Technology and Developing Countries

The Economist article raises some important and interesting issues, that are indeed happening nowadays in developing countries. I agree that without technology, especially without the access to the Internet, poor populations cannot develop. The Internet is the window to a new world of learning, doing business and communication. Few public schools in developing countries have a computer lab, not even a pair of computers for their students (this is the case mostly in rural areas). There is the other case, where there are schools that do have computers, but there are not enough for all the students. Kids are not able to get a whole understanding of the Internet and what is even worst, teachers in public schools usually do not know how the Internet works. So it is a vicious circle.

For example in Ecuador, only 4% of the population are Internet users, from a population of 13 million people. Even though, things have started to change because of international aid and government funding, there is still a lot of work to do. I think the creation of rural telecenters is a very helpful tool for developing countries. I wouldn't agree on the premise that the creation of these telecenters is "treating the symptoms, rather than the underlying causes." It is true that illiteracy affects our countries, but I think the Internet might also be use as a tool for people to learn to read and write.

On the other hand, I do think the author has a point that promoting the spread of mobile phones is helping developing nations. I have seen that mobile movement in many countries in Latin America, where there are more than 40 million people using mobile phones. There are still many poor people that are unable to buy a mobile because they have more importance things to take care of (health, food, shelter). But mobile phones have helped in the development of Latin America. Many people who are not able to read and write and who never ended high school are using mobile phones. They use it for work, to communicate with their family in other cities and overall to be expose to technology.

The most importance point which I think the article raises is the liberation of the telecom markets. Whenever there is competition consumers are the winners. In Ecuador the liberation of the market is just starting. But that starting point has been a bless to the whole Ecuadorian population, because we were able to decide between prices, plans and phones that best suit our necessities. We have three companies that offer mobile phone services and they are battling to win the market.