Douglas a Galbi - Rapid Development of Communications Capabilities in Low-Income Countries

8/9/2019 Douglas a Galbi - Rapid Development of Communications Capabilities in Low-Income Countries

1/16

RapidDev

elopme

ntof

C

ommu

nicationsCapabilities

in

Low

-Incom

eCountries

Dou

glasGalbi

FCCSe

niorEconom

ist

July16,2002

N

ote:Thispresentationreflectsonlytheviewsofthe

author.Thispresentation

d

oesnotnecessarilyreflecttheviewsoftheFederalCommunications

C

ommission,itsC

ommissioners,orstaffmemberso

therthantheauthor.

Tech

NetBrownBagPresentationatth

eWorldBank


2/16

ThreeKeys

1

.commercialincentivesfordiss

emination

of

offersandopportunities

2

.communicationreg

ulationbas

edonrightsand

freedom

snotmere

lydefinedbygovernm

ent

authority

3

.large-sc

ale,low-co

stglobalin

dustryprov

iding

generalpurposera

dioequipm

ent


3/16

DifferentFramewo

rksfor

Comm

unicationsDevelopment

Amateurradio:non-c

ommercial,emphasis

on

governme

ntauthority

,nationally

andgloba

lly

Internet:n

on-commercialandco

mmercial,

dependen

tonexistingtelecominfrastructure

Mobiletelephony:commercial,serviceproviders

dependen

tonradioregulation,capital-intensive

bigbusine

ss

Fixedwire

linetelephony:statee

nterprise,public

utility


4/16

C

aseStu

dy:Ug

anda

1995:0.20wiretel.lines/100pe

rsons

0.0

0mobilete

l/100persons

Mobilese

rviceproviders:CelTe

l(May199

5),

MTNUga

nda(Oct.1

998),UTL

(Jan.2001

)


rsons

1.4

3mobilete

l/100persons


5/16

CaseStud

y:Guatemala


rsons

0.2

5mobilete

l/100persons

1996:rad

icalreform

ofradioregulationSee

Ibarquen

(2001).


rsons

9.7

0mobilete

l/100persons


6/16

Table1

Countries/E

conomieswithMo

bileTelephoneSu

bscribers

ExceedingFixedWireline

TelephoneSubscr

ibers

Region

Total

Econom

ies

With

Mobile>Fixed

With

Mobile>Fixed

WesternEurope

22

19

86%

Africa

45

32

71%

MiddleEast

10

8

80%

Caribbean

14

5

36%

NorthandCentralA

merica

10

4

40%

SouthAmerica

12

5

42%

Asia

19

10

53%

Oceania

11

3

27%

CentralandEastern

Europe

21

7

33%

World

164

93

57%


7/16

Table2

UsersPer

HundredPersons

(medianfor

countriesinclass)

IncomeClass

Countries

Am

ateur

Radio

Internet

Mobile

Telephony

Fixed

Lines

1.High

39

0.

0766

31.0

71.1

52.9

2.UpperMiddle

32

0.

0332

8.2

21.2

25.0

3.LowerMiddle

47

0.

0080

2.6

6.7

10.4

4.Low

46

0.

0002

0.3

1.0

0.9

AllClasses

164

0.

0095

3.5

10.5

13.7

ComparingIncomeClasses

RatioofUsers

PerHundred

Am

ateur

Radio

Internet

Mobile

Telephony

Fixed

Lines

1/2:High/UpperMiddle

2.3

3.8

3.3

2.1

2/3:Upper/LowerMiddle

4.1

3.2

3.2

2.4

3/4:LowerMid

dle/Low

3

6.9

9.8

7.0

11.6

ComparingFields

RatioofUsers

PerHundred

IncomeClass

Am

ateur/

Internet

Amateur/

Mobile

Internet/

Mobile

Fixed

/

Mobile

1.High

0.25%

0.11%

44%

74%

2.UpperMiddle

0.41%

0.16%

38%

118%

3.LowerMiddle

0.31%

0.12%

38%

156%

4.Low

0.08%

0.02%

27%

94%

AllClasses

0.27%

0.09%

33%

130%

S

S

G

l b i ( 2 0 0 2 ) A

A

d C


8/16

Table3

UsersPerHundredPersons

(median

forcountriesinclass)

Region

Countries

Amateur

Radio

Internet

Mobile

Tel.

Fixed

Tel.

WesternEurope

22

0.0840

30.0

74.8

56.2

Africa

45

0.0002

0.3

1.5

1.0

MiddleEas

t

10

0.0038

6.9

20.9

19.8

Caribbean

14

0.0318

5.1

11.7

27.9

North/CentralAmerica

10

0.0160

3.4

12.2

14.2

SouthAme

rica

12

0.0206

5.0

16.2

14.3

Asia

19

0.0016

2.6

8.1

5.1

Oceania

11

0.0192

2.2

1.8

9.7

Central/EasternEurope

21

0.0260

5.7

18.8

28.6

World

164

0.0095

3.5

10.5

13.7

RatiosAcrossFields

Region

Amateur

/Internet

Ama

teur

/Mobile

Internet

/Mobile

Fixed/

Mob

ile

WesternEurope

0.28%

0.11%

40%

75%

Africa

0.08%

0.02%

19%

72%

MiddleEas

t

0.05%

0.02%

33%

95%

Caribbean

0.62%

0.27%

43%

238%

NorthandCentralAmerica

0.48%

0.13%

27%

116%

SouthAme

rica

0.41%

0.13%

31%

88%

Asia

0.06%

0.02%

33%

63%

Oceania

0.87%

1.09%

125%

549%

Centraland

EasternEurope

0.46%

0.14%

30%

152%

World

0.27%

0.09%

33%

130%

Sources:S

eeGalbi(2002)AppAandC


9/16

Communication:AFundamen

tal

Issue

ofHum

anDeve

lopmen

t

Com

municationis

adefininghum

anactivity.

