ICTs should be available, affordable and accessible for all. Today, universal service, competition and associated issues of consumer protection and privacy have become all the more relevant given that digital technologies increasingly underlie the economic, social and political aspects of our lives. There is a need for international collaboration, cooperation and cross-cutting regulation.The author would like to discuss all these issues and invites comments. Disclaimer: Views are personal.
The key to establishing the appropriate level of subsidy is the availability of dis-aggregated data on income levels and (subsequently) penetration rates. I wonder if this data is collected in most countries and whether it is updated on a regular basis?
Thanks for the comment Roger. I am guessing that most countries would have some amount/level of dis-aggregated data on income and penetration levels which is regularly updated. Subsidy modeling is a complex exercise and is invariably based on assumptions. As an example,while modeling subsidy benchmarks for mobile services in uncovered rural areas in India,we relied on the rural per-capita incomes of respective districts, but assumed that the potential subscriber base would be only 60% the area's population. (At that time about 41% of the population was below poverty line (BPL) and thus was not expected to subscribe to mobile services.)
The key to establishing the appropriate level of subsidy is the availability of dis-aggregated data on income levels and (subsequently) penetration rates. I wonder if this data is collected in most countries and whether it is updated on a regular basis?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment Roger. I am guessing that most countries would have some amount/level of dis-aggregated data on income and penetration levels which is regularly updated. Subsidy modeling is a complex exercise and is invariably based on assumptions. As an example,while modeling subsidy benchmarks for mobile services in uncovered rural areas in India,we relied on the rural per-capita incomes of respective districts, but assumed that the potential subscriber base would be only 60% the area's population. (At that time about 41% of the population was below poverty line (BPL) and thus was not expected to subscribe to mobile services.)
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