The fact that the Caribbean and Latin America are badly lagging behind member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is stymying development in the hemisphere and points to the need for urgent and significant investment in broadband penetration in order to close the digital divide, a recent study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) says.
But any really meaningful closure of that gap will impose a heavy financial burden on a hemisphere whose economies have already had to cope with the ravages of the more than year-long coronavirus pandemic, the IDB study declares.
“Delays in improving connectivity and digitalization in Latin American and Caribbean countries have dramatically exacerbated the economic and social impact of COVID-19.
