WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital Divide

In general terms, technology is born as the indirect consequence of social demands that are identified by researchers as interesting problems to solve; in solving the problem, they produce new knowledge. If they think they will obtain benefits, manufacturers and service providers take those results...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Simó Reigadas, Francisco Javier, Rey Moreno, Carlos, Martínez Fernández, Andrés
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2011
País:España
Recursos:Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Repositorio:BURJC-Digital. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
OAI Identifier:oai:burjcdigital.urjc.es:10115/5875
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10115/5875
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Telecomunicaciones
3325 Tecnología de las Telecomunicaciones
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spelling WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital DivideSimó Reigadas, Francisco JavierRey Moreno, CarlosMartínez Fernández, AndrésTelecomunicaciones3325 Tecnología de las TelecomunicacionesIn general terms, technology is born as the indirect consequence of social demands that are identified by researchers as interesting problems to solve; in solving the problem, they produce new knowledge. If they think they will obtain benefits, manufacturers and service providers take those results and produce products and services that satisfy that demand. Undoubtfully, there exist social needs that cannot be covered obtaining benefit. If a society considers covering those needs to be a social priority, then complementary measurements should be taken to adequately promote innovation. In ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), innovation tends to satisfy the needs of urban inhabitants because they are more concentrated and richer than those living in rural areas. It also tends to privilege the needs of people living in developed countries, where the number of consumers for new products and services is much higher. Access to ICT becomes more and more relevant as we evolve towards a new society structured around information and knowledge. The different access to ICT is not only important by itself, but also it creates significant differences in the access to quality healthcare, educational resources, and markets. This gap in global opportunities, that becomes wider because of different access to ICT, is generally called the Digital Divide, and exists among countries as well as between urban and rural areas within each country. Bridging this gap may improve the access to primary services and, hence, foster human development. A technology called WiMAX was born in 2001 as a wireless alternative to xDSL technologies for last-mile residential Internet access, but also as a means to bring connectivity to undeserved areas. WiMAX is considered by many experts as having the main features for bridging the Digital Divide existing both in urban areas of developing countries and in rural areas of the World [10, 27]. Nevertheless, almost ten years after its release, it does not seem that WiMAX has fulfilled this aim. Hence, an existing appropriate technology is not satisfying the needs of an existing demand. This article analyses the reasons for this failure in the improvement of social development through technology.Teoría de la Señal y ComunicacionesIEEE201120112011info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10115/5875reponame:BURJC-Digital. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlosinstname:Universidad Rey Juan CarlosInglésAtribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Españahttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:burjcdigital.urjc.es:10115/58752026-06-24T12:48:17Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital Divide
title WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital Divide
spellingShingle WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital Divide
Simó Reigadas, Francisco Javier
Telecomunicaciones
3325 Tecnología de las Telecomunicaciones
title_short WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital Divide
title_full WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital Divide
title_fullStr WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital Divide
title_full_unstemmed WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital Divide
title_sort WiMAX, an uncertain promise for bridging the Digital Divide
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Simó Reigadas, Francisco Javier
Rey Moreno, Carlos
Martínez Fernández, Andrés
author Simó Reigadas, Francisco Javier
author_facet Simó Reigadas, Francisco Javier
Rey Moreno, Carlos
Martínez Fernández, Andrés
author_role author
author2 Rey Moreno, Carlos
Martínez Fernández, Andrés
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Telecomunicaciones
3325 Tecnología de las Telecomunicaciones
topic Telecomunicaciones
3325 Tecnología de las Telecomunicaciones
description In general terms, technology is born as the indirect consequence of social demands that are identified by researchers as interesting problems to solve; in solving the problem, they produce new knowledge. If they think they will obtain benefits, manufacturers and service providers take those results and produce products and services that satisfy that demand. Undoubtfully, there exist social needs that cannot be covered obtaining benefit. If a society considers covering those needs to be a social priority, then complementary measurements should be taken to adequately promote innovation. In ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), innovation tends to satisfy the needs of urban inhabitants because they are more concentrated and richer than those living in rural areas. It also tends to privilege the needs of people living in developed countries, where the number of consumers for new products and services is much higher. Access to ICT becomes more and more relevant as we evolve towards a new society structured around information and knowledge. The different access to ICT is not only important by itself, but also it creates significant differences in the access to quality healthcare, educational resources, and markets. This gap in global opportunities, that becomes wider because of different access to ICT, is generally called the Digital Divide, and exists among countries as well as between urban and rural areas within each country. Bridging this gap may improve the access to primary services and, hence, foster human development. A technology called WiMAX was born in 2001 as a wireless alternative to xDSL technologies for last-mile residential Internet access, but also as a means to bring connectivity to undeserved areas. WiMAX is considered by many experts as having the main features for bridging the Digital Divide existing both in urban areas of developing countries and in rural areas of the World [10, 27]. Nevertheless, almost ten years after its release, it does not seem that WiMAX has fulfilled this aim. Hence, an existing appropriate technology is not satisfying the needs of an existing demand. This article analyses the reasons for this failure in the improvement of social development through technology.
publishDate 2011
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2011
2011
2011
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10115/5875
url http://hdl.handle.net/10115/5875
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 España
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv IEEE
publisher.none.fl_str_mv IEEE
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:BURJC-Digital. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
instname:Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
instname_str Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
reponame_str BURJC-Digital. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
collection BURJC-Digital. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
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