Comm

unicationcap

abilitiesmatte

rforawiderange

ofpersonalandsoc

ialopportuniti

es.

Abou

t40%ofperso

nsintheworldliveinlow-

incom

ecountries.A

mateurradio,

Internet,mobile

teleph

ony,andfixed

linetelephon

yallhavemed

ian

useratesof1%orlessinlow-inco

mecountries.

With

appropriatetechnologyand

regulation,so

me

aspec

tsofcommun

icationscapab

ilitiescanimp

rove

rapidly.


10/16

AmateurRad

io

Keyprobleminlow-incomecou

ntriesiswe

ak

governme

ntinstitutio

ns.

Amateurradioemph

asizespersonalrights

as

definedbygovernmentinstitutio

ns.

Amateurradioisare

lativefailureinlow-income

countries.

Amateurradiocould

playanimportantrole

in

developin

gtechnicalskillsandprovidingpublic

servicesinlow-incom

ecountrie

s.

Amateurradiowould

developm

oreeffectivelyin

low-incom

ecountriesifregulationwasbas

ed

lessongovernmentauthorityandmoreon

naturalhu

manrights

andfreedoms.


11/16

The

Interne

t

TheInternetisaglobalfieldtha

temphasiz

es

rightsand

freedoms

fromaliberal,democratic

tradition.

ButIntern

etusedependsonthetelecom

infrastructure.Limita

tionsofthe

telecom

infrastructurelimitpo

ssibilitiesfortheInter

net.

Commerc

ialincentiveshelpdrivespreado

f

technolog

y.Gettingstrongcom

mercial

incentives

forspread

oftheInte

rnetisa

significantpolicycha

llenge.


12/16

Mobile

Telephony

Hasrapid

lyexpande

dcommunications

capabilitie

sinrelativelyshorttim

e.

Well-unde

rstoodcom

mercialfra

meworkofrights

andfreedomsforusers(Mango

inUganda

:

100%pu

refreedom

).

Capitalre

quirements

andradio

regulation

for

operators

shapeindustrystructure.

Formore

serviceinn

ovationandmore

opportunitiesfornew

,smallent

erprises,need

moreliberalradioregulation.Learnfrom

Guatemalaandothe

rs.


13/16

Fi

xedLin

eTelep

hony

Hasbeen

relativelyeffectivein

developing

communicationscap

abilitiesinmiddle-inco

me

countries.

Limitedpotentialforrapiddevelopment:ca

pital

intensive,

scalesbad

ly,wire-basedtechno

logies

moresubjecttohold-upandappropriation

than

wireless

Realizing

communicationsright

sandfreed

oms

withwire-basednetw

orksrequiremore

developedsocialandpoliticalcapabilities.


14/16

Globa

lConte

xt

Internationalradiore

gulationsa

ndglobal

equipmen

tindustryc

entralizesimportant

aspectso

fregulation

.

Low-incomecountrie

shavedistinctive

circumsta

ncesandn

eeds:

Geographyandclimate

Service

cost/qualitytrade-offs

Roleofliteracy/linguisticdiversity

Credit/paymentinstitutions

Roleofmilitary

Moredecentralizedradioregula

tionwould

better

servenee

dsoflow-incomecountries


15/16

Genera

lPurpose

RadioT

echnology

Software-definedradios

:large-scale,low-costglo

bal

equipment

industrythat

moreeffectivelyincorporates

localknowledge(locals

oftware).

Allowslow-incomecoun

triestoavoid

costsofinefficient,

legacyradioregulationinhigh-incom

ecountries.

Instead,radioregulation

canbepatternedoncom

munity

regulationofactivitiessuchaswalkin

gandtalkingthat

invokeintuitiveundersta

ndingofrigh

tsandfreedoms.

Promotinggeneralpurposeradiotec

hnologyinhigh-

incomecou

ntriesisglob

aldevelopm

entaidthatfosters

humanage

ncyandactivityinlow-inc

omecountries.


16/16

References

Ibarquen

S.,Giancarlo(2001),Liberating

the

RadioSpectruminG

uatemala,paperpresented

atAEI(W

ashington,

DC),Nov.9,2001,

forthcominginTelecommunicationsPolicy

.

GuatemalanRadioR

egulator:S

uperintend

encia

deTeleco

municaciones(SIT),

http://ww.sit.gob.gt/

Galbi,DouglasA.,R

evolutiona

ryIdeasfor

RadioRegulation,o

nlineat

http://www

.galbithink

.organdfo

rthcomingon

http://www

.ssrn.com

Documents

Douglas a Galbi - Rapid Development of Communications Capabilities in Low-Income Countries