Around the world, a ‘divide’ exists among populations that have access to information and communications technologies, and these differences mirror the ‘socioeconomic divide’ that had been pre-existing between and within countries. These
disparities have effects on future economic growth and productivity, and also impact on social welfare of populations. While there have been many studies that have examined the ‘digital divide’ across countries, there is a current dearth of studies that examine what accounts for the differences in access, utilization and ownership of these ICTs within
countries. The paper being proposed is an extension of the study undertaken by Alegre, de Quiros and Tuaño (2006) for the Foundation for Media Alternatives, which undertook an analysis of household level determinants of the digital divide. The earlier paper found that, using probit regression analysis, specific characteristics of households and
household members, such as age, sex, marital status, employment level and education level of the household head, the number of children and geographical location of the household, all determine the personal computer and telephone ownership. The data utilized for the study is derived from the 2000 and 2003 rounds of the Family Income and Expenditure Survey, which contain 40,000 respondents.The paper being proposed would examine provincial-level characteristics that
affect gaps in personal computer and telephone ownership, as proposed in Chinn and Fairlie (2004). Some of these factors include economic variables (income and expenditure per capita, telephony rental prices), demographic variables (literacy rate, school participation and cohort survival ratios, labor dependency ratios, urbanization rate), and infrastructure (electricity coverage). The findings of the study would have implications on public spending on human capital and infrastructure that would reduce the differences in ICT ownership, and on the design of public access programs being
undertaken by both the government and the private sector. This study would take advantage of the recent availability of sub-national data that are available in the national statistical system, especially the release of the 2003 round of the Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey; this survey now includes questions related to PC and telephony ownership.