broadband connections25. The situation highlights lack of developed ICT ecosystem which can provide greater benefits in terms of revenue, job-creation and overall social well-being. Nepal has lacked presence of substantial IT outsourcing or BPO business which thrive on ICT infrastructure and local talent. A key requirement for large scale IT businesses to flourish has been robust underlying IT infrastructure and civic facilities as electric-power supply. ICT and GDP Contribution World Bank report titled ‘Exploring the relationship between broadband and Economic Growth’ in 2016 highlights the direct correlation between different ICT technologies with GDP growth across developing and developed economies. The report infers on the basis of 10 percentage point increase in penetration across different ICT technologies as fixed landline connection, mobile phone, internet (wired, wireless) and broadband connection. The sectorial analysis of each of these vertical revealed a different level of impact on economies GDP growth. Broadband was observed to have the highest impact with 1.19% on high-income economies and 1.35% on low- and middle-income economies, while mobile has lowest impact with 0.21% and 0.40% for high-income and low- and middle-income economies respectively. 26 ICT development has also been a direct contributor to GDP growth globally. Study conducted for the period of 1995 to 2014, indicated that ICT capital was responsible for about 20% growth across global economies on an average. It contributed the most to developed economies, with average of 27% across 39 countries studied. The average contribution across 91 developing countries was close to 14% for the same period.27 The report was based on studies carried out across different countries at different level of economic progress. Whilst broadband was a key growth factor in most of the economies, the report also found that mobile penetration was a key driver as well for some of the lower income economies. Internet Economy Internet has increasingly become a major direct contributor to GDP, accounting more than 3.4% across large and developed economies. The impact of internet has also accelerated the economic growth across developed and developing economies. For the period during 2005-09, internet’s contribution in select developed economies was 21% and in large developing economies it was 11%. The variation in level of contribution depended on the scale of technology development and overall eco-system maturity. Matured economies with more balanced systems and platforms in place were able to harness more economic benefits, while the developing economies had few challenges due to gaps, e.g. coverage of population, platforms and adoption, which limited the benefits. The middle economies as Malaysia, Turkey experienced greater benefits, but not on the same scale as matured economies. Impact of internet has been substantial in terms of creating and replacing jobs. The McKinsey Global SME Survey estimates an average of 2.6 jobs created for every job eliminated. Study on French economy revealed internet to have created 1.2 million jobs where it eliminated 500,000 jobs over 1995 t0 2009, with ratio of 2.4 jobs for every job lost.28 25 https://www.nepalitelecom.com/2018/04/3g-4g-and-ftth-drives-broadband-penetration-in-nepal.html Exploring the Relationship Between Broadband and Economic Growth, WDR 2016, World Bank 27 Accelerating Growth, World Development Report 2016 28 The Great Transformer: The impact of Internet on Economic Growth and Prosperity, McKinsey Global Institute, October 2011 26 34