There's good news in the article below. This is quite a new path for the ITU! I am shocked, but pleased.
The solution to universal access... is to provide universal low-cost access to a minimum set of basic IP communications applications. As my book "Politics and E-Mexico: An Appeal for Universal Connectivity" explained (the latest edition is still available by MS Word free of charge), the minimum basic applications necessary include (1) VoIP, (2) a global payments system, (3) voice/text mail, (4) hosting, (5) browsing and (6) web computing. Item 1 eliminates the greatest continuing weakness in communications, which is voice service. Reduce or eliminate the cost for voice service and you reduce the overall cost for the whole basket of communications needs. This eliminates for those already affording a marginal adoption of IP communications the need to select between the use of basic applications due to costs. It creates a strong local impetus for participation in a community VPN portal. Community services offered through a VPN portal will enhance community cohesiveness, democracy, cultural identity and keep resources within the community. Item's 2 and 3 eliminate the need by those economically challenged to actually own an access device to participate in telephony and the electronic fulfillment (payment) necessary for a basic level of participation in e-commerce. Access devices should also be authenticated and verified the same way individuals use ID's. This allows the device to be loaned without fear of loss. Items 4, 5 and 6 reduce the cost for community development in many ways. State governments should lead a movement to provide e-government to their citizens. Communities must be provided an impetus for IP adoption that can come only if we recognize that the greatest level of communication is between those within a community. State government must therefore lead by becoming the anchor for community adoption, similar to the way leading department stores anchor shopping malls, providing online to both citizen or business and government (1) access to information, (2) document delivery and (3) payments. I strongly recommend state governments accept to become issuers or co-issuers of individual and business ID's (not to be confused with the suggested access device ID). There are several reasons for this, many relating to community and cultural concepts, but the greatest may be in governance. When a state government anchors a "community" network, utilizing document delivery and payment mechanism (e-government) applications, it places itself in a far better position to accept new responsibilities reassigned from the federal level. Federal governments within most developing nations have too centralized a control over their population and economy. The greatest reason for our inability to conquer the divide is due a failure to delineate which basic IP applications are universally required. The second greatest cause for failure is the lack of foresight and participation in IP adoption activities by communities... and their governments. Federal government is the third greatest cause. They must allow a proliferation of networks and assign spectrum for use by non-profit organizations. Although having personally argued the case with multi-laterals, federal governments, NGO's and ICT's, this is the first time in five years I've seen any substantive discussion aimed at resolving the divide... save that offered by the WEF report submitted at the G8 Okinawa conference, "Sustaining Growth and Bridging the Digital Divides." The report mysteriously disappeared after ICT incumbents began funding NGO's and cooperating with multi-laterals. I would suggest that we all become involved in this particular effort, that must inevitably lead to more networks. It can still be mucked up... incumbents are on the loose. And other ICT's are nervous to take any step that might be construed by their largest customers, the telecom incumbents, as a lack of support. As an example, I can't even remember the number of times I talked with Cisco, some discussions instigated by me and others by them. At the last moment they backed out of supporting us after a promise to do so. It wasn't a money issue. They simply didn't want to antogonize the Mexican federal government or the telecom incumbents, both having made other plans for the future of (limited) communications. Sony and others told me no less. In fact, most of my colleagues would very much have enjoyed being part of the (literally) hundreds of discussions in which I participated over the last four years. Rarely did a discussion keep within the time allotted. My initial meeting with Sun was scheduled for an hour... four hours passed before we rose from the conference table. And this was only the first of many discussions with Sun. The responses I received from Microsoft, Apple, Sony, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Dell, Lotus, Sun, Cisco, Juniper, Compaq, Motorola, Ericcson, Nokia, Intel, Skytel, Ingram-Micro, Terra, Oracle, and many others, were quite telling. In fact, this is what prompted me to write my book and distribute it without charge to more than 4,000 decision-makers worldwide. Having read this article I feel vindicated. I wonder where and how their ideas developed? Not really. With this ITU announcement, I'm doubtful my further involvement is needed. It appears the message has finally been received. I would add a final proviso. Incumbents have nothing to fear from an increase in networks. Sole-provider networks were for too many reasons a ridiculous dream. Incumbents will learn they need to specialize in one or another of the more than six webs that will reside on the Internet (described in my book)... they don't need oligarchic control over all communications applications to make an unwordly profit. Better still, a sustainable process that provides impetus for community adoption of IP communications will familiarize the average citizen and make him/her a potential customer for the webs offered by incumbents. Alan Levy Mexico, D.F. [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------- Major offensive called for by ITU Secretary-General to connect every village before 2005 Istanbul, 18 March 2002 - The 2002 World Telecommunication Development Conference opened today with over 1000 delegates from around the world including 30 Ministers and 50 representatives of regulatory agencies converging on the Istanbul Conference and Exhibition Centre. The Conference was opened by ITU Secretary-General, Yoshio Utsumi, in the presence of the President of the Republic of Turkey, the Minister of Transport and Communications of Turkey and several other dignitaries including the Governor of Istanbul, Mr Erol �akir, the President of the Telecommunication Authority of Turkey, Mr Fatih Mehmet Yurdal and Mr Sel�uk Coskun, Deputy Under Secretary of Transport and Communications. "My message today is that the telecommunications sector must take urgent steps to bring basic telecommunications to all the world's inhabitants" Mr Utsumi told participants. "We must take a fresh look at our policies, and modify them to fast-track our objectives" he said. "As we review our programmes and their implementation, we should do some honest introspection and ask ourselves whether the telecoms fraternity has been working to bridge the digital divide, or is it unwittingly and systematically contributing to widening the divide", he added. Mr Utsumi recalled that many initiatives had been taken to bridge the digital divide: from the Maitland Commission more than 15 years ago to the G8 DotForce and the UN ICT Task Force. "There