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The digital divide has persisted in California and the USA as a whole at approximately the same level for the past decade. This is despite multiple programs being created and billions of dollars being spent to close it. This paper examines why the efforts to date have been ineffective and to offers policy alternatives that might be more successful.

Using data from three, variable constrained projects in California, this paper examines the effectiveness of information-based outreach efforts at closing the digital divide. The projects tested various outreach and enrollment methods to see which, if any, could increase broadband adoption in low-income households.

This project found that providing low-income households’ information about low-cost broadband offerings was ineffective at closing the digital divide. The findings in this paper were similar to those of two other works that examined the federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The findings of this paper along with the works cited that evaluated the BTOP program should be enough to change public policy. For the past ten years, efforts to close the digital divide have focused on providing information to low-income households. However, two independent surveys show broadband adoption has remained virtually flat during that period.

The digital divide brings concomitant economic and education harms and challenges that plague those unable to access information, services, educational and employment opportunities with the same ease, speed and sufficiency as their connected peers and neighbors. Those harms exacerbate the already existing education and income divides. This paper shows that without a change in strategy, those harms will persist.

This paper breaks new ground and addresses one of the weaknesses identified in existing research. To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first paper of its type to use programs designed to generate data that can be empirically evaluated for effectiveness. Prior studies attempted to assess program effectiveness by using data generated from fully implemented government programs. However, those programs contained a vast number of unidentified variables and insufficient data collection. They were not designed to facilitate academic evaluation, and as such made a true effectiveness evaluation challenging.

The purpose of this paper is to examine South Korea’s digital divide policy and investigate how it Korea is one of the most networked countries in the world that has been addressing the digital divide issue since the inception of broadband.

A secondary data analysis of the National Information Society Agency’s Digital Divide Index was conducted between 2003 and 2012.

The differences in the changes in the access, skills and utilisation dimensions of the digital divide indicate that a second-level digital divide emerges as penetration increases. The gap in access has been minimised concurrently with the rapid adoption of broadband. Reduction of gaps in skills and effective uses has not followed accordingly.

Countries adopting broadband policies to achieve high connectivity can learn from this case and devise preventive policies that can overcome inequalities in skills and utilisation among digitally disadvantaged groups.

By analysing longitudinal data, this study identified an emerging second-level digital divide in a country with high broadband penetration. This has significant implications for policies aiming to narrow the digital divide and that access, skills and utilisation issues should be addressed separately.

As innovative forms of information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as broadband internet are being adopted, the equitable distribution of ICTs has become an issue of concern. These apprehensions are being attributed to social exclusion that could arise due to the limited internet use among citizens with lower incomes or educational levels. This research aims to examine the impact of socio‐economic determinants, such as age, gender, education, income and occupation, on the adoption of broadband.

A survey research approach was employed to achieve the overall aim of this research. The empirical data of the socio‐economic variables was collected employing a postal survey in the UK.

The findings of this research suggest that in terms of broadband adoption, except for gender, all the other socio‐economic variables, including age, education, occupation and income, significantly helped to explain differences between the adopters and non‐adopters of broadband.

The implications of the findings are discussed in the context of promoting the adoption of emerging technologies such as broadband to parts of the population that have limited access to the internet and ICTs in general.

The primary value of this paper lies in extending the understanding of broadband adopters and non‐adopters according to their socio‐economic attributes. This has been achieved by synthesising the previous literature on a number of socio‐economic variables (such as age, gender, education, income and occupation) and also by empirically examining their effects on broadband adoption.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the prevailing widespread and popular access to mobile phones among Jamaica's poor may be used to support the public policy goal of transitioning these users from mainly voice to more advanced applications, including m‐government, personal educational growth and teleworking, via increased connectivity to mobile internet and other forms of broadband access.

The article analytically reports the findings of two national usage studies of low‐income mobile respondents in Jamaica.

There is a prevailing positive disposition among Jamaicans of all social classes for the use of higher levels of work‐related communications technologies, once these are priced in a manner that make them accessible. This is a strong foundation upon which to build crucial technology links to key business and economic opportunities. Mobiles are potential bridges for low‐income users from their present voice‐dominated usage to higher end applications such as further education, better access to public services and other more intensive work‐related uses.

If made more accessible, mobile internet could help bridge information and education gaps experienced by the financially impoverished majority. More low‐income people could be connected through such simplified protocol platforms as .Mobi and into wider use of M‐services.

The empirical studies indicate for the first time that low income users of mobile phones are not just engaged in idle chatter but have a higher order economic and survival motivation in their patterns and uses of the mobile phone.

The commonly used internet service provider's (ISP) business models based on price comparison may prove to be a successful strategy for organisations in the short‐term. However, it may be argued that a sustainable business model for the long‐term requires a detailed understanding of the various factors that may help ISPs in attracting future customers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the drivers and barriers of consumer adoption of broadband in the UK.

A survey research approach was utilised to examine the effect of a number of constructs from attitudinal (utilitarian outcomes and hedonic outcomes), normative (social influence), control (self‐efficacy and facilitating conditions resources) and demographic (age) categories on the behaviour of consumers when adopting broadband in the UK.

Results indicate that all the constructs, apart from hedonic outcomes, significantly influenced the adoption behaviour of consumers.

This study provides a snapshot of the adoption behaviour of broadband within UK households. The findings may therefore change as technology becomes established and consumers become more experienced in its use. By undertaking a longitudinal study, the elimination of any variables could achieve anomalies in the obtained results. In addition to a discussion of the findings, the paper outlines the contributions and limitations of the study and provides suggestions for future research activity.

