Publication:
Broadband Networks in the Middle East and North Africa : Accelerating High-Speed Internet Access

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dc.contributor.authorGelvanovska, Natalija
dc.contributor.authorRogy, Michel
dc.contributor.authorRossotto, Carlo Maria
dc.date.accessioned2014-01-29T20:15:38Z
dc.date.available2014-01-29T20:15:38Z
dc.date.issued2014-01-29
dc.description.abstractJust as the steam engine was the driving force behind the Industrial Revolution, broadband Internet is today seen as critical to the transition to knowledge-intensive economies across the world. As a general purpose technology, broadband Internet is considered as a fundamental driver of economic growth and social development, releasing the innovative potential and energy of previously disenfranchised members of the population. Many of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA) now recognize that broadband Internet is crucial to their efforts to reduce poverty and create job opportunities, especially for their young populations and for women. The report re-emphasizes the important contribution that broadband Internet can make and assesses the status of existing infrastructure in at least 18 MENA countries. While there is significant potential across the region, however, the take-up of broadband Internet has been slow, and the price of broadband service is high in many countries. In large part, this stems from market structures that, too often, reflect the past when telecommunications were treated as a monopoly utility service. The report finds that there are gaps in infrastructure regionally with no connectivity between neighboring countries in some cases. Similarly, there are gaps within countries exacerbating the (digital) divide between rural and urban areas. The report examines the regulatory and market bottlenecks that are hampering the growth of the Internet in these and other MENA countries: the five North African countries (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia); the six Mashreq countries (the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza economy); the six Gulf countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates); and Djibouti and the Republic of Yemen. The report provides policy and regulatory options for increasing effective use of existing fixed and mobile infrastructure as well as alternative infrastructure networks such as power grids and railroads. It explains the benefits of effective cross-sector infrastructure construction frameworks, highlighting the need to adjust market structures to foster competitive behavior among service providers to bring down prices and stimulate the demand for value-added services to drive future broadband development.en
dc.identifier.doi10.1596/978-1-4648-0112-9
dc.identifier.isbn978-1-4648-0112-9
dc.identifier.other10.1596/978-1-4648-0112-9
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10986/16680
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherWashington, DC: World Bank
dc.relation.ispartofseriesDirections in Development--Communication and Information Technologies;
dc.rightsCC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.holderWorld Bank
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subjectbackbone
dc.subjectbroadband affordability
dc.subjectcross sector infrastructure sharing
dc.subjecteconomic impact of broadband
dc.subjectfixed broadband
dc.subjectinfrastructure
dc.subjectinfrastructure sharing
dc.subjectinternational connectivity
dc.subjectmobile broadband
dc.subjectpublic private partnership
dc.subjectutility company
dc.titleBroadband Networks in the Middle East and North Africa : Accelerating High-Speed Internet Accessen
dspace.entity.typePublication
okr.crosscuttingsolutionareaPublic-Private Partnerships
okr.crossref.titleBroadband Networks in the Middle East and North Africa: Accelerating High-Speed Internet Access
okr.date.disclosure2014-02-06
okr.date.doiregistration2025-04-15T11:05:41.164925Z
okr.doctypePublications & Research::Publication
okr.doctypePublications & Research
okr.globalpracticeTransport and ICT
okr.identifier.doi10.1596/978-1-4648-0112-9
okr.identifier.report84356
okr.language.supporteden
okr.region.administrativeMiddle East and North Africa
okr.region.countryAlgeria
okr.region.countryEgypt, Arab Republic of
okr.region.countryJordan
okr.region.countryLiberia
okr.region.countryMorocco
okr.region.geographicalNorth Africa
okr.region.geographicalMiddle East
okr.sectorInformation and communications :: Telecommunications
okr.sectorInformation and communications :: General information and communications sector
okr.topicInformation and Communication Technologies::ICT Policy and Strategies
okr.topicInformation and Communication Technologies::Poverty Reduction & ICT
okr.topicInformation and Communication Technologies::Telecommunications Infrastructure
okr.topicInfrastructure Economics and Finance::Infrastructure Economics
okr.topicInfrastructure Economics and Finance::Private Participation in Infrastructure
okr.topicPrivate Sector Development
okr.topicInformation and Communication Technologies
okr.unitTWICT
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