Progress towards Information Society in Asia and the Pacific Region

Transcription

1 Progress towards Information Society in Asia and the Pacific Region Shailendra K. Hajela Consultant [The views expressed in this paper are of the author and do not reflect the opinions of ESCAP, ITU, APT or other organizations referred]

2 Information & Communication Technologies UN has since long recognized ICT as a Tool for Development. UN has encouraged development of strategic partnerships amongst donors, private sector, civil society, working groups and task forces to enhance collaboration throughout the UN system as well as other international and regional organizations; ICT Interagency Working Group (ESCAP, ITU, APT and others) is one such example. In 2000, Economic and Social Council adopted a Ministerial Declaration on the role of ICTs in the context of knowledge based economy. The UNMDGs adopted in 2000 underscored the urgency of ensuring that the benefits of new technologies, especially ICTs, are made available to all. To achieve this goal World Summit on Information Society was planned in two phases aimed at developing the political will and establish the foundation for an information society for all. WSIS Geneva, December 2003, endorsed the Principles and Action Lines and set certain goals. WSIS Tunis November 2005 commitments were made for implementation of Action Plan. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 2

3 Information & Communication Technologies ICTs comprise a complex and diverse set of equipment, applications and services used to produce, process, distribute, transact, and transform information, all based on electronics; Act as Drivers for diverse industries comprising telecommunications (fixed, mobile and Internet), TV and Radio broadcasting, computer H/w and S/w, IT and ITeS, electronic media, entertainment, etc.; Powerful instruments for advancing economic and social development through creation of new online and offline social and economic activities, education and training, health-care and several other services; Innovation and convergence are leading to the creation of Information or Knowledge societies with resulting changes in social interaction, economic and business practices, education, health, leisure and entertainment. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 3

4 Digital Divide Digital divide refers to the differences in resources and capabilities to access and effectively utilize ICTs for development that exist within and between countries, regions, sectors and socio-economic groups. It is manifested by Low levels of access to ICTs, Inadequate network infrastructure keeping ICTs out of reach for the large rural population, Content in local language, affordability, etc. Poverty, general illiteracy, lack of computer literacy and language barriers are among the other factors impeding access to ICT infrastructure, especially in the developing countries. The Gender dimension of the Digital Divide is also a serious issue. Priority areas for intervention from the gender perspective have included sensitization of policy makers for greater awareness of this aspect in the development of national level ICT policies and estrategies aimed at achieving the Millennium Development Goals. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 4

5 Digital Divide Perhaps, the best description of digital divide is that given by the then UN Secretary General at the WSIS in Geneva: The so-called digital divide is actually several gaps in one. There is a technological divide - great gaps in infrastructure. There is a content divide. A lot of web-based information is simply not relevant to the real needs of people. And nearly 70 per cent of the world s websites are in English, at times crowding out local voices and views. There is a gender divide with women and girls enjoying less access to information technology than men and boys. This can be true of rich and poor countries alike. Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General, Statement to the World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva, 10 December 2003 UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 5

6 WSIS GENEVA, December 2003: Major Outcomes Declaration of Principles: Benefits of Information Society to be extended to countries and regions with special attention to LDCS, LLDCs, SIDCs and those vulnerable to threats to development, such as Natural disasters; Agreement on Eleven Action lines for implementation by adopting multistakeholder approach; Common vision and agenda aimed at mainstreaming ICTs for development to achieve UNMDGs; WSIS goals relating to connectivity, school curricula, media coverage, content and access ICTs for over 50% of world population connecting all communities by 2015; UN Secretary General to look into unresolved issues: Internet Governance and Financing. ESCAP s major Contribution: Tokyo WSIS Preparatory Meet and Declaration, and Roadmap towards Information Society in ASP region; TUNIS, November 2005 Concretization and commitment to the Plan of Action, Internet Governance ESCAP s major contribution: ASP Regional Action Plan and Tehran Declaration UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 6

7 WSIS Action lines Progress Review Agencies designated for WSIS Follow-up: Action lines - wise Partnership mechanism set up for Measuring ICT for Development Review of the progress by relevant ICT indicators as per the Regional Action Plan for each Action line ITU ICT Development Index UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 7

