ABSTRACT This study examines the dynamics of the digital divide between middle- and low-income groups of 44 African countries in the context of three technologies – mobile cellular, Internet, and fixed broadband – from 2000 to 2015. At the macro level, the relative digital divide has been narrowing at the annual rates from 11.3% to 0.72%, while the absolute digital divide has been widening at the annual rates from 31.33% to 17.11%. At the microlevel, convergence analysis indicates that a catch-up process has taken place in both income groups, with the low-income group displaying a faster catch-up speed in all three technologies. Combining the findings from the macro and the microlevel of the analysis revealed a positive relationship between the increasing rates of the absolute digital divide and the annual rate of catch-up by the low-income group. The faster is the increasing rate of the absolute digital divide, the faster the speed of catch-up by the low-income group of countries becomes. Several policy implications from these findings are discussed.

中文翻译：

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赶超和数字鸿沟的速度：44个非洲国家的移动蜂窝，互联网和固定宽带的融合分析

摘要这项研究考察了2000年至2015年在44种非洲国家的中低收入群体之间在移动蜂窝，互联网和固定宽带这三种技术的背景下的数字鸿沟动态。在宏观层面，相对而言数字鸿沟以年率从11.3％缩小到0.72％，而绝对数字鸿沟以年率从31.33％扩大到17.11％。从微观上看，趋同分析表明，这两个收入群体都发生了追赶过程，低收入群体在这三种技术中都表现出更快的追赶速度。结合宏观和微观分析的结果，发现绝对数字鸿沟的增加率与低收入群体的年度追赶率之间存在正相关关系。绝对数字鸿沟的增加速度越快，低收入国家/地区的追赶速度就越快。讨论了这些发现的一些政策含义。