Global travellers on the digital dirt road: international mobility, networks and ICT diffusion in Ghana (original) (raw)
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Research on the role of international networking and mobility in technology transfer to developing countries has focused on the firm level, looking at either spillovers from clusters of foreign firms or international trade. However this leaves micro-level processes of adoption in more marginal areas a ‘black box’ – a knowledge gap that is problematic for policymakers because technological inequalities between rich and poor within developing countries suggest that new technologies often fail to spread as hoped. This paper offers empirical evidence on processes of internet access provision and adoption at the micro-level in Ghana, with particular attention to the importance of international mobility as a way for small-scale entrepreneurs, so far a neglected resource in internet penetration policy, to access technological resources and knowledge. Using a mixed methods approach combining fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis and social network analysis, this paper argues that international mobility and networking are an important but neglected factor in technology access and adoption, contributing to internet penetration into marginalised areas where usership was previously rare or nonexistent.
Research ICT Africa, 2015
While the 2007/08 African ICT access and use survey demonstrated alarmingly little access to the Internet on the continent, together with a large-scale absence of computers and smartphones, compounded by the high cost of connectivity (Gillwald and Stork, 2008), the mobile phone is now the key entry point for Internet use. Internet access has grown significantly, increasing Internet penetration to 15.5 per cent across the ten African countries surveyed on household and individual ICT access and use by Research ICT Africa in 2011/12. Mobile Internet requires fewer ICT skills and financial resources, and does not rely on electricity at home, compared to computer or laptop and fixed-Internet access, in general. Other findings highlight the unevenness of Internet take-up across and within countries. So, while the majority of the countries under investigation demonstrate increased mobile Internet take-up, in Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia, Internet use remains negligible. South Africa had the highest Internet penetration rate, with nearly 34 per cent of the population who are 15 years or older using the Internet. From a policy perspective, what is significant about these rare demand-side studies is their national representativeness, which allows for the disaggregation of data by sex, income and education, which is simply not available with supply side data. For example, the survey was able to identify that in Namibia and Tanzania Internet access is balanced between the genders, while in Uganda, Ethiopia and Rwanda mobile Internet access seems to be the domain of men, with only between 10 and 30 per cent of mobile Internet users being female. The representativeness also enables the modelling of the data to understand the real causes of inequality, and facilitates identification of the actual points of policy intervention. For example, the modelling of the descriptive gender data has shown no significant gender effect for mobile phone ownership when controlling the data for income and education. This means that women with similar income, education and employment status are as likely as men to own a mobile phone. However, as women generally have less access to employment (income) and education, this decreases the likelihood of mobile ownership and mobile Internet use. Unlike some of the micro-studies of Internet use in Africa, the study surveys also those marginalised from services and the reasons for this. In Namibia, Tanzania, South Africa and Botswana, not having a computer/Internet connection is the main reason for not using the Internet. In Namibia, this is followed by a lack of skills (“I don’t know how to use it”) and by the cost of the Internet, considered by 78.4 per cent of non-users to be too expensive. While in the majority of the countries lack of skills was identified as a major barrier to Internet adoption, cost was considered the second biggest barrier in Uganda and Rwanda. In Ethiopia, where the prices of the monopoly services are politically determined, though still high, the factor of cost was lowest, at 5 per cent.
Analysis of Internet Diffusion and Adoption in Selected African Countries
The study identifies and analyses the ma jor determinants that influenced the diffusion and adoption of Internet technology in the selected African countries. The selected Africa countries were purposely chosen based on their Internet connectivity and usage pattern. A model was developed and used to explain inter-country differences in adoption as measured by the following parameters: Internet Usage (UI), Internet Host (IH), Gross Do mestic Product (GDP) per capita, Investment in Teleco mmunication Infrastructures (ITI) per capita and Telephone Density (TD). These variables were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results of the study confirm past findings that Economic strength, Teleco mmunications and Technology Infrastructure, and number o f Internet Host in the observed countries play a fundamentally important role in determining d iffusion rates of Internet technology. However, correlation test and regression analysis do not show any significant relationship between Internet diffusion and telephone density. To this end, the work thus suggested some appropriate policy directions that will guide the government in teleco mmunication and economic policies in order to pro mote public as well as p rivate investments in ICTs that in turn might further boost economic gro wth.
Internet diffusion in sub-Saharan Africa: A cross-country analysis
Telecommunications Policy, 2005
In this paper, we employ the notions of digital inequality and digital divide to describe two levels of access to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). On the one hand there is the inequality of access to the cluster of technology measured by Internet use intensity and on the other are the confluence of skills and other resources that differentiate countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Using crosscountry data, we test hypotheses developed from a review of the literature from which we draw preliminary conclusions on the nature and pattern of digital access in the region. The variables are analyzed through a simultaneous equation system because the high correlations ruled out the use of a single econometric model. The paper confirms the vital importance of telecommunications infrastructure-represented by the high correlation of telephone density-with Internet use, no matter the per capita income level of a country.
