Limitations of Last Mile Internet Access in Developing Countries

The digital divide negatively impacts socioeconomic growth, especially in emerging markets where numerous additional challenges and issues exist that also threaten inclusivity through widespread broadband internet access. Mitigating limited or no access to the internet and decreasing the disconnected population in emerging markets is not receiving the priority and urgency it deserves and its importance is often underestimated. Developed countries are not always aware of the additional issues that are dealt with in emerging markets on a daily basis, albeit these challenges might also exist to a lesser extent, in some form or another, in the developed world. Issues such as affordability of broadband internet measured against per capita gross-domestic-product, a lack of infrastructure to distribute the internet, regulatory challenges and incompetence and mismanagement of spectrum allocation plague internet affordability and distribution in emerging markets. Furthermore, more pressing issues such as corruption, famine, inequality, unreliable electricity, unemployment and education are among the serious issues that must be dealt with in emerging markets before internet access can be prioritized. This chapter researches the numerous challenges in emerging markets that are not technology-related but has a severe effect on the accessibility of the internet and the integration of last mile solutions in developing countries. Such a methodology benefits the research on bridging the digital divide in emerging markets.