broadband strategies handbook.pdf - Khazar University

Figure 6.4 Cost of Us er Devices Relative to per Capita GDP in SelectedSub-Saharan African Countries, 2008300% of GDP per capita2001000BurundiCongo, Dem. Rep.LiberiaGuinea-BissauMalawiEthiopiaEritreaSierra LeoneNigerGuineaTogoCentral African RepublicUS$100 laptopMozambiqueRwandaUgandaMadagascarGambia, TheTanzaniaBurkina FasoMaliUS$400 netbookGhanaChadBeninLesothoSource: Kim, Kelly, and Raja 2010, 122.directly leasing computers to low-income families, students, or other identifiedgroups (box 6.5). 15Reducing the cost of devices, particularly laptops, has also been successfulin increasing device and broadband usage. One notable program to promotethe spread of low-cost laptops in schools is the One Laptop per Child(OLPC) Initiative. The cost of the devices was predicted to drop to aroundUS$100 under this program. Although the OLPC Initiative has experiencedsome significant setbacks, it has led to increased availability of lower-costdevices around the world. Uruguay has had some of the greatest successwith the OLPC Initiative, with all of its primary students receiving theirown laptop by 2009. 16 Some of the corporate participants that supported theinitiative have since gone to market with their own low-cost computers,thus providing countries with additional options (Kramer, Dedrick, andSharma 2009). The main commonalities of such devices, regardless of thebrand or specific functionality, are a relatively low price (less than US$300for the device), a flip or clamshell design, and small size (for example, screensize less than 10 inches). 17Mobile Devices, Smartphones, and TabletsMobile phones have taken the world by storm, with average mobile penetrationrates in 2010 of 68 percent in developing countries and 116 percentin developed countries. Regionally, Africa has 41 percent penetration,Driving Demand for Broadband Networks and Services 263