8 Agencies designated for WSIS Follow-up С1. The role of public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development Moderators/Facilitators: ECOSOC/ UN Regional Commissions /ITU/ [UN DESA] С2. Information and communication infrastructure Moderators/Facilitators: ITU/[APC] C3. Access to information and knowledge Moderators/Facilitators: ITU/UNESCO/[FAO/UNIDO] C4. Capacity building Moderators/Facilitators: UNDP/UNESCO/ITU/UNCTAD/[UN DESA] /FAO/UNIDO] C5. Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs Moderators/Facilitators: ITU C6. Enabling environment Moderators/Facilitators: ITU/UNDP/UN Regional Commissions/ UNCTAD/ [UNDESA/UNIDO/APC] UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 8

9 Agencies designated for WSIS Follow-up C7. ICT Applications Moderators/Facilitators E-government [UN DESA] /UNDP/ITU E-business WTO/UNCTAD/ITU/UPU E-learning UNESCO/ITU/UNIDO E-health WHO/ITU E-employment ILO/ITU E-environment WHO/WMO/UNEP/UN- Habitat/ ITU/ICAO E-agriculture FAO/ITU E-science UNESCO/ITU/UNCTAD/[WHO] UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 9

10 Agencies designated for WSIS Follow-up C8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content Moderators/Facilitators: UNESCO C9. Media Moderators/Facilitators: UNESCO C10. Ethical dimensions of the Information Society Moderators/Facilitators: UNESCO/ECOSOC/ [WHO/ECPAT Int l] C11. International and regional cooperation Moderators/Facilitators: UN Regional Commissions/ UNDP/ITU/UNESCO/ ECOSOC/ [UN DESA] UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 10

11 Partnership on Measuring ICT Multi-stakeholder partnership launched at UNCTAD XI at Sao Paulo, Brazil, (UNCTAD 2004). Current Members: ITU, UNCTAD, OECD, UIS*, UNECLAC, UNESCWA**, UNESCAP, UNECA***, Eurostat and the World Bank Objectives of the Partnership: To define a common set of core ICT indicators, to be harmonized and agreed upon internationally, that will constitute the basis for a database on ICT statistics; To enhance the capacities of national statistical offices in developing economies and to help them measure the Information Society, based on the core list of indicators, particularly through capacity building and hands-on training of national statistics officers; and Collecting and disseminating Information Society statistics including development of a global report and database of ICT indicators and to make it available via the Internet. *UNESCO s Inst. For Statistics; **UN Economic & Social Commission for West Asia; ***UN Economic Commission for Africa UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 11

12 Core Indicators on ICT Infrastructure and Access The Core list contains four sets of indicators: ICT infrastructure and access Access to, and use of, ICT by households and individuals Use of ICT by businesses, and ICT sector and trade in ICT goods. Development of an ICT infrastructure and access are essential prerequisites for the Information Society that derives its benefits from ICTs. The main stakeholders are people, Businesses and Governments, and therefore, the core list needs to ideally contain indicators on access to and the use of ICTs by them. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 12

13 Economic and Social Impact of ICTs WSIS Action Lines & Goals Supply Side IC T Sector: Ma nufa c turing W hole s a le Trade T e le c om Services C ompute r related services Main Issues: S e c tor Size B us ine s s Performance % growth Inves tment E mployment Innova tion and R&D IC T Infras tructure IC T Applications & Protocols Demand Side Individuals H ous eholds B us ine s s e s Governments Main Issues: IC T E quipment Investment Technology B arriers to use Regulatory & Institutional Framework Economic and Social impact of IC T UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 13

14 Review of Progress on WSIS Action Lines and Goals C1: The role of public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development During the past decade, with multi-stakeholder (public/private/civil socy.) participation in ICT development, Asia and the Pacific region has experienced stupendous growth in ICT uptake. The region has become world leader in terms of the number of fixed plus mobile cellular telephone subscriptions, and broadband Internet access and usage, though the latter is confined to upper middle and high-income economies. At the same time, the region is extremely diverse in terms of income distribution, population size and geographical features of countries, ranging from rugged mountainous areas in the Himalayas to isolated islands in the Pacific. ICT uptake, therefore, also differs considerably among economies in the region and Internet usage penetration rates range from 80 per cent in the more advanced economies to less than one per cent in the region s least developed economies. When it comes to broadband uptake, the region stands out by featuring some of the best connected economies in the world providing broadband access to around 80 per cent of their people at speeds reaching 50 Mbps. On the opposite end of the spectrum, most of the lower middle and lowincome economies have limited Internet access and low broadband development at speeds ranging between 256 kbps and 2 Mbps. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 14

