Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Investment in Economically Developing Countries

This study looked at two research questions: Are economically developing countries spending a comparable percentage of their budgets, compared to industrialized nations, on ICT investment? What ICT investment framework should economically developing countries use to spur economic activities? We used annual telecommunication investment (ATI) as percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a surrogate for telecommunication investment budget allocation in a country. Ten year data from the 2005 World Telecommunication Indicator Database by International Telecommunication Union (ITU) were used for analysis. Our findings indicate that the percentage of GDP allocation by economically developing countries is comparable to, and in many cases higher than, that of industrialized nations. This paper argues that even after spending a higher proportion of their GDP on ICT investments, economically developing countries are not investing enough money to realize economic benefits that derive from those investments. We propose a new framework, community focused ICT investment instead of individual focused ICT investment, to spur economic activities in economically developing countries.