Abstract
This chapter examines the public-private differential in the supply side of ICT in Sudanese universities. Our findings in this chapter provide further evidence in support of the second hypothesis on the incidence of structural change in the demand for ICT, in particular from the supply side. Our results support the well-investigated argument concerning the structural change in the structure of the supply of ICT market from monopoly to monopolistic competition. We find that the increasing number of operating companies has been in favour of consumers not only by increasing availability of ICT services but also by offering consumers wider options for selection from the different ICT supplier companies. Moreover, the increasing competition between different ICT supplier companies led to improvement in the efficiency of ICT services, low or cheap prices and introduction of price discrimination mechanism. Our findings show dynamic evolution and structural change in the supplier companies. In our view the justification of this shift or structural change is probably related to preference of certain characteristics of the supplier company. Our results are consistent with the conventional stylised facts in the theoretical literature concerning the rationality of consumers. Our findings on the methods of connection to the Internet indicate a significant shift from connection via dial-up by telephone to connection by ADSL. For instance, we find that from all the staff’s perspective, for the majority, the most widely used and common way for connection with the Internet is through ADSL, which is used by near to half of all respondents, this is followed by connection by wireless, which is used by near to one third of all respondents and finally by fixed telephone which is used by near to one fifth of all respondents. Further evidence in support of the hypothesis on the incidence of structural change in the demand for ICT can be elaborated from our findings, which imply that from all the staff’s perspective, for the majority, in both the home and office, mobile telephone, computer and Internet are often widely used, while fixed telephone is less often used. Our results indicate that from all the respondents’ perspective ICT is often and widely accessed in both the home and office, while Internet café and telecommunication offices are less often widely used compared to both home and offices as common locations for the use of ICT. In particular, both computer and Internet are very often used in the office or work place, this is probably because they are offered free of charge for the respondents in public and private Sudanese universities. The major policy recommendation from our results in this chapter is the improvement of availability, efficiency and sustainability of ICT supply.
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Notes
- 1.
See www.ntc.gov.sd
- 2.
See Arab Advisors Group (2011c): Arab Advisors Group (2011c), ‘LTE & 3G/3.5G Cellular Services in the Arab World’, December 2011.
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
See ITU estimates and Arab Advisors Group.
- 6.
See National Telecom Corporation (2007) NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 7.
In addition to the NTC, the operators companies and the ISP, other main partners of Internet governance in Sudan are the National Information Center, the Sudanese Internet Society, the Internet clubs, the educational institutions, the public, the Intellectual Property Authority and civil society organisations. See Abu-Al-Fedl Mokhtar (2007) ‘Internet Management in Sudan’, Ministry of the Cabinet Affairs, National Information Center, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 8.
See National Telecom Corporation (2007) NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 9.
See Zain (2007) ‘Zain Presentation for NTC Workshop ISP/ASP/SMS/IVR’, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 10.
See Almuneer Taha Elkabashi (2007) ‘Introduction and Enhancement of Internet Services in Sudan The Role of Sudatel’, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 11.
See Mohammed Al Bashier Ahmed (2007) ‘Development of Internet services in Sudan Challenges and Prospects’, Sudanese Internet Society, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 12.
All ISP in Sudan provide the dial-up service which started in 1997 by Sudanet. The service started in Khartoum then extended piecemeal to other cities. See Mohammed Al Bashier Ahmed (2007) ‘Development of Internet services in Sudan Challenges and Prospects’, Sudanese Internet Society, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 13.
See National Telecom Corporation (2007) NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 14.
See Zain (2007) ‘Zain Presentation for NTC Workshop ISP/ASP/SMS/IVR’, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 15.
See National Telecom Corporation (2007) NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 16.
See Almuneer Taha Elkabashi (2007) ‘Introduction and Enhancement of Internet Services in Sudan The Role of Sudatel’, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 17.
See Zain (2007) ‘Zain Presentation for NTC Workshop ISP/ASP/SMS/IVR’, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 18.
See Mohamed Abdelaziz Tangasawi (2007) ‘Internet Services In Sudan’, V 1.0. NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 19.
See Ashraf Communication Company (2007) ‘The Importance of Internet Services’, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 20.
See National Telecom Corporation (2007) NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 21.
See Mohamed Abdelaziz Tangasawi (2007) ‘Internet Services in Sudan’, V 1.0. NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 22.
See Mobitel (2007) ‘Internet Issues’, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 23.
See Mohammed Al Bashier Ahmed (2007) ‘Development of Internet services in Sudan Challenges and Prospects Sudanese Internet Society,’ NTC Workshop on Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 24.
