Mobile broadband: the urgent need for speedier roll-out

The importance of telecommunications in development has been recognized for decades. Much of the literature that has looked at this phenomenon has focused on assessing its impact on the transformation of specific social and economic groups. A pioneering study by Jensen (2007) to measure the impact of access to information and communications technologies (ICT) identified the positive effect that mobile telephony has had on fishing communities in southern India by reducing transaction costs. Several other studies have assessed the contribution of mobile telephony to growth (Waverman and others, 2005; Qiang, 2010; Katz, 2010a), employment (Katz, 2010b) and productivity (Waverman, 2009; García Zaballos, 2012, Waverman and others, 2005).

Related Subject(s): Economic and Social Development