15 Global distribution of Mobile subscribers (Source ITU) UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 15

16 ICT infrastructure and Access to Info. & Knowledge (C2, C3) - ICT Uptake in ASP & the World (Source ITU) UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 16

17 C2, C3: ICT development in ASP: (Source ITU) UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 17

18 Access to ICTs: Growth of Mobile and Fixed lines in ASP (Source ITU) UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 18

19 Countries with the highest net addition of mobile subscription in ASP UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 19

20 Rate of Mobile growth: Global scenario UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 20

21 Mobile phones distribution in ASP countries based on income categorization UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 21

22 ASP Countries with more mobile cellular subscriptions than inhabitants in 2007 UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 22

23 Internet Access UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 23

24 ASP Countries with the highest net additions of Internet users UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 24

25 Internet users in Asia and the Pacific, 2007 UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 25

26 % Households with computers in ASP Economies: 2002 and 2007 UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 26

27 Fixed broadband growth UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 27

28 Mobile broadband subscriptions in Asia and the Pacific, high-income economies 2007 UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 28

29 Mobile broadband subscriptions in lower-middle and upper-middle-income economies of ASP 2007 UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 29

30 ICT Equipment demand UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 30

31 Broadband Speed offered UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 31

32 Action Line C4 Capacity building ICTs are now part of Middle and Secondary schools curricula as a normal practice. ICT based programs have been instituted by public and private organizations and civil society for literacy among adults with emphasis on women; Education and training by employing ICTs as the mode of delivery has become very common and a very large number of institutions in each country are conducting such courses nationally as well as internationally with significant students enrolments making them commercially viable and sustainable; Subregional and Regional Organizations have contributed greatly to capacity building by setting up not only training programs but by setting up Institutions, such as APCICT, APCIT, etc. and Centres of Excellence. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 32

33 C5 Confidence and security in the use of ICTs UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 33

34 Action Line C6 Enabling environment (UNESCAP - Facilitator with ITU/ UNCTAD/ [UNDESA/UNIDO/APC] To create supportive, transparent, pro-competitive and predictable policy, legal and regulatory framework which provides the appropriate incentives to investment and community development in the Information Society: Achieved. Independent Regulators in all ASP countries, some autonomous and some as part of the Ministry, but independent of the Operators. The stable regulatory environment has been instrumental in creating the enabling environment that has resulted in massive investment in the sector and the phenomenal growth of mobile and other services. Full or partial Competition has been introduced in 70% of the countries of ASP region. To participate in international ICT forums and create opportunities for exchange of experience: ESCAP, APT, ITU and others assist the countries to enable exchange of experience. Voluntary self sustaining associations like the South Asian Regulators Council (program administered by APT) and the ASEAN Regulators Council are also examples. To promote government as model users and early adopters of e- commerce: Most of the countries have done so. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 34

35 C7 ICT Applications: benefits in all aspects of life ICT applications in the fields of public administration, business, education, health, employment, environment, agriculture and science within the framework of national e-strategies: ICT applications are pervading the society, whether it is administration, business, education, health, employment, environment, agriculture and science. Many countries have established or planned to establish nationwide ICT networks and setting up Community Information/Telecentres for e-governance and all other e-services by extensive broadband network, such as India s SWAN Project. Besides there are several Partnership, Industry and NGO s initiated projects. To establish monitoring systems to forecast and monitor the impact of natural and man-made disasters, develop and deploy quick alert information disseminating systems, particularly in developing countries, LDCs and small island developing states. These systems have been set up in many countries, but greater awareness and preparedness about actions when a disaster strikes needs to be emphasized through organized efforts and institutional mechanism. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 35

36 C8 Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content To formulate, adopt and implement policies to respect and preserve cultural and linguistic diversity and identity: This is generally commensurate with the political agenda of every country and respective groups ensure their rights. The proliferation of global TV programs are indeed influencing social and cultural behaviour. Indeed we live in a global village! In general, as a result of policy measures adopted by the Governments and the stakeholder participation, there is ever increasing local content available. However, it remains an issue. To increase contribution of ICTs to cultural exchange and interaction at the regional level: Many associations, such as SAARC at the sub-regional level and many other bilateral cultural exchange programs contribute to better understanding of diverse cultures. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 36

