That, then, is where the divide gets difficult to cross. Western experts such as Dymond and Crist agree that one of the biggest obstacles is regulation. It is because of deregulation, and not because of mobile's obvious advantages in speed of deployment, that it has been the technology most effective in closing the telecom gap. It has become even more popular since the arrival of prepaid, which enables low-income users to manage their bills. Simple analog Where governments have deregulated to allow competition and additional investment to drive the market, the impact is invariably enormous.
China is probably the best example.
Since introducing its first competitor, China Unicom, in 1994, it has corporatized its incumbent telco and introduced another four competitors. Of course, users are primarily in the urban and semi-rural markets. But while domestic competition has ramped up communications services in these areas, government initiative has been key to delivering service to villages. It did this by using the earnings from the boom in urban telecoms to fund the capital investment. Provincial telecom officials say the services aren't big moneyspinners, because rural dwellers don't use the phone much, but they do recover the cost after only two years or so.