Good points for discussion, --- Florence. I would also add to the list of issues you have given (and these apply not only to Africa but to most other regions of the world that face digital divides) the interplay between the policies of the major transnational corporates that administer cyber infrastructure within countries. It is possible for digital divides to continue or even widen if corporations follow only market forces (profits) through their access to markets in developing countries. The earlier example of telecoms is instructive in this respect. Some governments (as you may have seen in India, for example) tried to bridge the divide through a proactive policy of issuing licences to corporates for both urban centres (where the profits were easily harvested) and rural or distant centres simultaneously as one package.

Source author: Asoke Mukerji asokem@diplomacy.edu