
health

Combat
HIV/AIDS

Environmental
sustainability

143

0.8
-10

Increase in
Increase in
Increase in
Decrease in
income of
primary
female
infant health
Bangladesh
school
tertiary
problems
village phone enrollment in
school
among
owners
Nepal from enrollment in
families
teachers
Australia
using
trained using from online telemedicine
ICTs
education
in US

-2

-50

Decrease in
maternal
mortality
following
ICT-based
program in
Uganda

Increase in
condom
imports in
St. Lucia
after HIV
radio show

Decrease in
CO2 car
emissions
from
telework in
Ireland

WSIS: MDGs for ICTs

Plan of Action

We, the representatives of the peoples of the world,

assembled in Geneva from 10-12 December 2003 for
the first phase of the World Summit on the
Information Society, declare our common desire and
commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and
development-oriented Information Society, where
everyone can create, access, utilize and share information
and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and
peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their
sustainable development and improving their quality of
life, premised on the purposes and principles of the
Charter of the United Nations and respecting fully and
upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Our challenge is to harness the potential of information
and communication technology to promote the
development goals of the Millennium Declaration...
--Declaration of Principles
http://www.itu.int/wsis/index.html

a. to connect villages with ICTs and establish

community access points;
b. to connect universities, colleges, secondary
schools and primary schools with ICTs;
c. to connect scientific and research centres with
ICTs;
d. to connect public libraries, cultural centres,
museums, post offices and archives with ICTs;
e. to connect health centres and hospitals with
ICTs;
f. to connect all local and central government
departments and establish websites and email
addresses;
g. to adapt all primary and secondary school
curricula to meet the challenges of the
Information Society, taking into account national
circumstances;
h. to ensure that all of the world's population have
access to television and radio services;
i. to encourage the development of content and to
put in place technical conditions in order to
facilitate the presence and use of all world
languages on the Internet;
j. to ensure that more than half the worlds
inhabitants have access to ICTs within their
reach.
9

Internet users per 100 people

Digital Divide
100

Pervasive
70

Common

50

Established
10

Experimental
GDP per capita, PPP
10

Only half the problem is economic

Mexico, reasons for not having computer or Internet 2008
Homes without computer

Lack of economic resources

Homes with computer no Internet

Lack of economic resources

Other:
Dont need
Dont know
how to use
Not
interested
Source: INEGI.

11

Awareness

To add in comparisons between literacy

rates and school enrollment around the
world

12

Public access centers

A powerful illustration of corporate strategy
linking business purpose to larger societal
purpose, e-Choupal leverages the Internet to
empower small and marginal farmers who
constitute a majority of the 75% of the
population below the poverty line.
e-Choupal

Now

States covered

10

Villages covered

40,000

No. of e-Choupals

6,500

Farmers e-empowered

4 million

Multipurpose information center,

Guizhou province, China

Ho Chi Ming City,

Vietnam

http://www.itcportal.com/sustainability/lets-put-india-first/echoupal.aspx

13

ICT4D 2.0
We stand at a fork in
the Internet access road. We can
keep pushing down the PC-based
route when less than 0.5 percent of
African villages so far have a link this
way. Or we can jump ship to a
technology that has already reached
many poor communities. Mobile
telephony, for example, already
reaches out to more than half
the African population.

Heeks, Richard.
ICT4D 2.0: The
Next Phase of
Applying ICT for
International
Development.
Computer 41.6
(2008): 26-33.
14

Mobile in Africa
South Africa, household durables, %

Kenya, Use of mobile phone, %, 2009

100
79.1

83.9

82.7

Have used

72.9

75
59.7

90
63 SMS

65
23 Financial transactions

49.6

50
32.3

35

40.2

25

12 Access Internet
4 Watch TV
AudienceScapesNa.onalSurveyofKenya,July2009

0
2000 2002 2004 2006 2008
Statistics South Africa

...their concepts of the Internet and media in general are consequently strongly
shaped by a distinct set of mobile applications.
Kreutzer, Tino. Internet and Online Media Usage on Mobile Phones among Low-Income Urban Youth in
Cape Town. MobileActive.org. 1 May 2009.
15

Information superhighway

The hacker tourist ventures forth across the wide and

wondrous meatspace of three continents, chronicling the laying
of the longest wire on Earth.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/ffglass_pr.html

Source: Global Marine Systems Ltd

16

Death of Distance

... a world in which

transmitting
information costs
almost nothing, in which
distance is irrelevant, and
in which any amount of
content is instantly
accessible...

