Regional inequalities and the digital economy challenge: Variations in internet accessibility across Greek regions

Abstract

A large number of studies dealing with the evolution of regional inequalities in Greece persist in making use of improper and outdated indicators, such as the number of telephone lines per capita or electricity consumption per capita. These indicators were appropriate to describe regional inequalities during the previous decades. However, nowadays, they present insignificant regional variations. Among technology-related indicators, the spatial diffusion of the Internet is a useful sign of growth potential and technological capacity. There is no doubt that the Internet can strongly influence individuals, places, societies and economies, and these effects are likely to grow during the foreseeable future. This chapter aims to investigate and map the differences in internet diffusion across Greek urban centres and regions. Primary data show that there is a notable imbalance in the spatial diffusion of internet use across the country. However, the approach is only broad-brush and should be viewed as exploratory. The poor quality of available data and the paucity of earlier research does not allow for the formulation of a more detailed analysis.