Determinants of a Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa : A Spatial Econometric Analysis of Cell Phone Coverage

• Tác giả: Piet Buys
• Ngôn ngữ: eng
• Ký hiệu phân loại: 016.96 Bibliographies and catalogs of works on specific subjects or in specific disciplines
• Thông tin xuất bản: 2012
• Bộ sưu tập: Tài liệu truy cập mở
• ID: 311770
• Chủ đề: 1. Antitrust Issues and Policies: General L400; 2. Choice of Technology O140; 3. Industrialization; 4. Manufacturing and Service Industries; 5. Telecommunications L960

Tóm tắt

 This paper investigates the determinants of disparities in coverage by cell telephone systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. It uses a spatially disaggregated probit for over 990,000 grid cells with adjustments for spatial autocorrelation. Determinants include potential market size (population)
  cost factors related to accessibility (elevation, slope, distance from a main road, and distance from the nearest large city)
  and competition policy. Estimates indicate significant results for the supply-demand variables, and very strong results for the competition policy index. Simulations suggest that a generalized improvement in competition policy could lead to huge improvements in cell phone area coverage, and to an overall coverage increase of nearly 100%.