Impact analysis of the mobile telephone and the internet on economic development in the east African community

Olivier Nsavyimana; Chuanquan Li; Olivier Nsavyimana; Chuanquan Li

doi:10.3934/DSFE.2025008

Data Science in Finance and Economics

2025, Volume 5, Issue 2: 156-176. doi: 10.3934/DSFE.2025008

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Research article

Impact analysis of the mobile telephone and the internet on economic development in the east African community

Olivier Nsavyimana ,
Chuanquan Li ^,

Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, School of Statistics and Data Sciences, Nanchang, China

Received: 22 October 2024 Revised: 30 January 2025 Accepted: 19 March 2025 Published: 28 April 2025
JEL Codes: O33, O55, L96

This study evaluated the East African Community (EAC), where information communication technology (ICT) adoption is still low, aiming to analyze the impact of mobile phones and the internet as components of ICT on economic development. In the first section, we used a random effect model for analysis and found out that mobile phones do not have a positive impact, while internet penetration contributes significantly to economic development. In the second section, we used the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and the error correction term (ECM) with data from six countries (Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya) from 2007 to 2021. Different studies evaluating ICT through mobile phone use have shown that these contribute to boosting economic development. However, economic development from ICT seems to be slower in developing countries than in developed countries; this occurs since in the former, ICT tools are mostly used to maintain social relations and not yet for economic activity purposes.
- ICT,
- mobile use,
- digital economy,
- economic development
Citation: Olivier Nsavyimana, Chuanquan Li. Impact analysis of the mobile telephone and the internet on economic development in the east African community[J]. Data Science in Finance and Economics, 2025, 5(2): 156-176. doi: 10.3934/DSFE.2025008

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Abstract

This study evaluated the East African Community (EAC), where information communication technology (ICT) adoption is still low, aiming to analyze the impact of mobile phones and the internet as components of ICT on economic development. In the first section, we used a random effect model for analysis and found out that mobile phones do not have a positive impact, while internet penetration contributes significantly to economic development. In the second section, we used the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model and the error correction term (ECM) with data from six countries (Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya) from 2007 to 2021. Different studies evaluating ICT through mobile phone use have shown that these contribute to boosting economic development. However, economic development from ICT seems to be slower in developing countries than in developed countries; this occurs since in the former, ICT tools are mostly used to maintain social relations and not yet for economic activity purposes.

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