5G common threads and challenges in emerging economies: the cases of Indonesia and Peru

Abstract

Some decades on after the MacBride Many Voices, One World report (1980) and the Maitland Missing Link report (1985), global telecommunications have only gained in importance, yet are still fissured by global inequalities. This situation is evident in one of the major developments underway in recent years: 5G mobile technologies. 5G is highly significant for present and future communication—and well advanced in its deployment and adoption. However, the dominant ways in which 5G has been imagined, planned, and deployed have been significantly shaped by interests and geopolitical forces that exclude many countries, and many of the putative beneficiaries of the emergent technology. To shed light on this impasse, in this paper, we offer a comparative analysis of policy and technology realities in two distinct countries that have been relatively overlooked in 5G: Peru and Indonesia. What we find is that national policies are premised on a shared interest and shared benefits, however, at this crucial point in deployment the outcomes are remote for the majority of citizens, especially in ways that matter for daily lives. In both these countries, 5G provides benefits for the small groups who can access and afford it, with others groups in position to be able to come online in the near future—as it provides opportunities for investments, fees, and penalties. However, for large segments of the populations, 5G, the prospects of connectivity, and the emerging digital economy are a long way off.