Digital Transformation in Tunisia: Under Which Conditions Could the Digital Economy Benefit Everyone?

Adoption of digital technologies has accelerated largely in the last decade and has reached a critical stage today. The rapid diffusion of digital technologies has fostered the use and exploration/exploitation of new possibilities based on the internet. Therefore, this paper discusses the current state, main opportunities and challenges of digital transformation in Tunisia. First, it relies on up-to-date information to describe the current diffusion and use of digital technologies in Tunisia. This would allow a better understanding of how infrastructure, equipment, access and use of these technologies are diffusing among the population. Second, it takes account of the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on how the use of digital technologies is developing and to what extent the pandemic has fostered or hampered the digital transformation in Tunisia. Third, most of the existing literature describes digitalization and its impacts without offering clear explanations related to the prerequisites for full exploitation of the potentialities of the technologies in an inclusive manner. Fourth, we examine the prerequisites for reaping digital dividends and moving toward building new jobs and skills, the change of organizational practices and towards safe, secure digital technologies.