Intel has announced its WiMax products and other companies are quickly following suit. WiMax is wireless networking that offers speeds up to 70 Mbps with close to 50 kilometer range. In contrast, WiFi, the most widely used wireless networking technology, offers speeds up to 54 Mbps with ranges of 75-100 meters. WiFi range can be extended with additional antennas, quite significantly in some cases, up to several kilometers. But, these are generally directional "line of sight" antennas, meaning that any potential user will have to have a direct unobstructed view of the antenna that they are connecting through. This is of course not very practical for rural use, for instance, except maybe here in the flat midwest plains of the US ; ).
In the words of Scott Richardson, GM of Intel's broadband wireless division, "There are places on the planet that may never actually see cable and DSL." This will certainly be the case and, I think, has always been assumed would be the case. The possibilities that this opens up for developing countries are numerous. What the actual impact is and when it happens remains to be seen. I certainly hope that something does happen and that it happens soon.
In a World Bank discussion paper titled "E-Finance in Emerging Markets: Is Leapfrogging Possible?" (Stijn Claessens, Thomas Glaessner, and Daniela Klingebiel, 2001) the authors analyse the technological and policy needs to promote electronic financial services. The paper is representative of the ways we can envision the benefits of cheap and easy access to technology. It goes further than much of the literature in this area in that it clearly states the anticipated outcomes of such an endeavour, policy concerns and necessary accompanying measures.
In my view this represents the ways leapfrogging can be promoted in an effective way, by emphasizing the following:
1. address specific issues instead of looking for cure-all development solutions,
2. anticipate the possible uses for the technology,
3. relate usage to anticipated outcomes.
I'm sure as I mull this over the next few days I can come up with more points, but these are the ones that immediately jumped out at me.