policy-icasit.gmu.edu
This paper suggests an approach for using convenient, available databases to discern and compare some of underlying characteristics of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in developing nations-the poorer and less advanced countries-and uses a cluster of these countries, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), as an example. Global telecommunications capacity is concentrated in a small number of countries, the so-called "developed nations." Much of the proliferation in bandwidth, hardware, and electronic commerce is focused on this elite group. The remaining countries, called "developing nations," represent more than 80 percent of the world's inhabitants but in aggregate have only a tiny fraction of the ICT power-an indication of a worldwide digital divide. How is a business or donor organization to assess the optimal countries for ICT funding and select investments that lead to social or financial gain? We describe a general developmental model of technology diffusion and then present several of the most practical statistics currently available for assessing and comparing developing nations in the context of ICT. Using these statistics we briefly examine the 20-nation MENA cluster, suggesting a process that can yield insights for businesses as well as non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Internet going mobile: internet access and use in 11 African countries
Emerald Group Publishing Limited - info, 2013
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse internet access and use trends in 11 African countries based on household and individual ICT survey data. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses nationally representative data for households and individuals in residential and semi-residential areas, as defined by national census sample frames for 11 African countries. Findings – While the 2007/2008 African ICT access and use survey demonstrated alarmingly little access to the internet on the continent, together with a large-scale absence of computers and smart phones, compounded by the high cost of connectivity, the mobile phone is now the key entry point for internet use. Internet access has increased significantly across all countries, as a result increasing internet penetration to 15.5 per cent across the 11 African countries surveyed by Research ICT Africa in 2011/2012. Mobile internet requires fewer ICT skills, less financial resources and does not rely on electricity at home, compared to computers or laptops. Other findings highlight the unevenness of internet take-up across and within countries. Thus, while the majority of the countries under investigation demonstrate increased mobile internet take-up, in Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia, internet use remains negligible. In those countries where mobile internet is boosting connectivity, this is being driven by social networking applications. Practical implications – The policy implications of the shift in significant numbers from negligible internet access at public access points serviced primarily by fixed access lines to mobile internet access are significant. Just as traditional reform strategies of increasing competition in the market increased access to voice services more successfully than traditional universal service strategies, mobile again appears to be addressing the internet gap. Competition in mobile markets appears to address the efficiency gap in the market, resulting in an increase in the choice of services and a reduction in prices. Strategies that seek to aggregate users at public access points, funded by complex levies and subsidies again seem to have been overtaken by the increasing availability of mobile internet access, as feature phones and smart phone become more available to individual users. Social implications – Understanding prepaid mobile internet further provides a pro-poor dimension to public policies seeking to improve internet access, which historically has been available and affordable to the elite. The rest of the society had to rely on public access points, whether private internet cafés or schools and libraries. Originality/value – This paper uses primary data that allow a better understanding of internet access and use in Africa. It provides policymakers and regulators with the evidence required for an informed ICT policy and regulation.
Global Diffusion of the Internet XII: The Internet Growth in Africa: Some Empirical Results
Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 2007
This study identifies the significant factors affecting Internet growth levels at an early stage of growth in African nations. The average growth levels of Internet users for 1995 and 2003 are calculated and the associations between Internet growth level and several types of factors such as economic, educational, institutional, infrastructural, innovation-related, and environmental factors are examined. Human development, higher education, technology availability, and computer growth levels explain more than 84 percent of the variance in African Internet growth levels. When compared to non-African nations, Africa lacks the influence of institutional variables. Compared with a set of economically similar developing nations (based on similar GDP per capita and income inequality levels), Africa has different Internet growth levels, even though the number of Internet hosts per 1,000 and delays in starting Internet diffusion are similar. These differences are probably due to lack of education, human development, infrastructural and environmental variables.
Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Oeconomica, 2021
With the rapid developments and changes in technology in the Fourth Industrial Revolution being witnessed everywhere, this study aimed to investigate the factors that influence access to the internet by households in emerging economies with a direct focus on South Africa one of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Access to broadband facilities by individuals, households and consumers is one of the critical components of the economic growth and prosperity of a country. It is generally believed that the access to broadband technologies by a community or nation helps to increase productivity which assists a lot in fueling economic growth which will have an impact on the levels of poverty. Using the logistic regression, the study found out that race, access to telephone landline, access to a cellular cellphone, access to electricity, owning a house, gender, age of the household head, net household income per month, and household expenditure were the significant variables in influencing...
DETERMINANTS OF THE INTERNET USE IN AFRICA
INTED 2009, 2009
The objective of this paper is double. On one hand, it intends to approach the African economy and its international institutional framework. On the other hand, it tries to analyze the influence of a set of variables on the degree of Internet penetration in the African countries. It has been carried out an econometric study comparing, at a longitudinal level, the different African countries, to determine the significance of the selected variables on the degree of development and penetration of Internet in the African economy. The methodology of the study is a fixed effects panel data model using all the available data for the period 1996-2005. This model tries to capture the common evolution of Internet use in 38 African countries. At the same time, it tries to explain the unequal (heterogeneous) evolution of telecommunications in Africa. As result of this paper, we can conclude that it is possible to talk about a double digital divide: Firstly the world digital divide, and secondly the African digital divide, explained by the importance of telecommunication infrastructures on the Internet penetration.