Some Recurrent Problems of Telecommunications in Developing Countries

The expansion and improvement of telecommunication services in developing countries is faced with a number of problems of implementation and of method. The problems of implementation have well-established solutions and, therefore, are only briefly discussed in this paper. The main focus of this paper is concentrated on four classes of problems related to method, namely: 1) demand forecasting and its impact on system performance; 2) economic evaluation with special regard to social factors; 3) pricing; and 4) technological dependence on foreign countries. The problems need considerably more research and field work before results of any permanence and general validity are obtained. The paper concludes that dealing with these and related problems of method needs an essentially interdisciplinary approach. It further suggests that only some international technical and development organizations may, in the foreseeable future, be in the position to undertake interdisciplinary sectoral telecommunication studies of adequate breadth and depth to yield meaningful tools for better utilization of the scarce telecommunication resources in developing countries.