ICTs and Location

Anyi Li

Do you know that the development and distribution of ICT share an interconnected relationship with its geographical location?

ICT, which stands for Information and Communication Technologies, can be any hardware or software that makes the transmission of information possible. For example, a smartphone is hardware composed of many hardware and software and often carries an astonishing amount of information private to its owner. Another example is Microsoft--a software system that is developed and engineered by a set of digital instructions that allow it to transmit data. ICTs are often made into commodities and become buyable, sellable, and investable. Often, information and communication technologies grow to become industries and multinational corporations, such as Apple and Microsoft, benefitting the investors and the national economy where these industries and corporations set their headquarters.

With information and communication technologies linked to commodities, money becomes involved. People’s access to information and communication technologies are interdependent with the economy within the society of their absolute locations. According to Laura Silver’s article “Smartphone Ownership is Growing Rapidly Around the World, but Not Always Equally,” while about nine in ten people in advanced economies such as South Korea own a smartphone, only four in ten people in emerging economies such as Kenya are owners of a smartphone (Silver). This is particularly crucial in the times of COVID. While the overwhelming majority of South Koreans can learn about the discovery of a new variant of COVID-19 minutes after the announcement by scrolling through social media, the majority of Kenyans would have to wait to hear from radios and other slower forms of communication technologies. This time-lapse could cost not only billions of dollars but also millions of lives. The uneven interdependence is also true in the access to Microsoft. While Kenya only got its first Microsoft software testing center in 2018 (Mumbere), people in the U.S. could sit at home and run an online system test. Comparatively, people in the U.S. save money, time, and energy. Other factors make communication technologies incorporate locations as well. The location’s government actions can hinder the distribution of ICTs. Based on the article written by Peter Mburu, the Kenyan government imposed a digital device tax on digital transactions from January 2021 (Mburu). This government tax can make digital devices more unaffordable to the people who live in that location, as the prices would inevitably grow. 

Work Cited

Mburu, Peter. “Kenya: State to Tax Digital Transactions From January 2021.” AllAfrica.com, 

26 Jan. 2021, allafrica.com/stories/202011060212.html. 

Mumbere, Daniel. “Kenya's William Ruto Launches First Microsoft Software Testing Centre in

Africa.” Africanews, Africanews, 5 May 2018, www.africanews.com/2018/05/05/

kenya-s-william-ruto-launches-first-microsoft-software-testing-centre-in-africa/. 

Silver, Laura. “Smartphone Ownership Is Growing Rapidly Around the World, but Not Always

Equally.” Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, Pew Research Center, 

5 Feb. 2019, www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/02/05/smartphone-ownership-is-

growing-rapidly-around-the-world-but-not-always-equally/.