[kictanet] Broadband Commission report seeks to bring high-speed connectivity to world’s poorest communities

[Alice Munyua]

      Dear All,


This will be one of the issues on the agenda for both the IGF and the 
Pre-IGF high level ministerial forum upcoming taking place in September 
27-30.

Both UNESCO and ITU leadership will be at both events in Nairobi.


Best regards

Alice



      http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/new_broadband_commission_report_seeks_to_bring_high_speed_connectivity_to_worlds_poorest_communities/




      New Broadband Commission report seeks to bring high-speed
      connectivity to world’s poorest communities


        Advocates a mix of appropriate technologies, innovative
        financing models, and an emphasis on training and local, quality
        content

Governments around the world need to formulate and implement national 
multi-sectoral broadband plans rapidly – or risk being seriously 
disadvantaged in today’s increasingly high-speed digital environment, 
according to a new report released today by the Broadband Commission for 
Digital Development <http://www.broadbandcommission.org/> during its 
third meeting at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

Entitled /Broadband: A Platform for Progress/, the report advocates a 
coordinated, nationwide approach to broadband development that more 
closely resembles the development of national railway or electricity 
networks than the more laissez-faire, market-driven approach that has 
generally characterized the roll-out of mobile cellular technology.

“To optimize the benefits to society, broadband should be coordinated on 
a countrywide basis, promoting facilities-based competition and with 
policies encouraging service providers to offer access on fair market 
terms . . . efforts should be coordinated across all sectors of 
industry, administration and the economy. Developing isolated projects 
or piecemeal, duplicated networks is not only inefficient, it delays 
provision of infrastructure that is becoming as crucial in the modern 
world as roads or electricity supplies,” the report says.

For emerging economies and developing countries, wireless broadband 
looks likely to be the platform of choice, bringing services like 
micro-banking, telemedicine and fast sharing of information in local 
languages to communities, no matter how isolated.

  “Provided it is available to all and affordable for all, 
broadband-powered applications and content can be a powerful lever for 
achieving Education for All goals. Inclusive, universal and equitable 
broadband roll-out can be a tremendous accelerator for development and 
growth – one way to build Knowledge Societies and to share the wealth of 
the world’s cultural, linguistic and scientific resources,”  said UNESCO 
Director-General Irina Bokova.

“However, access to broadband is only one part of the picture – 
developing human capacity is absolutely vital, to ensure that 
individuals have the skills to make the most of new technologies,” she 
added. “This means education, it means media literacy, it means ensuring 
that all marginalized groups are included. All actors – national, 
international, private and public – must work together to these ends. 
The case for this has been made. Now we must make it happen.”

The report makes a strong case for broadband as a driver of economic 
growth and new jobs, citing country case studies and reports by leading 
consultancies that point to increased employment opportunities, higher 
labour productivity and a strong stimulus to GDP. In low and middle 
income countries, for example, the report cites World Bank figures 
indicating a boost of 1.38 additional percentage points to GDP growth 
for every 10-percentage point increase in broadband penetration – and 
effect more pronounced than any other telecommunication service.

“History has witnessed many ‘declarations of independence’. But in 
today’s interconnected world we might propose a new ‘Declaration of 
Inter-dependence’ – a recognition that the economic welfare of each 
individual country increasingly depends on access to the rest of the 
world through broadband Internet,” said ITU Secretary-General Dr 
Hamadoun Touré. “This new Broadband Commission report indicates that 
improvements in broadband penetration directly correlate to improvements 
in GDP. Basically, the more available and cheaper broadband access is, 
the better for a country’s economy and growth prospects.”

Offering much more than faster access to web pages, broadband networks 
are a crucial element of the ‘Internet of Things’, by which ordinary 
inanimate objects communicate with one another using technologies like 
RFID, without the need for human intervention. Such networks are already 
revolutionizing inventory control and fleet management, and are set to 
play a growing role in key social sectors like healthcare, through 
e-health applications, education, through remote learning and teacher 
training, and environmental management through applications like smart 
grids, monitoring systems and smart buildings.

The cost of broadband remains a problem in many nations. Recent ITU 
figures show that while in the top 21 most wired countries, broadband 
access costs less than 1% of an average monthly salary, in the least 
wired nations – which include the world’s poorest countries – access to 
broadband can cost double an entire month’s salary or more. That 
prohibitive pricing means that while advanced markets enjoy broadband 
penetration of over 30%, most of the world struggles with 5% penetration 
or less.

*Prices falling, but most of the world remains unconnected*

Positive findings released by ITU last week show that, on average, 
consumers are paying 50% less for high-speed Internet connections than 
they were two years ago. However, this fall is mainly due to price 
decreases in developing countries, with steep declines often reflecting 
the extremely high cost of broadband in the developing world.

The top countries with the cheapest broadband prices relative to average 
national monthly income are all high-income economies: Monaco, Macau 
(China), Liechtenstein, the US and Austria. Customers in 31 countries – 
all of them highly industrialized nations – pay only the equivalent of 
1% or less of average monthly GNI per capita for an entry-level 
broadband connection.

At the other end of the scale, in 19 countries, a broadband connection 
costs more than 100% of monthly GNI per capita. And in a handful of 
developing countries the monthly price of a fast Internet connection is 
still more than ten times monthly average income.

Despite encouraging trends, Africa continues to stand out for its 
relatively high prices. Fixed broadband Internet access in particular 
remains prohibitively high, and, across the region as a whole, still 
represented almost three times the monthly average per capita income. 
Only one out of ten people in Africa is using the Internet.

*About the Broadband Commission for Digital Development:*

The Broadband Commission for Digital Development was established in 2010 
by UNESCO and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), with the 
support of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to promote the 
adoption of broadband-friendly practice and policies. It is chaired 
jointly by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Carlos Slim Hélu, 
Honorary Lifetime Chairman of Grupo Carso. UNESCO Director-General Irina 
Bokova and ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré serve as vice chairs. 
They are joined by top-level figures fromgovernment, industry and 
international agencies, as well as those concerned with the content that 
will be delivered through broadband networks, from education to 
entertainment.

*About UNESCO*

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is 
a specialized agency of the United Nations. Established in 1946, UNESCO 
works for world peace and international understanding through its key 
programme areas: education, natural and social sciences, culture, and 
communication and information.

UNESCO aims to create the conditions for dialogue and cooperation 
between the peoples of the world, based upon commonly shared values and 
respect for individual civilizations and cultures. Through diverse and 
extensive strategies and projects, UNESCO is actively pursuing the 
Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the Millennium 
Development Goals, placing particular emphasis on initiatives which 
focus on eradicating poverty and promoting human rights; achieving 
universal primary education and eliminating gender disparity in 
education; helping countries to implement national strategies for 
sustainable development; preserving tangible and intangible cultural 
heritage and halting the loss of environmental resources. Promoting 
activities and mobilizing resources in favour of Africa is also a 
priority of the Organization.

Through its standard-setting action, UNESCO works towards universal 
agreements on the ethical, normative and intellectual issues of our time.

*About ITU*

ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and 
communication technology. For over 145 years, ITU has coordinated the 
shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoted international 
cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, worked to improve 
communication infrastructure in the developing world, and established 
the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast 
range of communications systems. From broadband networks to 
new-generation wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime 
navigation, radio astronomy, satellite-based meteorology and converging 
fixed-mobile phone, Internet and broadcasting technologies, ITU is 
committed to connecting the world.

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