THE CENTRALITY OF ELECTRICITY FOR INTERNET UPTAKE IN LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES

摘要

Recent times have seen the emergence of an entire body of scholarly literature devoted to defining,conceptualizing, debating, measuring, and addressing the “digital divide.” Although many believe thatinformation and communication technologies (ICTs) are primary in the potential to improve quality of lifearound the world, one important factor is too often ignored in discussions of their importance andemployment: electricity. This overlooking of the centrality of electricity to any ICT for development(ICT4D) initiative in low-income locations has enormous consequences; countless initiatives have failedto consider the (in)ability to power the technology that is central to such development efforts. Thepresent article seeks to address this gap by emphasizing the primacy of electricity in ICT4D initiatives.Utilizing a unique dataset that avoids the issues associated with unreliably-measured and inequitablydistributedgrid power, we examine the drivers of Internet adoption in low-income countries. We findrobust evidence that increasing the distribution of electricity within under-served countries – andthereby making electricity available to a larger proportion of the population – significantly increases thenumber of Internet users. Subsequent to the presentation of these findings, their relevant policyimplications are discussed.