Is There a Global Digital Divide for Digital Wireless Phone Technologies?

Despite the widespread adoption of new information technologies, a “digital divide” still exists, excluding many from enjoying the benefits, especially those who live in developing countries. A digital divide is defined as an access gap that is measured by the disparities in subscriber penetration levels and technological gaps reflected in technological discrepancies between countries and regions. However, the rapidly advancing diffusion of digital wireless technologies offers hope that this gap will be diminished. Digital wireless phones, with their popularity, affordability, and fast infrastructure implementation, have great potential to bridge the gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” in support of individual communication. This research reflects an initial effort to study digital wireless phone adoption among nations and regions that will help to provide a picture of the current global digital divide. The questions we address in this research are: (1) To what extent is there a global digital divide with respect to digital wireless phone technology? (2) Are there any observable patterns of the divide relative to the adoption of digital wireless phones among regions and countries in the world? (3) How can we explain what we observe? The data consist of forty three countries in Africa, Asia Pacific, Middle East, North America, South Asia and Western Europe. Our findings are supported by a descriptive analysis of diffusion patterns, as well as a panel data model-based analysis that offers an explanation of the observed patterns. We also present a new theoretical perspective to understand what we see: a regional contagion theory of technology diffusion. We examine the efficacy of the new theory using a vector autoregression and variance decomposition approach to establish information about the strength of the regional contagion links. These findings provide insights for policy makers to understand how to address the access gaps in digital wireless phones on a global basis.