Exploring National Policy, Practice and Global Narratives That Shape The Internet in Nepal

• In Event: Digital Imperialism: Colonizing Everyday Lives in the Global South II: Techno-Discourses and Resistances

Abstract

There is a strong impetus for a rapid increase in Internet connectivity in Nepal. The common thread in the narratives, in the late nineties and second half of 2010, is the optimism mediated by certain technological innovation. The emphasis on infrastructure development is the desire to leapfrog to higher levels of development by transitioning into a ‘knowledge-based society and economy’, which is afforded only by specific technologies of the time. It was computer and Internet in the late nineties. Now its mobile phones and broadband Internet. The global village imaginary and inevitability associated with connectivity in policies leave no room for the possibility of no or limited impact as probable outcomes. They enforce the need to join the rest of the world. We agree these conceptualisations offer justification to the neoliberal projects. In this paper, we show the persistent inequality in the connectivity landscape onwards from the late nineties, where liberalisation of the telecommunication sector was believed to spur economic growth and overall social transformation. We find the enthusiasm governed by two key assumptions: (i) connectivity is purely a technical challenge as opposed to socio-technical; and (ii) challenges associated with the adjacent infrastructure (such as energy) can be solved in isolation. Such assumptions are carrying on the agendas set by institutions like the World Bank and UN (ITU). We challenge both assertions and provide evidence to forego such simplistic vision of connectivity. We analyse census, surveys and official statistics to bring to the fore the ungrounded simplistic vision of connectivity.

Authors

• Nischal Regmi, Martin Chautari

• shailesh pandey, Martin Chautari