World is Flat
17

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

Computer & information services exports
Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES)

latestmedicaljobtrends.com

18

Indian Offshoring
Software exports, US$ million
50000

Services exports, 2009-10

Communications
2%
Financial
6%
Business
18%

37500

Software
75%

25000
Computer & Information services exports, 2008

12500

0
2000-01 2003-04 2006-07 2009-10

Other
24%

Source: Reserve Bank of India.

USA
10%
Source: WTO.

EU
35%

India
30%
19

China: Straight to No. 1

Category

Amount

Internet users

420 million

Office and telecom

equipment exports

US$346
billion

Mobile phone
subscribers

730 million

Broadband (fixed)
subscribers

104 million

Share of
world

26.2%

Alongside construction, energy and mining, telecommunications

is one of the four strategic pillars underpinning Chinas economic
development and providing the necessary platform from which to
challenge the West for global hegemony. It is therefore regarded
a vital industry for Chinese strategic interests on several fronts:
Acquisition of foreign technology;
Dual use military application;
Reinforcing Chinas space and satellite development
programme; and
Breaking into new markets.

Cumulatively, the ICT sector in Africa attracted a total of almost

US$3 billion of Chinese investment between 2001 and 2007.
Chinas involvement in the ICT sector in Africa mainly takes the
form of equipment sales. In some cases, this involves normal
commercial contacts between Chinese manufacturers and public
and private operators in Africa. However, in some cases, it entails
inter-governmental financing tied to purchases of Chinese
equipment by state owned telecom incumbents. Chinese firms
are emerging as key players in the supply of
technology and equipment for networks typically to national
telecom incumbents. By far the largest ICT project has been in
Ethiopia (US$1,5 billion). In 2009 ZTE announced it is to invest
$1 billion in telecoms support services in Nigeria.

ZTE entered into a strategic partnership with the

Export Import bank of China for a USD 10 Billion

credit line. This is in addition to an earlier USD 15
Billion from the China Development Bank.
Huawei, another infrastructure and network solutions
provider secured a USD 30 Billion credit line from the
China Development Bank.

20

Broadband & the economy

The growth
benefit that
broadband provides for
developing countries was ...
about a 1.38 percentage point
increase for each 10 percent
increase in penetration.
Despite its shorter history, broadband
seems to have a higher growth impact
relative to communications
technologies such as fixed and
mobile telephony and the
Internet.

As Ms
Qiangs research
shows, access to the
internet can provide an
even bigger boost to
economic growth than
access to mobile
phones.

A special report on telecoms in emerging markets

Sep 24th 2009
Finishing the job

Mobile-phone access will soon be universal.

The next task is to do the same for the internet
http://www.economist.com/node/14483856

Christine Zhen-Wei Qiang

Chapter 3
Economic Impacts of Broadband

21

Broadband divide

To add in chart about broadband

penetration around the world

22

3 Pillars of Facilitating Broadband Demand

Accessibility

Setting up broadband

access centers,
telecenters, kiosks, and
other public access points
Connecting educational
institutions to broadband
networks
Providing wireless Internet
services in public spaces
such as airports and
business districts
Training all citizens to
access and use broadband
through digital literacy
programs

Affordability

Attractiveness

Lowering the cost of user Supporting local, relevant

terminals by reducing
import duties and other
taxes or providing
targeted subsidies
Subsidizing broadband
equipment used in
educational institutions
Providing consumers with
information on providers,
pricing options, and
available technology

Internet content in local

languages
Putting government and
public information online
and creating e-government
and other e-applications
(such as those for health,
education, and agriculture)
Providing a legal
framework for ecommerce and other
applications
Educating citizens about
the benefits of broadband
Promoting broadband use
to businesses and
communities

23

0
Korea (Rep.)
Lithuania
Latvia
Romania
Netherlands
Moldova
Sweden
Aland Islands
Japan
Portugal
Switzerland
Germany
Singapore
Iceland
Bulgaria
Denmark
Belgium
Estonia
Liechtenstein
Hungary
Ukraine
France
Norway
Andorra
Finland
Luxembourg
Russia
Austria
Slovakia
Czech Rep.
UK
USA
CIV

Speed

40

30

20

10

24

25

 To add in chart about massive increase in

bandwidth in Kenya (links to one of articles

in reading list)

26

Conclusions

Making steady progress in developing countries

increasing access to mobiles

ICT use varies with level of development & social &

cultural factors

... concepts of the Internet and media in general are

consequently strongly shaped by a distinct set of
mobile applications...

...those who want to be on-line already are...

What are developmental/social/economic impacts of
Internet and implication of accessing Internet using
different devices (PC/tablet/smartphone/mobile)?

27