Advantage of investing in ICT
In the industrial age a pre-requisite was an expensive infrastructure of roads, railways, ports to distribute raw materials and products, plus factories (e.g. steel making, cars etc.). In today's information age help and technical information is readily accessible online, so one person with a computer and an Internet connection can be productive (e.g. outsourcing of help, information services etc.) An Internet connection is a necessary pre-requisite and cheaper to install than a highway. To compete in today's world, investment in ICT and networking is critical to enable opportunity and productivity. It can also help minimize the brain drain by making the country/region more attractive to trained people.
Ten Steps for Improving Internet Performance
It is clear that there are many Digital Divides, by region, country, within countries, age groups, city vs rural etc. How one reduces the Digital Divide varies from country to country, region to region etc. Based on what we have seen for Brazil, Romania, Pakistan and India tackling the Digital Divide typically involves a combination of the following:
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