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Some see trade in services as irrelevant to the development agenda for least developed countries (LDCs). Others see few benefits from past market openings by LDCs. This book debunks both views. It finds that serious imperfections in Zambia's reform of services trade deprived the country of significant benefits and diminished faith in liberalization. What is to be done? Move aggressively and consistently to eliminate barriers to entry and competition. Develop and enforce regulations to deal with market failures. And implement proactive policies to widen the access of firms, farms, and consumers to services of all kinds. These lessons from Zambia are applicable to all LDCs. In all this, international agreements can help. But to succeed, LDCs must commit to open markets and their trading partners must provide assistance for complementary reforms. Zambia, which leads the LDC group at the World Trade Organization, can show the way.

Recent evidence suggests that increasing overall service coverage and promoting access to telecommunications services have a high economic benefit. Overall, it is estimated that a ten percent increase in mobile telephony penetration could increase economic growth by 0.81 percent in developing countries, whereas a ten percent increase in broadband penetration could increase economic growth by 1.4 percent. In rural and low-income areas in particular, not only do basic telephony services and broadband access allow population to connect with relatives and friends, but they have also introduced a dramatic increase in productivity and in many cases have become the only way for small and medium enterprises in rural areas to access national and, in some cases, global markets. Moreover, the impact of access to telecommunications in rural areas on health, education, disaster management, and local governments has allowed better and more rapid responses, improved coordination, and more effective public management. It is therefore worthwhile to take a second look at all possible policy options, both conventional mechanisms (some of which underutilized) as well as new approaches, to determine whether some of them may be relevant for the emerging agenda of universal broadband access. This paper will first address the necessary conditions required to adopt a more ambitious universal access policy in developing countries. After that, a brief account of the main relevant trends in the industry will be made, followed by a description of twelve different mechanisms for project implementation and six different mechanisms for funding of universal access strategies. Then, an evaluation of the mechanisms will be carried out to identify the most suitable ones. Finally, some recommendations to policy makers on implementation of the preferred mechanisms are also drawn from the analysis.

This joint OED (Operations Evaluation Department) / OEG (Operations Evaluation Group) study follows up OED ' s 1993 review of the Bank ' s experience in telecommunications. It assesses how World Bank Group assistance from 1993 onward has influenced the development of information infrastructure in developing countries. It finds that recommendations of the 1993 review have generally been heeded with a) the adoption of a new private-sector-led agenda; b) the incorporation of the new agenda in most recent Bank lending and non-lending interventions; and c) the increasing share of IFC in total Bank Group funding commitments for telecommunications. The study points out that, at a time when the information revolution presents developing countries with far-reaching opportunities and risks, the Bank Group ' s ability to play a global policy leadership role has been hampered by its benign neglect of the sector at both the strategic and country management levels, as well as a fragmented internal organization. As a result, the number of countries where it has had a real impact is limited. The study recommends that the Bank Group a) restate its strategy in the broader information infrastructure, with a particular focus on optimizing the use of its instruments and expert skills; and b) gaps in the existing monitoring and evaluation systems be filled, to provide the necessary framework to assess the future effectiveness of the revised strategy.

Over the past ten years, private-sector-led growth has revolutionized access to telecommunications. Every region of the developing world benefitted in terms of investment and rollout. This revolution would have been impossible without government reform and oversight. Advanced information and communication infrastructure (ICI) are increasingly important to doing business in a globalizing world. Governments, enterprises, civil society, workers, and poor populations in the developing countries need more affordable access. This report proposes strategies that governments can carry out to attract private investment and ensure the continued evolution and spread of information and communication infrastructure. These strategies encompass more than sector policy alone, for investment decisions are based on a wide range of factors including, for example, the roles played by financial sector development and the broader investment environment. The strategies also include potential public sector investments that can catalyze ICI rollout in subsectors where the private sector is not prepared to intervene on its own.

