The last decade has seen a rapid growth of Internet access across Africa, although it has not been evenly distributed. It is therefore important for policymakers to ask how policy can bridge this inequality of Internet access. This article addresses the dearth of research assessing the interplay between policy and Internet penetration by identifying Internet penetration‐related policy variables and institutional constructs in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Based on a literature review and data availability, four variables are suggested: (i) free flow of information; (ii) market concentration; (iii) the activity level of the Universal Service Fund (USF); and (iv) total tax on computer equipment. The results show that only the activity level of the USF and low total tax on computer equipment are significantly positively related to Internet penetration in Sub‐Saharan Africa. Free flow of information and market concentration do not show any impact on Internet penetration. The latter could be attributed to underdeveloped competition in most Sub‐Saharan countries. We recommend that policymakers promote the policy instrument of Universal Service and USF and consider substituting tax on computer equipment with other tax revenues, and not to blindly trust the market's invisible hand to fix inequality in Internet diffusion.

The past decade has witnessed the emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in public service innovation. As the technical characteristics of IoT technologies are rather identical around the globe, one might wonder whether the location still matters for their adoptions. Smart public bike sharing (PBS) scheme is one of the world's most widespread public IoT applications. Prior studies of smart PBS schemes find the positive effects on the host city's image and sustainable mobility. However, less attention has been paid to the impact of the host city's context on the evolution of their service characteristics. The paper proposes a model that explicitly includes the contextual dynamics of public service innovations that utilize IoT. Then the model is used to analyze two empirical cases from Sweden and China, respectively. The results reveal that public motives, user preferences, and governance can impact the evolution of the service characteristics of smart PBS schemes, which is important for smart PBS planners, operators, and policymakers to consider. The best PBS scheme is the one that adapts to the characters of the host city and the changing needs of the users. Moreover, the study reflects the new complexities that arise for digital public services, such as the protection of data and privacy.

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