Increasing Broadband Internet Penetration
In the OIC Member Countries
34
INEI, 2012 for Peru; and Rectoria de Telecomunicaciones, 2011 for Costa Rica).
However, research by Hilbert (2011) has indicated that the gender gap disappears
when control variables such as income and education are included in the analysis.
In addition, non-adoption of broadband could be explained by concerns regarding data
privacy. While this factor has been found to explain approximately 10% of non users of
electronic commerce among Internet subscribers, it could be hypothesized that privacy
concerns also prevents some users from outright broadband usage. For example, survey data
compiled by the International Telecommunications Union indicate that 0.20% of Bahraini non
adopters, 5.20% of Iranian non Internet users, 6.20% of Brazilian non-users, and 1.30% of
Egyptian non adopters mention privacy and/or security concerns as an Internet adoption
barrier.
Finally, research has found that a small portion of non-broadband users justify their lack of
adoption on religious grounds. Data in support of this assertion is not available, except that
approximately 1% of non-adopters in the survey data compiled by the International
Telecommunications Union mention a cultural barrier as reason for non-adoption. Religious
reasons could potentially be blended under this barrier.
This section presented the conceptual framework required for defining policies aimed at
developing broadband networks and services. First, the evidence of social and economic
benefits derived from broadband development was reviewed. Second, following the
demonstration of broadband economic impact, evidence was presented to show the difference
in broadband’s social and economic contribution for developed and emerging countries. Third,
maximizing the social and economic contribution of broadband is contingent upon selecting
the right technologies and platforms. Finally, the main challenges regarding broadband
demand were presented. These four components will serve as a framework to assess
broadband’s global trends as well as the current situation in the OIC Member Countries.