Global Digital Divide: Language Gap and Post-Communism in Mongolia

The Case Study Of The Global Digital Divide: The Internet In Mongolia

With a nomadic culture, a Buddhist tradition and a communist past, Mongolia has a unique struggle with the digital divide. At the same time, the Mongolian case demonstrates common challenges typical to other developing and former socialist countries. Mongolia is a Central Asian developing country landlocked between Russia and China with a small population of 2.7 million. Like many other developing countries, Mongolia has an underdeveloped economy and weak infrastructure indicated by the GDP per capita of US$1,991 and 12.5% Internet access per 100 persons in 2008 (UN, 2008).

Though access to the Internet has steadily been increasing since the first Internet node MagicNet was established in 1996 as shown in Figure 1, for many Mongolians the Internet is still a distant priority. The Mongolian case clearly shows the challenges of the global digital have-nots. The vastness of the territory, the underdeveloped infrastructure especially in the provinces of Mongolia, and the high price of international connections have hindered the access to the Internet for many Mongolians.

Figure 1.

The growth in the numbers of Internet and mobile users per 100 people in Mongolia from 1996 to 2008