| Although the world is becoming increasingly interconnected, studies of international telecommunications network in past years have identified asymmetrical flows of linkages between different regions of network, dominated by the wealthy developed countries. This study examines such inequality in the structure of international telecommunications and its socio-economic determinants. The communication imbalances were measured by the country-specific traffic balance, the difference between incoming calls and outgoing calls, which reflects both the empirical call volume and the direction. The net outflows of information, as opposed to net inflows, are likely to be an evidence of control and dominance over the information within the network. The analysis of 174 nations revealed that the communication imbalances were influenced by trade imbalances and GDP per capita. In addition, the interaction effects showed that a nation's level of democracy was a significant predictor of communication imbalances among the core nations. The influence of economic development on imbalances was significant for the core but not for the countries at the periphery. Altogether, the results supported the Galtung's (1971) Structural Theory that international communication reflects unequal power relationships in worldwide information exchanges. Possible interpretations of the results and future studies are discussed. |
