The COVID-19 pandemic poses a fundamental challenge to the global socio-economic system, forcing countries to reexamine social practices and production systems otherwise considered normal until the end of last year. The work presented in this paper uses empirical evidence to highlight the important role digital technology could play in mitigating the pandemic’s disruption while evaluating the level of preparedness of developing countries to face this challenge. We provide evidence on the evolution of current traffic and speed levels of broadband networks, and we use empirical data to analyze the digital resiliency of developing countries in terms of households, production processes, governments, and the extent of telecommuting. Our overall conclusion is that developing countries are significantly lagging the most advanced ones in terms of preparedness. Therefore, we believe that public and private sectors in these countries must collaborate and work together to promote the enhancement of the digital ecosystem. Several measures can be taken to accommodate the current increase in Internet traffic, such as accelerate the deployment of base stations for mobile broadband (by reducing the permit requirements), temporarily allocate additional spectrum to operators to face traffic spikes, require video streaming providers to reduce traffic from high definition content, and consider the need to increase unlicensed spectrum to resolve Wi-Fi router bottlenecks. Other relevant measures include stimulating technology companies to develop platforms that can improve efficiencies in the supply chains, and to encourage them to promote telecommuting. Finally, more investment will be needed in the training of the most vulnerable population groups to decrease unemployment rates.
Can Digitization Mitigate COVID-19 Damages? Evidence from Developing Countries