Differential Access to Communications Technologies

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the differential access of developing countries to new communications technologies, which, as we have seen, promote international trade — and hence globalization — by reducing information imperfections of various kinds. For this purpose, it is useful to distinguish between ‘voice’ communications technologies on the one hand and ‘data’ communications on the other, though, as we shall see, progress with regard to the former also exerts a powerful influence on a developing country’s access to the latter. Given the nature of this causal relationship, it would seem logical to begin our discussion with an analysis of the differential extent to which developing countries have obtained access to the advances in ‘voice’ communications technologies.