Increasing Broadband Internet Penetration
In the OIC Member Countries
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• What is broadband’s contribution to social and economic development, including GDP
growth, job creation, productivity, household income, and consumer surplus?
• Are there any differences in terms of economic impact between developed and
developing countries?
• Are there any specificities between broadband technologies in terms of their
suitability to developed or developing countries?
• What are the supply trends that are detected so far, in terms of presence of global,
regional and local broadband service providers?
• What are the challenges for developing countries regarding fixed and mobile
broadband penetration?
Having developed the conceptual framework, Chapter III examines the global trends regarding
broadband development. It begins by reviewing the drivers and trends towards the expansion
of presence of global broadband service providers. With this background, it presents a
comparative regional view of fixed and mobile broadband adoption around the world. On this
basis, fixed and mobile broadband service coverage is analyzed to understand the dimension
of the supply gap (as measured by the percentage of unserved population). The statistics of
broadband service coverage and penetration are compared to measure the demand gap,
defined as the percentage of the population that can purchase broadband service because it is
being available in their place of residence but choose not to. The analysis of supply and
demand gaps provides the context for understanding the critical success factors and challenges
that need to be met to accelerate the diffusion of broadband. They include initiatives such as
rural broadband deployment to close the supply gap, price reduction to increase service
affordability, and enhancing digital literacy. Along these, a sample of best practices aimed at
increasing broadband penetration among non-OIC Member Countries are presented.
Having examined the global trends, Chapter IV turns to examine the situation of broadband in
the OIC Member Countries, both in terms of supply and demand. The chapter begins by
assessing service availability by fixed and mobile technology. The supply assessment also
includes a review of average broadband speed as an indicator of service quality. The review of
broadband supply is complemented with an analysis of market structure, which includes an
assessment of competitive intensity, and industry concentration. After reviewing the supply
environment, the chapter turns to analyze broadband demand within the OIC Member
Countries. By relying on the concepts introduced in Chapter II, the demand assessment focuses
on penetration by technology and quantification of the demand gap. This serves to understand
some of the critical demand barriers (such as pricing, lack of digital literacy, cultural concerns
and others) among the OIC Member Countries. The chapter finally addresses some of the
potential risks related to the increased use of broadband, which reviews issues such as cultural
uprooting, infringement of data privacy, cyber-attacks, and others.
In order to get a more detailed view of the situation of the OIC Member Countries, Chapter V
presents three in-depth case studies of broadband in the OIC Member Countries: Cote d’Ivoire,
Saudi Arabia, and Kazakhstan. These countries were selected to reflect the geographic
diversity, and differing broadband development challenges within the universe of the OIC
Member Countries. Along those lines, the case studies also serve to highlight specific