Mobile Telecommunications Infrastructure and Economic Growth : Evidence from China

We contribute to the role of telecommunications infrastructure on economic growth in three ways. We separately examine fixed-line and mobile telephone subscription levels. We compare an early build out period to a later more mature industry phase. And we develop a method designed to address endogeneity of telecommunications with respect to growth. We find that mobile services contribute much more to growth but that the effect diminishes over time as the markets for these services become more mature