Making Information Technologies Work at the End of the Road

Abstract

Remote and rural areas face many challenges, including the provision of telecommunications services. Regardless of universal service policies or other political promises, rural communities can be deemed unprofitable by service providers while government assistance is managed by faraway regulators who lack understanding of the affected communities and citizens. The authors assess these challenges in the context of the First Nations of Canada, via a decentralized “First Mile” framework. They find that these remote communities are capable of local innovation and can collaborate with intermediary organizations to build digital infrastructures, by bridging the gap between the public and private sectors.