Context: Why is this project important?

The global "digital divide" separating the “haves” from “have-nots” is widely recognized as a challenge affecting many developing countries. Also recognized is the fact that access to affordable and effective telecommunications services is an integral part of ensuring sustained development and that "telecom networks and services provide the foundation for national "information society" programs as well as a rapidly growing information economy" (Melody, W. 1997).

Evidence shows that the benefits attained in areas of health, education, livelihoods and social empowerment through knowledge are restricted in their reach and impact to those who have access – excluding a great majority. This is especially true in Asia, where in spite of strong growth in connectivity, particularly in the mobile sector, millions of people have poor or no connectivity. Much of the growth can be attributed to regulatory reforms and the partial liberalization of telecommunications markets that attracted investments in the sector. It is safe to assume that appropriate telecommunications policy environments and regulatory reform are amongst the most influential levers to ensuring greater access to ICTs, particularly amongst the poorer segments of Asian society.

Asia, home to the largest human population, offers a great context to conduct research on how pro-poor policies and regulations can increase the impact of ICTs in human development in the region.

The Project: How does this initiative address the development problem?
LIRNEasia’s overall mission of actionable research seeks to identify the institutional constraints to effective use of information and communication technologies to improve the lives of the people of Asia, not simply in abstract terms but in country context, and to catalyze the changes conducive to greater participation by users and suppliers. Likewise, LIRNEasia also contributes to building capacity for evidence-based intervention in the public-policy process by in-situ experts.

• "Teleuse@BOP3" is a quantitative (representative-sample) multi-country study, which builds on two previous surveys, that examines how people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP) use ICTs.
• "Mobile 2.0@BOP" seeks to understand how people at the BOP are beginning to use mobiles for services beyond voice, which could ultimately entail public good or development applications related to mobiles.
• The "Indicators, continued" module is a continuation of the work done in 2006-08 on improving the measurement of the ICT sector and regulatory performance.
• These research components provide a basis for capacity-building and advocacy components, among which the central activity is Communications Policy Research South (CPRsouth).
• The advocacy and dissemination work builds on LIRNEasia's successful use of new and old media, as well as opportunistic rapid responses to policy issues as they arise. The crowning glory of LIRNEasia's dissemination work is a summative conference that will pull together the activities and achievements of LIRNEasia's inaugural five years.

Objectives:
The general objective of this project is the advancement of evidence-based policymaking and regulation in the emerging Asia-Pacific to ensure greater participation in ICTs in the context of a more integrated world economy. More specifically, the project seeks to:

• conduct a research program that comprises four inter-related modules, that will lay a foundation for advancing evidence-based ICT policy and regulation, including creating greater awareness of BOP-friendly policy actions by government, regulators and operators;
• establish the conditions to facilitate the creation and sustenance of in-situ policy intellectuals; and
• disseminate the output of all activities in multiple ways to different audiences capable of influencing reform, including carefully targeted rapid-response interventions and new-media presence.

Development Impact
The inaugural phase of LIRNEasia’s work was very successful in directly informing and at times influencing policy in certain Asian countries. LIRNEasia's research results and evidence combined with their ability to respond rapidly and communicate effectively, ensured that they were able to intervene in a positive way on issues related to better access and connectivity amongst the poorest segments of the population.

LIRNEasia has also raised the profile and built a base of researchers who can respond to issues and concerns related to regulations and policies while at the same time conduct research to build evidence for influencing policy-making processes.

Outputs & Website
All publications and materials related to this project are available at the project website: LIRNEasia.

Rohan Samarajiva interview with Masala Canada, Radio Canada International (November 28, 2009): http://www.rcinet.ca/rci/en/masala/index.shtml