This brief paper uses a simple arithmetic framework to classify and explain the performance of developing countries in closing the absolute digital divide. Four categories are created on the basis of two variables, namely, the penetration and rate of growth of mobile phones. The paper answers questions such as: Which countries do well and badly on both variables? Are the countries in these cate...

Even though, there has been an increasing usage and access to Information Communication Technology (ICT) worldwide during the last few decades, the digital divide between developed and developing regions still remains (ITU, 2009). In developed countries a well established ICT infrastructure exists in industrial, business, governmental and home environments. The infrastructure is available in bi...

Reconceptualizing the Digital Divide by Mark Warschauer This paper examines the concept of a digital divide by introducing problematic examples of community technology projects and analyzing models of technology access. It argues that the concept provides a poor framework for either analysis or policy, and suggests an alternate concept of technology for social inclusion. It then draws on the hi...

What factors have promoted and retarded the spread of the internet globally? The internet is one example of the diffusion of technology. Much as other technologies, the internet has diffused unevenly across countries, raising concerns over a “digital divide.” My main proposition is that its spread has been driven by neither technological nor economic factors alone. Rather political factors exer...

There is a growing interest in how the digital divide affects the operations of SMEs. The digital divide among businesses is defined as the disparity between the effective use of ICT for gains in productivity (Wielicki, 2008). Often, SMEs are found to be on the wrong side of this divide, with insufficient funds and/or access to ICT as the most cited reasons for falling behind big corporations. ...

In discussing and planning interventions around the “digital divide” people tend to think in terms of the binary oppositions of “digital-haves” and “digital-have-nots”. Information and communications technologies (ICT) programs sponsored by governments and other agencies to address the “digital divide” also tend to be “topdown” initiatives that focus on the provision of institutional aid and th...

The phrase ‘digital divide’ has been applied to the gap that exists in most countries between those with ready access to the tools of information and communication technologies, and the knowledge that they provide access to, and those without such access or skills. This may be because of socioeconomic factors, geographical factors, educational, attitudinal and generational factors, or it may be...

The digital divide phenomenon manifests both within and between developed and less-developed countries. The purpose of this study is to provide a theoretical foundation for digital divide research and, subsequently, to identify patterns of internet adoption and use based on individual behaviors of long-established media systems and variables traditionally employed to predict the digital divide....