ITU
Broadband Commission marks progress
In a new report, the Broadband Commission for
Digital Development urges governments around
the world to move more quickly to formulate
and implement national multi-sectoral broadband plans – or risk being seriously disadvantaged in today’s increasingly high-speed digital
environment. The report, the second in just one
year of the Commission’s existence, was released on 6 June 2011 at the Commision’s third
meeting, hosted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at its headquarters in Paris.
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré and
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova are
Vice-Chairs of the Broadband Commission.The
Co-Chairs are President of Rwanda Paul Kagame and Carlos Slim Helú, Honorary Lifetime
Chairman of Grupo Carso.
Major new report
Entitled “Broadband: a Platform for Progress”, the
report describes why broadband is so valuable in driving economies and societies forward, how these networks can be created and what services they deliver*.
Significant policy issues are considered too, along with
an overview of the status of broadband around the
world.
The report includes links to more than one hundred
studies that indicate the positive effects of broadband
deployment upon a nation’s gross domestic product
(GDP), as well as on growth in productivity and the creation of jobs.
Cost savings and improvements to the quality of life
are detailed in a chapter on the services that broadband
* The full report and its Executive Summary can be
freely downloaded under the “Outcomes” section at
www.broadbandcommission.org
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The Broadband Commission for Digital Development
Hamadoun I. Touré
ITU Secretary-General
Irina Bokova
UNESCO Director-General
all stakeholders, have potentially huge multiplier effects
that bring benefits to all.
What is important is for all stakeholders to work
together, within a framework that promotes facilitiesbased competition and with policies encouraging service providers to offer access on fair market terms.
“Broadband: a Platform for Progress” details the infrastructure options for these networks, and advocates the
sharing of infrastructure, wherever possible. It also emphasizes that barriers restricting access to networks or
services must be made as low as possible.
Creating knowledge societies
Carlos Slim Helú
Honorary Lifetime Chairman
of Grupo Carso
can deliver, such as e-health, e-education and e-government. The potential impact of broadband on efforts to
tackle vital issues such as climate change are covered in
sections on smart electricity grids, smart cities and smart
communities.
Because of the fundamental nature of broadband
in supporting economies and societies, a trans-sectoral
approach needs to be adopted for expanding networks,
in order to make the best use of resources. The report
stresses that national broadband strategies, involving
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Ms Bokova emphasized the need to create
“Knowledge Societies” that are truly inclusive of all citizens. She explained that UNESCO has identified four key
principles for development of these societies: freedom
of expression; universal access to information; respect
for cultural and linguistic diversity; and high-quality education for all.
“Broadband has a fundamental role in supporting
the achievement of these goals. But for this to happen,
we must transform information into knowledge that
can support individual, social and economic development, including institutional and political transformation,” Ms Bokova said. “It’s all about partnership,” she
added.
Ms Bokova led one of the meeting’s two roundtable
sessions, on broadband and education and specifically
on empowering women and young people in least developed countries (LDCs).
During the discussion, Commissioner Mo Ibrahim,
Founder and Chairman of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation,
pointed to the need to educate people everywhere in
The Broadband Commission for Digital Development
Mo Ibrahim
how to use information and communication technologies themselves. “The real barrier is not infrastructure,
but literacy. The impediment is not wires and switches,”
he said.
Dr Seang-Tae Kim, Broadband Commissioner and
President of the National Information Society Agency,
Republic of Korea, gave the example of very successful
use of e-education in his country. As well as being used
for remote locations, “it has been adopted even within
the regular curriculum in 81.4 per cent of educational
institutions, including nearly 89 per cent of primary
schools,” he said. In total, more than 21 million people
have taken part in digital literacy training programmes
in the Republic of Korea.
Founder and Chairman
of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation
Dr Seang-Tae Kim
President of the National
Information Society Agency,
Republic of Korea
Building networks
The practicalities of funding the deployment of
broadband — especially in developing countries and in
sparsely populated areas — was the topic of a second
roundtable session, moderated by Dr Touré, on broadband business models.
