Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries.

["Irfan Khan" <khania2@super.net.pk>]

Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries.
Scott Wallsten. May 2003. 	

Abstract

Concerns about a worsening “digital divide” between rich and poor 
countries parallel the hope that information and computing 
technologies (ICTs) could increase economic growth in developing 
countries.  Little research, however, has explored ICT growth beyond 
noting that it is correlated with standard development indicators, 
and no empirical research has explored the role of regulation.  In 
this paper, Scott Wallsten uses data from a unique new survey of 
telecommunications regulators and other sources to measure the 
effects of regulation on Internet development.  Controlling for 
factors such as income, telecommunications infrastructure 
development, ubiquity of personal computers, and time trends, Mr. 
Wallsten finds that countries requiring formal regulatory approval 
for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to operate have fewer Internet 
users and hosts than countries that do not require such approval.  
Moreover, countries that regulate ISP final-user prices have higher 
Internet access prices than countries without such regulations.  
These results suggest that developing countries’ own regulatory 
policies can have large impacts on the digital divide.

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source: 
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