is no time to discuss again, in yet another committee, the reasons mired in a deep bureaucratic maze which prevents us from providing basic telecoms to the inhabitants of the world," he said, adding, "the need of the hour is to launch an offensive, on a war footing, to make sure that every village in the World is connected before the World Summit on the Information Society". He called on the public and private sectors to be driven by their common objectives rather than divided by their different views on how to achieve these goals and urged both sectors to harness their respective strengths to reap the benefits for the populace. Also speaking at the Opening Ceremony, Doctor Oktay Vural, Minister of Transport and Communications of Turkey said that the widening inequities in access to information and technology between industrialized and developing nations could be a source of tension. "To reap both the economic and social benefits of technological progress and to improve people's quality of life, the Information Society must be based on the principles of equal opportunities, participation and integration of all, Dr. Vural said. "This can only happen if everybody has access to at least a basic set of the new services and applications offered by the Information Society", he said. He urged the United Nations, the ITU and the wealthy nations, in particular the G-8 countries, to be more sensitive over these issues and to allocate more funds narrow the digital divide, expressing the hope that the World Telecommunication Development Conference would be a significant milestone in the process of bridging the digital divide for a better and peaceful world. The President of Turkey, His Excellency Mr Ahmet Necdet Sezer, delivered the keynote. "One of the main challenges the new telecommunication technologies create" he told delegates, "is that only certain countries and circles possess these technologies while the other countries are not benefiting from the information society and the opportunities it brings. To mitigate the negative impacts of these differences" he said, "developing countries should pursue policies enhancing access to telecommunication services and policies at affordable price. He also stressed the importance of initiatives aimed at bridging the digital divide and the role of this conference in doing so. "My country sees this conference as an opportunity to be used in order to start cooperation towards the solving of problems between the governments, non-governmental organizations and the other actors of the economy," he said. The Conference also held its first Plenary session at which it elected Mr Fatih Yurdal, Chairman of the Turkish Telecommunication Authority as Chairman of the Conference. Mr Yurdal will be assisted by six vice-chairmen (United Kingdom, United States, Russia, Tunisia, Burkina Faso and India). Chairmen and Vice-chairmen of the various committees were also elected (see <itu.int/newsroom/wtdc2002/Structure.html> for details). At the plenary, Mr Hamadoun Toure, Director of the Telecommunication Development Bureau - ITU's development arm - reviewed the major components of the Valetta Action Plan adopted four years ago at Valetta (Malta) and detailed achievements in its implementation. He also identified the challenges to be addressed by this Conference, charting the way for the discussions. World Telecommunication Development Conferences are held every four years to map out ways to bolster telecommunication development worldwide. They establish ICT development priorities, strategies and Action Plans for the future with special emphasis on the expansion and modernization of networks, the mobilization of resources and regulatory reform needed to boost telecommunication penetration and access in the world's poorer countries. Special session on the Digital Divide The Special Session on Bridging the Digital Divide showed that there was a common understanding on the definition of the digital divide. Opening the Special Session on Bridging the Digital Divide, Oktay Vural, Minister of Transport and Communications of Turkey, noted that public policy has begun to pay attention to providing Internet access and the corresponding skills on a broad base worldwide. In the context of bridging the digital divide, he felt the telecommunications community should address the issues of the financial divide, the knowledge divide as well as the confidence divide. At international level, four elements in the digital divide should be taken into account: education, electricity, governance and culture. In remarks that followed, ITU was recognized as the leader in various activities, such as raising efficiency of limited resources like the radio spectrum, and was also seen as keeping in step with the huge transformation in technologies. While it has done much to bridge the digital divide, ITU could become more involved and become a focal point for information about digital divide initiatives. The digital divide should not be accepted as an irreversible marginalization of the knowledge "have nots". The digital divide could be seen as a cloud with a silver lining. Bridging it could be the means to, for example, create new jobs and improve transparency of government services. The digital divide must be dealt with from the perspective of globalization with a view to promoting the concerted development of the world telecom industry. With will, more importantly, political will, intractable obstacles could be overcome. Multilateral institutions have a role to play in creating a balance in access to Internet at a reasonable price. There were calls for a concerted information strategy, based on applications like tele-health and tele-education. Rural areas suffered from lack of reliable, modern equipment and the problem of isolation. ITU was asked to continue its work in technical assistance to ensure sustainable development, while also adapting solutions to the living conditions and fostering the conditions connectivity to be made more widespread. ITU should help to strengthen national regulatory bodies, but at the same time, remove the regulatory underbrush that hampers investment inflows. Many speakers also raised concerns and hopes about the development of Internet content. Multiple cultures and languages require that every country take effective measures to gradually redress the imbalance in the Internet content and making the Internet a more accommodating space culturally. International organizations also had a role to play in bringing about "digital justice" or "digital equity" through strengthening regional initiatives, enhancing cooperation between developing countries and through "government push". International cooperation also needs to be strengthened to combat cybercrime in all forms, in a bid to protect and preserve the security of the network and information. Among the various concrete proposals to combat the digital divide were proposals to include digital broadcasting in the agenda of the Istanbul Action Plan, deploy digital radios with computers and enters in projects intended to bridge the digital divide; and promote the creation of local content to drive development agendas. On a national level, community awareness, educational empowerment, development of professional skills were other means to transform the 2Ds (digital divide) into 3As (awareness, access and affordability). Provision of Public Infocentres at schools, libraries and other locations were a favoured solution. It was also suggested that industry contribute a common corpus similar to a National Universal Service Fund. ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
