As I sit here during my winter break delving deep into broadband policy for my thesis, a few of the things I was reaching for but not quite understanding last summer in Liberia are now becoming clear.  While the appropriateness of many of the policies are very much context specific, a few are really no brainers that would have an enormous impact if adopted widely across the African continent.

The premise for these policies is simple: they promote and take advantage of opportunities to foster c...

This week's Economist has a special report on telecoms in emerging markets that I highly recommend to anyone interested in ICT4D.  While much of the report reiterates what many of us already know, one of the articles in particular got me really excited and essentially validates a lot of what I was reaching for in Liberia this past summer: domestic infrastructure itself can be organized in a way to bring dramatic drops in operating costs.  Given the highly competitive nature of service provide...