The Digital Divide in Australia: Is Rural Australia Loosing Out?

Abstract

In this paper, the authors examine the problem of the digital divide in Australia, drawing substantially on a study by carried out for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government by the authors. While this study was limited to the ACT region, many of the findings are relevant to rural areas across Australia as well, and also to rural areas of other developed countries. The authors conclude that there is a digital divide problem in Australia, and discuss some initiatives taken to date to address the problem.