Convergence patterns in global ICT: Fresh insights from a club clustering algorithm

Charles Saba () and Oladipo David

Telecommunications Policy, 2020, vol. 44, issue 10

Abstract: Digital provide consists of electronic media, telecommunications, and computer technologies – information and communication technologies (ICTs) availability, accessibility, and utilisation, which simplifies process. The convergence of ICTs ensures efficiency in resources allocation and promotes system growth. This study examines the convergence in global information and communication technologies (ICT) development for 205 countries spanning 2000–2018. We employ the Phillips and Sul econometric methodology, which tests for the existence of convergence clubs and the modelling of different transition paths to convergence. We further disaggregated our panel data into nine regions. We constructed an ICT development index (comprising of mobile line, fixed line, and internet access penetration) via principal component analysis. Our findings suggest the presence of panel convergence at the global and regional levels (except for Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which exhibited divergence). However, we identified convergence clubs using an iterative testing procedure. The key findings from the club convergence algorithm results suggest that: (i) at the global level, club 1 converges; (ii) at regional levels, Sub-Saharan Africa forms 7 clubs; (iii) clubs 1 in the remaining 8 regions converged. Contrary to previous findings, this study finds that the process of convergence in ICT development reflects the desirable emanations of telecommunication policies sharing similar characteristics, at least to some extent, in terms of the ICT sharing across the globe.

Keywords: Information and communication technology; Convergence club; Log t regression test; Club merging; Principal component analysis; Regional groupings (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 C38 O30 O33 O50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596120301026
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:telpol:v:44:y:2020:i:10:s0308596120301026

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... /30471/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2020.102010

Access Statistics for this article

Telecommunications Policy is currently edited by Erik Bohlin

More articles in Telecommunications Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().