63 / 208
[
] 63
P
RODUCTIVITY GROWTH IS
the key factor for any country’s
economic development, and this is also one of the signif-
icant contributions of telecommunications. The
telecommunications infrastructure contributes towards the
growth of productivity in many ways; one of the most important
is enabling the sharing of information between areas and coun-
tries around the world. There is a lot of information that
countries can share with others that stimulates economic devel-
opment, like technological expertise, software development,
hardware manufacturing, educational aspects and projects,
cultural artefacts and activities such as art.
Unfolding a telecommunications infrastructure and promoting
access to this infrastructure has a range of direct effects on the
economic development of a country, from the diffusion of new
ideas to facilitation of the coordination of economic activity.
Developed countries are already experiencing these benefits
through well-established telecommunications systems and contin-
uous modernization of their telecommunications networks. On
the other hand, the developing countries have realized the impor-
tance of a modern telecommunications and information infra-
structure for achieving a high growth rate and economic
development. But existing social constraints to the ownership and
use of telecommunications technology, and the proper adoption
and utilization of rapidly changing IT, are major challenges to them.
It is imperative that developing countries make use of the infor-
mation opportunities provided by information and
communication technology (ICT) like the Internet to increase
their communication with other countries. In the least devel-
oped countries (LDCs), where the Internet and
telecommunications technologies are unavailable, it is time that
governments and the private sector made such services available
to most people. This accessibility to ICT will, in the long run,
reduce illiteracy rates, increase opportunities for employability,
and reduce poverty.
Information flow as a pillar for economic development
In any developing country, one of the prime ingredients of devel-
opment is information. Through communication via ICT, the
world is a global village where people from one country learn
about events in many other countries as soon as the news
breaks. ICT and traditional mass media such as television and
newspapers are therefore some of the most important compo-
nents of the information transfer system in international
communication.
The sharing of information through ICT, thanks to telecommu-
nications, allows countries to leapfrog stages of economic growth
by being able to modernize their production systems and increase
their competitiveness faster than in the past. Countries should
therefore build telecommunications infrastructures, as these
contribute towards socioeconomic development. In the global
information society we now live in, there is a clear direct correla-
tion between access to telecommunications and socioeconomic
development: telecommunications is no longer the consequence
of development; rather it is a necessary precondition for develop-
ment. Improved teledensity in a country, for example, and the use
of international communication by that country, will improve both
its development and its economic status.
Local payphone or shared mobile phone access experiences in
remote African villages have yielded incredible success due to the
reduction of the entry barrier to placing either local or interna-
tional calls. Belgacom International Carrier Services – as the
partner for the international leg of these calls – has indirectly
facilitated access to the world to a part of the population that was
totally isolated before.
Other examples included SMS-push delivery of the local market
prices for cereals and vegetables. Through this, the local farmers
Telecommunications and socioeconomic
development in developing countries
Belgacom International Carrier Services