“In many countries there are still too many obstacles in the way of faster and more inclusive deployment
of broadband. In many sectors there is still not a clear
model on how to adopt broadband to improve services
for the benefit of all. In many areas, living conditions are
not getting better, but worse, creating a poverty cycle
that becomes ever-harder to break,” noted Mr Slim.
“We have to look at best practices worldwide and
bring together all the players of digital development:
government and regulators; carriers; suppliers of equipment and devices; application and content developers;
and — most importantly — end users, the people who
stand most to benefit from our work,” he said.
Stephen Conroy
Australia’s Minister for
Broadband, Communications
and the Digital Economy
Commissioner Stephen Conroy, Australia’s Minister
for Broadband, Communications and the Digital
Economy, stressed that, in addition to the private sector, governments have an essential role to play in facilitating the growth of connectivity. “Under the National
Broadband Plan, the Australian government is investing
AUD 37 billion and will be taking advantage of the digital dividend (of newly released radio-frequency spectrum) through auctions and so on,” he said.
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The Broadband Commission for Digital Development
Suvi Lindén
Finland’s Minister of
Communications
During a lively debate, Dr Touré suggested setting
up a Broadband Commission working group on business models. The idea was supported and will be considered further.
Working groups
Jeffrey Sachs
Special Adviser to the United
Nations Secretary-General for
the MDGs and Director of The
Earth Institute at Columbia
University, United States
Adama Samassékou
President of the International
Council of Philosophy and
Human Sciences
Shashi Tharoor
Member of Parliament, India
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The Broadband Commission has already established
eight working groups, each chaired by a Commissioner.
They focus on: climate change; public-private partnerships; health; LDCs; youth; multilingualism; education,
and science. The meeting received reports from each
group on its activities.
Speaking on behalf of the working group on education, for example, Ms Bokova stressed the need to focus
on gender issues and Africa. “Peer-to-peer networks for
both teachers and students could be a valuable tool,”
she said.
The working group on LDCs was cheered by the decision of the UN Conference on LDCs, held in Istanbul
from 9–13 May 2011, to set a goal of 100-per-cent access to the Internet by 2020. Commissioner Suvi Lindén,
Finland’s Minister of Communications, told the meeting
that the working group on public-private partnerships
had discussed connectivity, affordability and availability
of broadband for all countries. “To this we need to add
security as the fourth pillar,” she commented.
Commissioner Jeffrey Sachs reported that the group
on health had discussed two main targets for 2015, the
date for achieving the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs): elimination of transmission of HIV from mother to child; and increasing the number of community
healthcare workers by one million worldwide. As well as
being a Broadband Commissioner, Professor Sachs is a
Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General
AFP/ Robyn Beck
The Broadband Commission for Digital Development
for the MDGs, and Director of The Earth Institute at
Columbia University, United States.
Commissioner Adama Samassékou, President of
the International Council of Philosophy and Human
Sciences (Cipsh), said that the working group on multilingualism for the Internet was studying a proposal and
timetable for a World Summit on Multilingualism, perhaps in 2017. And on behalf of the working group on
youth, Dr Touré explained that the collective vision of
the group had been distilled into five golden rules for
broadband networks and applications: educate according to culture; protect me and my data; create adaptive
legal frameworks; think across borders; and do not limit
access.
Targets for the future
Measuring progress on deploying broadband networks to every community requires clear benchmarks,
related particularly to the achievement of the MDGs.
Commissioner Shashi Tharoor, Member of
Parliament, India, emphasized the need to have concrete numbers. He suggested creating a new global
broadband development index.
Mr Slim noted the importance of digital literacy, and
said measurement of broadband progress “should be
independent of wireline, wireless, or other technology
constraints — what’s important is the quality, the price,
and the availability of access.”
The meeting agreed that the Broadband Commission
should publish targets for launch at its next meeting,
which would take place on 24–25 October in Geneva,
alongside ITU Telecom World 2011.
“Now we must start making a difference where it
really counts: in the homes and the lives of the billions
of underserved people everywhere,” declared Dr Touré
in wrapping up the meeting. “So let’s get to work, and
play our part in creating a bold broadband future!”
All photos in this article are by Danica Bijeljac/UNESCO, unless indicated otherwise.
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