As indicated by 93 %, 93 %, 93 %, 93 %, 92 %, 92 %, 90 %, 89 %, 89 %, 88 %, 86 %, 84 %, 79 % and 92 % of all respondents respectively. As indicated by 93 %, 93 %, 93 %, 94 %, 93 %, 91 %, 89 %, 89 %, 89 %, 86 %, 86 %, 82 %, 80 % and 90 % of public respondents respectively. As indicated by 94 %, 94 %, 93 %, 88 %, 88 %, 94 %, 94 %, 88 %, 88 %, 94 %, 82 %, 88 %, 76 % and 100 % of private respondents respectively. As indicated by 90 %, 90 %, 71 %, 95 %, 90 %, 100 %, 81 %, 95 %, 86 %, 81 %, 52 %, 67 %, 76 % and 67 % of student respondents respectively. As indicated by 60 %, 40 %, 40 %, 60 %, 40 %, 40 %, 60 %, 60 %, 60 %, 40 %, 60 %, 40 %, 40 % and 0 % of support staff respondents respectively.
- 25.
As indicated by 92 %, 92 %, 90 %, 88 % and 88 % of all respondents respectively. As indicated by 91 %, 91 %, 91 %, 88 % and 100 % of public respondents respectively. As indicated by 94 %, 94 %, 88 %, 88 % and 75 % of private respondents respectively. As indicated by 95 %, 100 %, 90 %, 95 % and 100 % of student respondents respectively. As indicated by 60 %, 60 %, 60 %, 60 % and 0 % of support staff respondents respectively.
- 26.
See National Telecom Corporation (2007) NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 27.
See Mohamed Abdelaziz Tangasawi (2007) ‘Internet Services in Sudan’, V 1.0. NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 28.
See Mobitel (2007) ‘Internet Issues’, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 29.
See Almuneer Taha Elkabashi (2007) ‘Introduction and Enhancement of Internet Services in Sudan The Role of Sudatel’, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 30.
See Abu-Al-Fedl Mokhtar (2007) ‘Internet Management in Sudan’, Ministry of the Cabinet Affairs, National Information Center, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 31.
See Mohammed Al Bashier Ahmed (2007) ‘Development of Internet services in Sudan Challenges and Prospects’, Sudanese Internet Society, NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 32.
See National Telecom Corporation (2007) NTC Workshop on Internet Issues, 19 July 2007.
- 33.
As indicated by 99 %, 96 %, 96 %, 95 %, 95 %, 95 %, 94 %, 93 %, 93 %, 93 %, 93 %, 92 %, 80 %%, 97 %, 97 %, 95 %, 91 % and 80 % of all respondent staff respectively. As indicated by 100 %, 96 %, 96 %, 95 %, 95 %, 95 %, 96 %, 95 %, 93 %, 91 %, 91 %, 95 %, 75 %, 96 %, 98 %, 95 %, 91 % and 80 % of respondent public staff respectively. As indicated by 94 %, 94 %, 94 %, 94 %, 94 %, 94 %, 87 %, 88 %, 94 %, 100 %, 100 %, 82 %, 100 %, 100 %, 94 %, 94 %, 88 %, and 0 % respondent private staff respectively. As indicated by 100 %, 96 %, 100 %, 100 %, 96 %, 100 %, 100 %, 95 %, 100 %, 92 %, 96 %, 87 %, 100 %, 92 %, 96 %, 100 %, 91 % and 100 % of respondent students respectively. As indicated by 40 %, 80 %, 40 %, 40 %, 40 %, 40 %, 80 %, 40 %, 40 %, 40 %, 40 %, 40 %, 0 %, 80 %, 80 %, 40 %, 40 % and 0 % of respondent support staff respectively.
References
Abu-Al-Fedl Mokhtar (2007) Internet management in Sudan. Ministry of the Cabinet Affairs, National Information Center
Almuneer Taha Elkabashi (2007) Introduction and enhancement of Internet services in Sudan the role of Sudatel. NTC workshop on Internet issues, 19 Jul 2007
Ashraf Communication Company (2007) The importance of Internet services. NTC workshop on Internet issues, 2007
Mobitel (2007) Internet issues. NTC workshop on Internet issues, 19 Jul 2007
Mohamed Abdelaziz Tangasawi (2007) Internet services in Sudan. V 1.0. NTC workshop on Internet issues, 19 Jul 2007
Mohammed Al Bashier Ahmed (2007) Development of Internet services in Sudan challenges and prospects. Sudanese Internet Society, NTC workshop on Internet issues, 19 Jul 2007
National Telecom Corporation (2007) NTC workshop on Internet issues, 19 Jul 2007
University Survey (2009) The impacts of ICT in connections, transformation and production of knowledge in Sudanese Universities, Khartoum
Zain (2007) Zain Presentation for NTC workshop ISP/ASP/SMS/IVR. NTC workshop on Internet issues, 19 Jul 2007. Confidential Document Sudatel 8/5/2007
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Mohamed Nour, S. (2015). The Supply Side of ICT. In: Information and Communication Technology in Sudan. Contributions to Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13999-9_7
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