Affordable Communications Access

Affordable access to communications networks is now a basic requirement for effective functioning of governance, civil society, and education as well as for economic development. Public policy is a fundamental factor in hindering or enabling the investment and business models needed to provide affordable access. The telecommunications industry slump in recent years has drastically slowed the investment in infrastructure around the world; but bad legislation, monopolies, and poorly managed liberalization, as well as inappropriate regulatory regimes pose an even greater barrier to affordable access.

The aim of this component of the Information Program is to broaden affordable access to communications networks for key open society constituencies in the most disadvantaged countries by supporting policy interventions and the staging of new models. The program intends to advance this aim through the following three strategic focuses.

Affordable Access to Fiber

We will support policy initiatives to address over-pricing of connectivity in land-locked countries in West, Central and East Africa through better regulation and commercial competition.

Affordable Access to Mobile Phones

While international commentators and development agencies have celebrated Africa's "mobile miracle," little attention is being paid to the continent's deeply uncompetitive telecommunications markets and the walled garden practices of mobile phone operators.

Research shows that a remarkably high percentage of income is being spent on mobile services by the poor (the average African spends more than 50% of their disposable income on mobile services). At the same time, innovations in services are largely top-down and have been slow to evolve despite obvious demand, with cost being the major barrier to end-user innovation of the sort that leads to serendipitous discovery of new social and commercial services.

Spectrum Reform

Advances in wireless technologies have opened the possibility of new, highly flexible and open ownership structures for the airwaves. But while the US Federal Communications Commission has made a historic decision on "white spaces" recognizing this transformation, outside the US, public interest groups are almost completely absent from the debate about who should own the airwaves. And even though the stakes are particularly high in developing countries—which are disproportionately dependent on wireless communication—they are mainly watching from the sidelines.

Funding Information

If you are considering applying for funding under this initiative, please email the relevant program manager (see link, below) with a brief description of your project. They will be able to advise you if your proposal is suitable for funding from OSI, and guide you through the application process from there.

View contact information for this initiative.