A core economic issue

Information and communications technology (ICT) has seamlessly combined major human activities like communication, sharing, social networking and commerce. Use of ICTs is a creative activity and fun and online users enjoy their presence but meaningful usage of ICTs is still for the privileged few who are living mostly in urban Pakistan. Result: a large population is rural areas and those who can’t afford or don’t have required set of skills are out of the ICT-loop. In addition, the rapid adoption of latest technologies in urban centers is creating an even wider divide for those who don’t have the skills required in today’s workplace. Savvy businesses increasingly demand employees with more and advanced digital skills. Technology is creating jobs that have no physical boundaries, generating global competition for positions that require digital skills. The standard of living, business competitiveness and expected performance of job responsibilities are all increasing at a staggering tempo.
Digital divide is not just access, rather lack of it, to the internet. It refers to the gap between those who can benefit from ICTs and those who cannot. Bridging the digital divide therefore means more than just giving access. It involves restructuring the telecommunications sectors in a way that broadband benefits can flow to rural Pakistan. It is against this perception that economists foresee digital divide in Pakistan bridging over the coming years.
Digital divide is, in effect, a reflection of existing broader socio-economic inequalities because of insufficient infrastructure, affordability, weak policy regimes, inefficiencies in the provision of telecommunication networks and services, lack of locally created content and similar other factors that are deriving economic and social benefits from information intensive activities unevenly. This glaring digital gap has to be bridged. Only then the socio-economic development of millions of people throughout the rural areas who are not connected to digital technologies can be made possible. The governments and businesses, that are responsible for closing the gap, face challenges of ensuring that people in all areas are equally equipped to take advantage of the promise held out by the ICTs and ensuring that the digital divide does not widen any further.
Availability of ICTs, including access to the internet, is a significant step in bridging the digital divide, and there is an increasing awareness of its importance. ICTs cannot of course act as a solution for all development problems, but by dramatically improving communication and meaningful exchange of information, they can create powerful social and economic networks, which in turn provide the basis for major advances in development.
By enabling these networks to collect and share knowledge and information, ICTs can provide more efficient methods of production, bring previously unattainable markets within the reach of local producers, improve the delivery of government services, and increase access to basic social goods and services.
In addition, the rural population lacks online payment systems that are necessary to support commercial electronic transactions. Only a small percentage of the population in Pakistan uses credit cards and or online banking; in rural areas this usage seems nonexistent.
The digital divide can be most effectively bridged through a multi pronged approach jointly by businesses and governments. The direct approach will be for governments and businesses to work together to change the incentives that shape digital markets. The indirect approach will be for them to team up and make a comprehensive public-private partnership program for rural ICT-employment. Through these approaches, rural masses may be able to reap many of the same benefits as the urban.

The writer is Deputy Controller of Examinations at Lahore School of Economics. He blogs at http://logicisvariable.blogspot.com/ and can be reached at [email protected]