Abstract:
Information Communication Technology (lCT) has made a great impact to the world. It is accepted that
the future economies will be based on ICT development and also the data available shows that ICT
development is linked to socio-economic development. Many developing nations are striving to achieve
ICT development expecting the benefits it brings to the areas of agriculture, education, health, tourism
and disaster management etc. In most of the developing countries the majority of the population resides in
the rural areas. And it is also a fact that in developing countries there exists a digital divide between rural
and urban areas. Therefore it is necessary to develop ICT in the village.
The major drawback in developing ICT in rural areas is the lack of telecommunication infrastructure. The
telecommunication operators perceive rural telecommunication rollout to be uneconomical. But this view
is challenged by innovative business models and methods devised for rural communication by various
countries. It is now said that rural telecommunication can be profitable and no longer done for charity and
governments should see subsidization as a last resort.
It is evident that two types of market gaps are existing namely efficiency gap and true access gap, which
affects telecommunication infrastructure development. The markets which has efficiency gap can be
bridged by creating an enabling environment and eliminating barriers by regulators and government
which impedes telecommunication infrastructure development. When these barriers are removed the
markets with efficiency gap functions efficiently. The market, which has true access gap, has to be
addresseddifferently. The markets, with true access gap, even when functions efficiently, do not perform
well .Different approaches are needed to each of these segments. In the thesis ,the policy directives
required for telecommunication infrastructure development are discussed.