The research presented in this paper is a part of doctoral research which forms one of the initial efforts towards understanding the adoption behaviour of broadband within UK households.

The purpose of this study is to use the structural model to determine the influence of mobile telecommunication on Egypt’s economic growth from 2000 to 2009. By focusing on mobile unique subscribers and mobile broadband-capable device penetration as indicators of telecommunications adoption, the authors seek to understand their overarching effects on the nation’s economic landscape.

The paper uses quarterly time-series data set over the period 2000–2019 and uses a structural econometric model based on an aggregate production function, a demand function, a supply function and an infrastructure function to detect causality and examine long-run relationships between variables.

The findings of the structural model reveal that both mobile unique subscribers and mobile broadband-capable device penetration significantly contributed to Egypt’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth from 2000 to 2019. Specifically, a 1% increase in mobile unique subscriber penetration and mobile broadband-capable device adoption is estimated to result in an average annual contribution to GDP growth of 0.172% and 0.016%, respectively.

The scarcity of panel data is the main research limitation for comparative study with other Middle East and North African Region (MENA) countries. Research extensions would include testing the significance of complementarities such as improving governance measures and building human capacity for both households and firms, which are necessary to boost the impact of telecommunication on economic growth in the MENA region.

Based on these findings, the study puts forth policy recommendations aimed at maximizing investment in network utilization, including mobile and internet services, as well as fixed broadband subscriptions. It highlights the crucial role of these investments in promoting social and economic development, not only in Egypt but also across the MENA region as a whole.

The findings of this research emphasize the importance of strategic investments in network utilization, encompassing mobile, internet services and fixed broadband subscriptions. Such investments are pivotal for fostering social and financial inclusion. The study underscores the potential of these investments to drive social and economic progress, not just within Egypt but throughout the entire MENA region.

Overall, existing literature generally supports the notion that the telecommunications sector has a positive economic impact. However, there is a gap in the literature when it comes to understanding the specific effects of the Egyptian telecommunications sector on the country’s economy, particularly in relation to the Egypt Vision 2030. The study aims to fill this gap by focusing specifically on Egypt and providing additional insights into the direct and indirect effects of the Egyptian telecommunications sector on the economy. By conducting a thorough analysis of the sector’s role, the authors aim to contribute to the existing literature by providing context-specific findings and recommendations.

This paper aims to analyze the determinants of broadband diffusion, taking into account supply‐side factors such as market entry regulation and demand‐side factors such as secondary education attainment.

This paper analyzes 27 countries from the European Union (EU) from 1996 to 2009 using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), which combines quantitative and qualitative methods.

The main findings point out that there is one way for “innovator” adopters and “laggard” adopters in broadband diffusion, while there are few ways for the remaining adopters. Moreover, high entry regulation is associated more with “innovator” adopters, “early adopters” and “early majority adopters” in broadband diffusion, while medium and low entry regulations are associated more with “late majority” and “laggard” adopters in broadband diffusion.

This paper suggests that high secondary school attainment is a necessary factor for broadband innovator countries. By contrast, low income and low secondary school attainment are factors connected with late majority and laggard broadband adopters.

At present, there is no other research about broadband diffusion or technology diffusion that uses this mixed approach. While the results may not be very conclusive, they will serve as an initial springboard for further research into more specific‐variable studies.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a new methodology to assess the economic and social impacts of policies to promote mass access to the internet in fixed broadband. The authors apply the methodology to the Brazilian broadband market.

For this purpose, municipal information concerning the provision of EILD is used, and then a stylized model of definition of service penetration based on information regarding the price, the distribution of income and the number of households served is proposed.

The results indicate that cost reduction policies are more effective than measures to promote competition through the introduction of state-owned enterprises in the telecommunication market for broadband service. On the other hand, the results also indicate that the federal and state governments face a dilemma between broadband policy and tax policy.

This is a new and original methodology to model the broadband market demand, which is useful to assess the impact of regulation policies in the sector as well as structural changes in that market.

To describe the development of a survey instrument designed to measure consumer perceptions of the broadband adoption within the UK households.

A survey research approach was employed to achieve overall aim and following three objectives of this research: to identify initial items that may help to explain the broadband adoption behaviour and determine them employing an exploratory survey approach; to confirm the representativeness of items to a particular construct domain employing content validity approach; and finally, to test the instrument in order to confirm the reliability of items and construct validity.

The final outcome of the instrument development process that culminated from the confirmatory study was a parsimonious, 39‐item instrument, consisting of ten scales, all with acceptable levels of content validity, reliability and construct validity.

The developed instrument is relevant to both academic and practitioner communities who hold a particular interest in the study and management of broadband adoption from the household consumer perspective.

The most conspicuous contribution of the paper is to provide a reliable instrument that is fundamental to measure the household consumer's perceptions of adopting broadband internet.

The aim of this study is to examine various attitudinal, normative and control factors affecting the adoption of broadband internet by consumers in a developing country by focusing on Pakistan.

A survey approach was employed to achieve the overall aim of this study. The empirical data concerning the attitudinal, normative and control variables were collected using a questionnaire. A regression analysis was performed to test the role of various variables on consumers' behavioural intentions (BIs) to adopt broadband internet in Pakistan.

The findings of the study suggest that primary influence, facilitating conditions, resources, cost, perceived knowledge and perceived ease of use were all significant factors for explaining consumers' BIs to adopt broadband.

The primary value of this paper lies in extending the current understanding of broadband adoption, by providing insights from a developing country perspective. This has been achieved by synthesising and empirically testing previous research on broadband adoption conducted from a developed country (i.e. the UK) perspective.