The digital divide in rural South Asia: Survey evidence from Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka

* We thank the NET Institute (www.N Administration at California State financial support. We are also indeb Jake Kendall for significant contributi This paper replaces earlier work with t and the Digital Divide in Rural South A * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ1 83 5077. E-mail address: [email protected] 0970-3896 a 2011 Indian Institute of rights reserved. Peer-review under res of Management Bangalore. doi:10.1016/j.iimb.2010.12.002 Abstract This paper examines bridging the digital divide through organisational innovations that provide low cost Internet access in developing countries, within the existing conditions of income levels. We use survey data from three South Asian countries, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, to examine factors influencing patterns of computer and Internet use. We find that education plays a key role, in terms of its acquisition as a reason for computer and Internet use, and as an enabling variable (especially in the case of English language knowledge). a 2011 Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. All rights reserved.