Benefits for Governments and regulators
Better access to communications can boost a country’s economy by empowering citizens and providing new revenue-creating opportunities. Studies have shown that even a small increase in mobile penetration can have a positive effect on a country’s gross domestic product.
- Telecom expansion can boost a country’s GDP, help empower its citizens and act as a central tool in bridging the digital divide.
- Telecommunication services can help deliver important social services such as healthcare and education – while boosting local economies and improving democracy.
- Mobile-enabled, e-government services have tremendous potential to improve public service by making information more accessible and transparent.
- Effective regulation and increased competition drive down consumer prices and help encourage the build-out of networks in rural areas.
Better access to communications technology is boosting the economies of developing markets. A recent report by McKinsey & Company suggests that the cumulative impact of the benefits of the mobile phone may be close to 8 percent of a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Government representatives in emerging markets can help encourage telecom expansion by changing regulations and reducing tax rates that prohibit the growth of mobile communication. Obstacles to growth that need to be addressed include high customs duties, handset sales taxes, service taxes and inefficiencies in service tariffs.
Mobile communication boosts economic activity at a macro level. A 2005 report by Leonard Waverman of the London Business School estimated that the average developing nation sees its economic growth rise by 0.6 percent for every 10 percent rise in the number of mobile-phone subscribers.
In 2007, the GSM Association applied Waverman’s methodology to a group of 57 developing nations and found that the impact had doubled, boosting economic growth by 1.2 percent for every 10 percent rise in mobile users.
Examples of e-government initiatives include teaching youth to use the internet to start home pages and learn marketable skills, a mobile-data service to get feedback from citizen about a regional government, and establishing tele-centers where small-business owners learn to create websites, browse the internet and use e-mail.
Government representatives in emerging markets can help encourage telecom expansion by changing regulations and reducing tax rates that prohibit the growth of mobile communication. Obstacles to growth that need to be addressed include high customs duties, handset sales taxes, service taxes and inefficiencies in service tariffs.
Mobile communication boosts economic activity at a macro level. A 2005 report by Leonard Waverman of the London Business School estimated that the average developing nation sees its economic growth rise by 0.6 percent for every 10 percent rise in the number of mobile-phone subscribers.
In 2007, the GSM Association applied Waverman’s methodology to a group of 57 developing nations and found that the impact had doubled, boosting economic growth by 1.2 percent for every 10 percent rise in mobile users.
Examples of e-government initiatives include teaching youth to use the internet to start home pages and learn marketable skills, a mobile-data service to get feedback from citizen about a regional government, and establishing tele-centers where small-business owners learn to create websites, browse the internet and use e-mail.
