Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 1. Internet users and penetrations rate in urban and rural areas from 2005-2009
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Urban
157.38
million
213.40
million
Internet users
91.69 million
113.89 million
224.35 million
penetration rate
16.9%
20.2%
27.3%
35.2%
37%
Rura
l
19.31
million
23.11
million
52.62
million
84.60
million
95.65
million
Internet users
penetration rate
2.6%
3.1%
7.1%
11.7%
13.2%
(Source: CNNIC 2005 -2009)
of affordable broadband access flow through to
250 million rural households. Table 1 shows pro-
nounced divisions between urban and rural areas
in terms of Internet adoption.
The governments in leading broadband nations
have used financial incentives in improving
broadband services. For instance, the Swedish
government initiated various funding programs
to roll out broadband infrastructure in rural areas
and treat broadband as a universal service. How-
ever, China has no funding programs that are
truly aimed at improving broadband services and
developing competitive broadband infrastructure
in areas underserved. Although over 70% of
populations live in rural areas, the rural broadband
Internet users only account for 28% of the total
broadband Internet users as of June 2009.
Many countries have developed the public
policy necessary both to invest in and deploy
broadband networks or upgrade their existing
networks. One of the most important factors ac-
counting for the successful rollout of broadband in
the countries with the highest levels of household
broadband penetration such as Japan, Korea and
Sweden is government strategic commitments
and explicit broadband policies. For example, the
Japanese government clearly set a goal to provide
broadband services to every household by 2010
and provides low-interest loans to any carrier with a
fiber optic network installation plan for rural areas
and tax deductions for broadband investment under
its 2006 IT New Reform Strategy (IT Strategic
Headquarter,2006). In contrast, in China, there
is lack of national broadband policies that focus
on universal broadband access and encouraging
competition across broadband infrastructure and
services. The Chinese government primarily uses
regulatory mandates and official documents to
pressure the state-owned telecom providers to
deploy broadband networks. The 2002-2006
National Informationization Development Strat-
egy not only provides no financial support for
broadband but also does not include specific goals,
timelines, action plans for deploying broadband.
To stimulate economy in the times of global
recession, in February 2009 China's State Coun-
cil approved a stimulus plan of the ICT industry
which involves the investment of RMB 600 billion
to promote 3G mobile communication services,
next generation Internet and digital TV networks.
Although China has made the public commit-
ments to next generation broadband, due to lack
of detailed action plans, how the government will
implement the planned investment remains unclear
at the time of finalizing this chapter.
CONCLUSION
Based on this research and other studies, clearly
national broadband policies and competitive
broadband environment can have a significant
influence on broadband development. The state
of broadband Internet access is closely related to
the regulatory framework. Several policy factors
affect the growth of broadband Internet access in
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