The Digital Divide in Developing Nations

When ever anyone advocates for the acceptance and encouragement of free market forces, I'm always in agreement. After reading the article in The Economist concerning the real digital divide, I was pleased to read that the author reports that the use of cell phones are helping people in developing nations, even increasing GDP. The author also goes on to state that these developing nations should open up their telecommunication markets to the free market forces associates with competition. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ethiopia were used to illustrate how the existence of multiple cell networks has allowed more people to acquire cell phones than the closed market system. While I am not an economist, I have always believed that the free market is a great mechanism that developing nations may - if accepted - use to better their economic situations and standing in relation to other nations. I think it is great that people in these developing nations are using technology - that we in the developed world usually take for granted - to better themselves and their economies. As time moves forward and the use of the technology in these nations proliferates even further, the world will increasingly see how economic engagement with these nations benefits all parties, both the West and those in the developing world.