Why the electromagnetic spectrum is crucial for international development.
Sandvig, C. (2006). Access to the Electromagnetic Spectrum is a Foundation for Development. In: M. Harvey (ed.) Media Matters: Perspectives on Advancing Governance and Development, (pp. 50-54). Paris: Internews. (free republishing/reproduction under a creative commons license)
full text: http://research.niftyc.org/Access_to_the_Electromagnetic_Spectrum.pdf
Excerpt:
If the human capability to use the spectrum has been ever-expanding, this could easily lead to the conclusion that more capacity is necessarily a boon to media development and democratization. However, governments the world over are used to imagining telecommunications and the spectrum as a lucrative purse that can be used to extract license fees for the treasury. If advanced wireless technology has produced new possibilities for communication, this has been coupled with laws that allow free access to the spectrum only in parts of the global north. If media projects promise to help alleviate social problems in developing countries, a first question for media development is, "What are the conditions for access to the spectrum?"
Tags: development, digital-divide, electromagnetic-spectrum, unlicensed (See all possible tags)