37 C-9 Media;C10 Ethical dimension of Information Society Radio and television are still very dependable and useful ICTs for many parts of the world where Internet based ICTs are not yet available or affordable. The indicators for measuring broadcast penetration through conventional ICTs are the number of radio and television sets. Few countries collect the number of these devices and thus most data are estimates. These are derived from sales of sets or estimates based on surveys which ask households whether they have a radio/ television. Some countries with licensing regimes collect data on the number of licenses. This statistic is often used as a proxy for household availability. ICTs pervade Print media TV and Radio broadcasts in all countries. International and regional organizations and the Governments have put in/ are putting in place conventions and laws to curb pornography and other immoral and unethical practices delivered by miscreants through ICTs. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 37

38 C11 International and regional cooperation ESCAP is the Facilitator of this Action Line. We would revert to this topic and present the status after concluding the discussion on measurements of ICTs. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 38

39 New ITU Index to Measure ICT Development - From Indicators to Index To present a holistic picture of the impact of ICT, the ITU has evolved ICT Development Index (IDI) which combines the digital access index (DAI) and ICT Opportunity index. By combining multiple indicators into a single value, the IDI is expected to provide the policy makers to put their countries achievements into context, by benchmarking them to other countries at similar income levels, or with similar geographic, social or regional characteristics. In evolving the ICT Development Index certain key elements were selected from the two indices: From the DAI: Indicators related to households. Indicators related to broadband. Simple and easy to understand methodology and presentation (goalposts). UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 39

40 New ITU Index to Measure ICT Development From the ICT-OI: Indicators related to skills (also included in the DAI). Normalization method (distance to a reference value). Digital divide analysis and methodology (as an application of the IDI). What have been amended in the new ITU Index to measure ICT Development are: The conceptual framework, based on a basic three-stage information society model (Readiness - Use - Impact). The use of principal components analysis (PCA) to eliminate indicators that have less influence on the index calculation. One of the key considerations when developing the index was to include or not a price component that would measure the affordability of ICTs (it was included in the DOI but not in the ICT-OI). Affordability does have impact on access to Internet of households. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 40

41 ITU IDI conceptual framework A useful conceptual framework to describe the process countries are going through in their evolution towards information societies is based on the basic three-stage model: Stage 1: ICT readiness reflecting the level of network infrastructure and access to ICT; Stage 2: ICT intensity reflecting the level of use of ICTs in the society; and Stage 3: ICT impact reflecting the result of efficient and effective ICT use. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 41

42 ITU ICT Development Index (IDI) Framework ITU IC T Development Index F ixe d telephone lines per 100 inhabitants Mobile phone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants Inte rna tiona l internet bandwidth (bits) per internet user P roportion of households with a computer P roportion of households with internet access at home IC T Readiness (Infrastructure & Access) IC T Use (Intensity) Inte rne t use per 100 inhabitants F ixe d broadband internet subscriptions per 100 inhabitants Mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants IC T Capability (S kills to use IC T) A dult Literacy rate S e c onda ry education, gross enrollment rate T e rtiary education, gross enrollment rate UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 42

43 ICT Development Index UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 43

44 Progress on WSIS Goals a. to connect villages with ICTs and establish community Present position access points b. to connect universities, colleges, secondary schools and primary schools with ICTs Achieved except for Primary Schools c. to connect scientific and research centres with ICTs Achieved d. to connect public libraries, cultural centres, museums, post offices and archives with ICTs In progress, likely to be achieved e. to connect health centres and hospitals with ICTs Achieved f. to connect all local and central government departments and establish websites and addresses Achieved to a large extent g. to adapt all primary and secondary school curricula to meet In progress the challenges of the Information Society, taking into account national circumstances h. to ensure that all of the world's population have access to television and radio services Achieved o a large extent through i. to encourage the development of content and to put in place technical conditions in order to facilitate the presence and use of all world languages on the Internet j. to ensure that more than half the world s inhabitants have access to ICTs within their reach terrestrial and satellite In progress, Expected to be reached ahead of schedule. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 44

