The Digital Divide: Some Explanations

Abstract

ccess to and use of the Internet and other telecommunications services are rapidly becoming an increasingly common and critical part of commerce, education and social participation. Groups with little opportunity to participate in the services provided by new telecommunication technologies will be increasingly disadvantaged socially and economically. There is concern that differential access to modern communications services will create two separate classes in society: the ‘information rich’ that readily have access to new information sources such as the Internet and the ‘information poor’ that have limited or no access to the new services and are thus likely to be disadvantaged. The concept of a ‘digital divide’ is being used by bodies such as the US National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to describe disparities in the use of the Internet and new telecommunications services across different social groups (NTIA, 1999 and 2000). In Australia, the debate has taken a regional focus because of observed differences in metropolitan and regional rates of access to new telecommunications services. People living in non-metropolitan areas are thought to be ‘digitally’ disadvantaged because of the relatively high costs and poor quality of services available to them. There have been strong and consistent calls from community leaders for improved telecommunications services in regional areas. In part this should be seen as an element of the broader issue of regional diversity that has become a hot topic in Australia’s policy agenda. Cuts in government, banking and telecommunication services, coupled with low commodity prices and high unemployment rates, have prompted an outcry from those living in regional Australia about the growing divide between the cities and the bush. The regional backlash against the Kennett government in the Victorian state election and the rise of parties such as One Nation have focussed both state and federal governments on policies to assist regional areas. Regional members of the Coalition government have been opposed to the full privitisation of Telstra because of its perceived negative effects on services in regional areas. Responding to these pressures, the Telecommunications Service Inquiry, headed by Tim Besley, was commissioned by the Commonwealth Government in March 2000 to assess the adequacy of telecommunications services in Australia. The inquiry received a large proportion of its submissions from customers in rural