In developing countries, a lack of infrastructure, skills, resources, and regulation presents considerable challenges for the telecommunications industry. Nevertheless, companies are increasingly coming to recognize that with these challenges come considerable opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and social impact. Here’s a look at the different ways that telecommunications innovations are spurring digital transformation and growth in developing nations.
Mobile Phones
Mobile phones may have been luxury status symbols for rich businessmen a few decades ago, but they are now almost a necessity for business and daily life. This is true even in developing countries, where 83% of adults have a mobile phone, according to a 2018 Fresh Gallup World Poll. Smartphone ownership is also on the rise in these countries as well.
Even in areas that lack reliable electricity in homes, mobile phones may be plentiful. Indeed, in many low and middle-income countries, mobile phone network penetration surpasses even the most basic infrastructure, such as electricity and paved roads, according to a 2012 World Health Organization report.
In 2011, one month after the global population topped 7 billion, the GSM Association announced that there were some 6 billion SIM cards in circulation. In developing countries, the advent of the mobile age has been life-changing, although there have been negative as well as positive impacts.
Typically, it is developing nations that bear the brunt of technology: it is often their land that is stripped of the resources required to manufacture devices. Companies may use (or exploit) their labor to manufacture technology. In addition, poorer countries often serve as dumping grounds for unrecycled devices whose components pollute the soil and water.
Nevertheless, mobile phones also have their benefits. They cut across vast distances and keep people connected, even those who live in the most geographically isolated, underserved regions in developing economics. Via mobile banking, mobile phones allow people in low-income countries to participate in the formal economy. In this way, mobile phones are promoting financial inclusion for the considerable portion of the world’s population that remains unbanked.
Digitization
Digitization in developing countries presents enormous scope to boost growth, increase economic equality, and to enable these countries’ participation in the globalized economy. Digitization is speeding up development, bringing people together, facilitating better use of resources, and spurring economic growth.
In spite of this, many countries are struggling to invest in digital technologies and innovation because they simply cannot afford it. Some 2.9 billion people globally, particularly women and girls, lack computer, internet, and telephone access. The United Nations asserts that communications technologies must be harnessed since they have tremendous potential to promote development and bring entire countries out of poverty.
Looking back on some of the world’s most important innovations, it took a staggering amount of time for them to achieve widespread use. For example, the invention of paper took 1,000 years to reach Europe from China. Compare this to the internet. The year 1983 marked the creation of Transfer Control Protocol/Internetwork Protocol (TCP/IP), the first standard that allowed different types of computers on different networks to exchange data. This is often considered the “birth” of the internet. Within just 20 years, the internet would achieve critical mass, though access is still not universal.
Globalization has intensified the spread of technology and knowledge across borders. In emerging markets, the infiltration of innovative new technology has helped boost productivity and innovation, even through periods of relatively weak global productivity growth.
Technological advancements are a key driver of improvements in income and standards of living. However, new technologies and knowledge do not necessarily develop everywhere at the same rate. For this reason, the spread of new technologies across countries is critical to global growth.
Globalization amplifies the spread of technology across borders in two important ways. Firstly, it enhances international competition, encouraging the emergence of innovative new businesses and strengthening incentives for companies to adopt new technologies. Secondly, globalization provides countries with more access to foreign knowledge, which can be used to drive homegrown innovations and economic development.
In emerging markets, the positive impacts of globalization have been pronounced. It has allowed businesses and entire industries to boost innovation capacities and labor productivity. Emerging markets can also benefit when domestic companies participate in the global supply chains of multinational companies.
Education and Other Benefits
In an age of increasing interconnectedness brought on by telecommunications advancements, easier and faster communication has contributed to a rise in democracy and an alleviation of poverty. Globalization has also increased cultural awareness.
In order to participate on the high-tech global mainstage, developing nations need an educated and skilled labor force. However, in some countries, parents simply lack the resources to send their children to school, and governments cannot afford to fund robust public schools capable of instructing students in the skills they need in the 21st century economy.
The advancement of telecommunications and digitization can transform educational infrastructure and make learning more inclusive. Digital education platforms could play a pivotal role in developing countries, making it possible for people all over the world to access not only a basic education, but university coursework as well, even in the remotest regions of the world. This would facilitate a vast exchange of knowledge and skills.