Digital Divide and Global Information Society

From the Abstract

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the main cause of the digital divide is the crisis affecting both the level of income and the purchasing power of the country's population. This crisis has had a damaging impact on the general state of basic infrastructure, which explains the failure to introduce modern information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Secondly, the information and communication sector is hampered by inadequate and unfavourable fiscal and regulatory provisions. This situation reflects the lack of determination by the State to participate actively in the restoration, modernisation and construction of communication infrastructure or the promotion of ICTs.

However, since the arrival of a number of mobile telephony operators and some Internet providers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the large towns have begun to develop communication systems and to open up a gateway to modernity through the Internet. Thus, in Kinshasa in particular, Internet cafes have spread rapidly.