Access to information, and communications technologies has become crucial to a sustainable agenda of economic development, and poverty reduction, and yet access remains concentrated in a few regions and population groups, with the contours of this new \" digital divide \" closely following, and supplementing existing income, and economic divides. However, technological innovations, economic pressures, and regulatory reforms, are making access to information, and communications technologies more affordable, and, providing opportunities to close the digital divide. This discussion paper outlines a number of policy, and regulatory measures, including incentives to attract investors to high cost, or challenging areas, that can be used under different scenarios, to close the digital divide. While Bank Group experience shows an increasing number of projects with specific universal access components, this paper proposes alternatives for Bank Group support for universal access policies, through an appropriate mix of technical assistance, and investments.

Information and Communication Technologies and Broad-Based Development: A Partial Review of the Evidence is part of the World Bank Working Paper series. These papers are published to communicate the results of the Bank’s ongoing research and to stimulate public discussion. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly seen as integral to the development process. This working paper reviews: (a) some of the evidence for the link between telecommunications and the internet and economic growth; (b) the likely impact of the new ICTs on income inequality; and (c) anecdotal evidence regarding the role of the Internet in improving government services and governance. This study looks at methods to maximize access to the new ICTs, and to improve their development impact in both the generation of income and the provision of quality services.

With the dynamic and meteoric rise in teledensity diffusion across Sub Saharan Africa, one would expect a departure in the perceptions of stakeholders as they relate to the Bernt and Weiss framework that identifies organizational, financial, technological, and geographical factors as the key impediments to teledensity growth. The findings of this research show that there is disconnect between current happenings and perception of stakeholders. Specifically, there is no change in stakeholders’ perceptions with respect to the framework mentioned above. However, historical and recent teledensity data from Africa’s Least Developed Countries illustrate that the model is inconsistent with the emerging realities in these countries, and that it may be getting obsolete. This leads us to conjecture that in this new dispensation, there may be some emerging factors, issues, constraints, and opportunities that may be of greater importance to understanding telecommunications capabilities in these countries and the world at large.

Gartner predicts worldwide mobile connections will increase by 1.5 billion by 2010, with emerging markets accounting for 87% of that increase. By 2010 developing regions will account for 69% of all the world's phone connections. A telecom scramble to connect the developing world is now in full swing. Yet, despite the benefits of liberalisation and the phenomenal uptake of mobiles, gains in rural telephony in India and Ghana, the countries considered here, have lagged behind the aggregate national figures. Rural risks are even further behind urban than they were before. The challenge in the BOP business case is in bringing telecom services to rural areas, while making access affordable and relevant to the needs of the rural poor. The need for a holistic, convergent approach between government, service providers and other stakeholders, including civil society as well as the poor themselves, is discussed.

Africa's Least Developed Countries (LDCs) lag other regions of the world in utilizing telecommunications technologies. The resulting digital divide has hitherto left these countries far behind other regions of the world in various aspects of economic development. Many technology-oriented constraints account for the low levels of teledensity in Africa. Teledensity refers to the number of main telephone lines per one hundred inhabitants. The over-dependence of Africa's LDCs on the West has been reflected in various socio-economic dimensions, including the telecommunications industry. A general desire by the LDCs to break the cycle of perpetual dependence has led to calls for a debate on what strategies can be adopted to turn things around. Possible options include the following: (a) self-sufficiency approach by each country, (b) African Regional/Foreign Alliance approach to solve the regional technology- oriented constraints to teledensity, and (c) the 'viagra' approach of total and perpetual dependence on the West to come in and apply a \"band-aid\" fix to the problem, and leave behind an infrastructure with little or no local expertise to manage it. In this paper, the term 'viagra' is used to imply a quick or \"band-aid\" prescription in the guise of a \"solution \". This study examines the perspectives or beliefs of telecommunications stakeholders of Africa's LDCs on strategies for solving the technology-oriented constraints that have been documented in the literature. The findings suggest that Africa's LDCs should adopt a self-sufficiency approach and also create regional alliances for sustainable development of telecommunications infrastructure to spur the much needed teledensity growth in the region

In many parts of the world, knowledge is being put to work to accelerate and deepen the development process, promoting innovation and helping to generate wealth and jobs. This book discusses advanced development strategies that take into account education, information and communication technology, infrastructure, innovation, and the prerequisite economic and institutional regimes.