Digital poverty: Latin American and Caribbean perspectives

This book examines the problem of inadequate access to information and communication technology (ICT) and the need to develop appropriate pro-poor ICT policies within the Latin American and Caribbean context. It reveals that, while market reforms have led to infrastructure investments and service expansion, they have failed to ensure that the benefits of the Information Society spread across the many social and economic divides that characterise the region.

The authors explain and support the formulation of a new perspective on ICT access, and seek to develop an analytical framework for examining what variables are important for effective ICT adoption in developing countries. They suggest that a new set of policy reforms are needed, which build on the achievements of market liberalisation efforts, but at the same time address the realities of digital poverty – a concept that seeks to grasp the multiple dimensions of inadequate levels of access to ICT services by people and organizations, as well as the barriers to their productive use.

The book is the first publication of the Regional Dialogue on the Information Society (DIRSI), a regional network of leading researchers concerned with disseminating knowledge that supports the participation of marginalized communities using ICTs in LAC. Chapters reflect a diverse set of studies undertaken by DIRSI members and cover the following issues:

• developing a conceptual foundation for the measurement of digital or information poverty in the Latin American and Caribbean context (Chapters 1 and 2)
• practical governance questions faced by regulators in LAC (Chapters 3 and 4)
• evidence about existing and replicable models to provide ICT services to rural communities and other underserved areas (Chapters 5 and 6)
• a concluding chapter reviews these themes, addressing ICT demand and supply side issues, regulatory reforms and the private sector, consumer advocacy, new ownership models for network service provision and emerging network technology solutions.