45 Regional Cooperation Activities of ESCAP ESCAP is the Facilitator of Action Line on Regional cooperation for Asia- Pacific. In line with this mandate and implementation of the outcomes of the WSIS, ESCAP has undertaken several activities, some of which are: From 2004 to 2008, held four meetings of the Interagency Working Group on Information and Communication Technology to discuss the harmonization of programs and initiatives related to the WSIS action lines, with participation from the Regional Office ITU Regional office, APT, and other United Nations Organizations, International/ Regional and Inter-governmental Organizations. Jointly with ITU organized the Internet Protocol (IP) Symposium for Asia and the Pacific in 2005 in Thailand with participants representing governments, intergovernmental organizations and UN agencies to discuss various issues and options for Internet Governance and Internet Protocol in the Asia and Pacific region. Regional Workshop on Follow-up to WSIS and Integration of ICT Policies and Strategies in the Development Process, Bangkok from 29 to 31 May Joint UNCTAD- ITU-UNESCAP Regional Workshop on Information Society Measurements in Asia-Pacific, Bangkok from 26 to 28 July The Workshop was part of the process of identifying an internationally agreed framework of ICT statistical indicators at the global and regional levels. Expert Group Meeting on Regional Cooperation on Follow-up to WSIS and ICT4D, Bangkok from 30 November. to 1 December 2006 UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 45

46 Regional Cooperation Activities of ESCAP (a) a National Seminar on Capacity Building for ICT Policymaking in Azerbaijan, coorganized with the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); (b) Capacity Building Workshop on Information Society Statistics, in Bangkok coorganized with ITU and APT, as part of the ongoing Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development initiative (as mentioned above), and (c) Regional Seminar on Capacity Building for ICT Policymaking in the Central Asia held in Kyrgyzstan, co-organized with UNECE, UNDP and the Soros Foundation. Expert Group Meeting (EGM) entitled WSIS +5 and Emerging Issues in Asia and the Pacific, in November The EGM focused on 1) WSIS+5 regional review, 2) ICT capacity building, 3) ICT and disaster risk reduction and 4) Emerging ICT issues, including food security and ICT access. First Session of the ESCAP Committee on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), to promote regional cooperation towards the implementation of the WSIS. ICT-enabled disaster risk reduction in Asia and the Pacific; the strategy of regional institutions on ICT, including the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT) as well as the Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology (APCTT); ICT for food security and sustainable agriculture in the knowledge economy. APCICT was established in June 2006 as a subsidiary body of ESCAP to build the capacity of members and associate members of ESCAP in the use of ICT for socio-economic development. Promoting the implementation of the WSIS in the region, in particular with regard to the WSIS action line C4, Capacity building, APCTT and APCICT, together with the ESCAP Secretariat, have undertaken a series of activities supporting capacity building. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 46

47 Regional Cooperation Activities of ESCAP APCICT has developed a structured and comprehensive ICT training curriculum entitled Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders, to provide value-added contribution to the member countries and enhance ICT capacity building. ESCAP has also sought to encourage regional cooperation and knowledge sharing through mechanisms such as expert meetings, websites, publications and databases, below are listed some of the recent major ones: In 2008, Consultative Meetings for the Establishment of Regional Knowledge Network of Telecentres were held in Azerbaijan and in Bangkok, culminating in the establishment of the Central Asia Network of Telecentres and the Asia pacific Network of Telecentres. As part of the technical cooperation project Empowering the Rural Area through Community E- centres, a sub-regional workshop was organized in April 2008, in New Delhi, followed by the National Stakeholders' Consultation Workshop on Empowering Rural Areas through Community e-centers" in June 2008 at Dhaka. In the area of disaster management using space technology, a technical cooperation project on space technology applications for development and disaster reduction was conducted in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in March 2008 in Bangkok. This meeting was instrumental in raising awareness among the disaster management authorities on the effectiveness of space technology for disaster management. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 47

48 Regional Cooperation Activities of ESCAP During the First Session of the Committee on Information and Communications Technology (CICT), held in November 2008, representatives from the ESCAP member States discussed the progress made in the implementation of the WSIS in the region and identified priorities for the future work in the region. The priority areas identified included a) providing or enhancing access to ICT in rural areas, b) enhancing ICT access in the Pacific, c) monitoring the WSIS implementation, and d) using ICT for disaster risk reduction. Accordingly, the ESCAP Secretariat would undertake research and analysis on ICT access in rural areas and for the Pacific member States for policy options and recommendations, while facilitating the implementation of the WSIS outcomes at the regional level. In order to provide value-added and high impact ICT capacity building programs to the member states, APCICT will expand its HR capacity development and national rollout of the Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders, among other activities. Public-private partnerships will continue to be pursued, recognizing that the private sector is a main driver of ICT adoption and diffusion, as well as cooperation with international organizations in areas such as ICT for food security and sustainable agriculture and disaster risk reduction which are areas of major concern for the region. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 48

49 Regional Cooperation Activities of ITU ITU has several Projects for implementation in the ASP region as per WTDC (Doha). Among others it is presently implementing: the five regional initiatives developed during WTDC 06 on Telecommunication/ICT Policy and Regulatory Cooperation in the Asia Pacific Region, Rural Communications Infrastructure Development, NGN Planning, Unique Telecommunication/ICT needs of Pacific Islands and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and Strengthening the collaboration between ITU-T and ITU-D. the self sustaining training mechanism in the Asia Pacific region. The network has five fully functional Nodes, which deliver online and face to face specialized training courses in the areas of Spectrum Management (hosted by Ministry of ICT, Iran), Policy & Regulation (hosted by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority), Technology Awareness (hosted by Pusan National University, Rep. of Korea), Business Management (hosted by Ministry of ICT, Thailand), and Rural ICT Development (hosted by Universiti Utara Malaysia). There is a long list of other projects that ITU would be undertaking during as agreed at WTDC (Doha). We would know the details from the companion paper from ITU. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 49

50 Regional Cooperation Activities of APT APT is multi-government organization created in 1979 by ITU and UNESCAP to foster regional cooperation specifically in the field of ICTs. Whereas the Governments are its members, there are also other categories of members for participation of industries. APT engages in all aspects of ICTs ranging from standardization, spectrum management and development. It has four study groups. One of its major activities is to hold preparatory regional meetings for ITU events (WTDC, WRC, etc). APT together with ESCAP and ITU and others form the Interagency Working Group on ICT. These three organizations have well coordinated programmes for providing technical assistance in ICTs through projects, Seminars, Conferences, Meetings, and Workshops. One of APT s major events was the Ministerial Meeting on Broadband and ensuing Broadband agenda in During 2009, among other events, it shall be holding Telecommunication ICT Policy and Regulation Meeting for Pacific, APT Preparatory Meeting for ITU Plenipotentiary Conference and WTDC (PP-10 and WTDC); 2nd APT Conference Preparatory Group Meeting for WRC-11 (APG2011-2); Asia-Pacific Telecommunication and ICT Development Forum (ADF); APT Ministerial Meeting; 11th South Asian Telecommunications Regulators' Council Meeting (SATRC); Regional Meeting on e-government Workshop on Disaster Management The companion paper from APT would provide details on its Regional cooperation program. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 50

51 Emerging Challenges Impact of Economic downturn availability and cost of money for investment is affecting the development of Network infrastructure, NGN, Broadband, etc.; Technological Challenges: Future of Internet Ubiquity IPv4 to IPv6 Migration to NGN, etc Social & Cultural Challenges Consistency and provisioning of service in urban and rural areas; Need for user-friendly, simple and robust technology for encouraging use by all including Home-makers; Potential erosion of local cultures by availability of socially undesirable content on the Internet (including pop-ups), and electronic media s influence on homogenization ( Disney-fication ) of cultures; Misuse of Information: Corporations could buy and control access to vast collection of knowledge and content available and allow access on paid basis making them out of reach of the majority of people in the developing world; Localization of Internationalized products, need for making content available in local languages. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 51

52 Emerging Challenges (contd.) Impact on Environment: Besides electronic waste, energy requirements of ICTs in rural areas relying on diesel-generators create significant carbon emission; need for energy policy and use of low-power consuming ICT equipment in rural areas powered from renewable, alternate sources of energy; Coordination of Sub-regional initiatives aimed at achieving Asian Information Superhighway network; Inadequate ICT Access in the Pacific; Cyber crimes, outside the jurisdiction of a nation call for Treaty/Convention like that in the EU; Disaster monitoring and management systems; sensitization and preparedness for timely and quick actions. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 52

53 Recommendations Public funding support for: Broadband NGN infrastructure Rural Connectivity Reduce carbon emission caused by ICT systems, Energy policy to encourage use of alternate sources of energy and appropriate design of equipment and networks; Coordinate the ongoing sub-regional initiatives to develop Asian Information Superhighway Network (Linking together with suitable OSS, ECO s trans- Asia-Europe Fiber-optic Cable System (TAEFOS), SATRC s initiative on Regional Connectivity, GMS ISN, etc.); Coordinate with UNESCO to develop within the framework of freedom of the press and freedom of expression, the Convention for Media to focus in their telecasts on harmony and curb images, particularly, the horrific acts of terrorism in real time that are undesirable. Coordinate efforts for Cyber Crime Treaty to cover such acts beyond national jurisdiction: example EU s Cyber-Crime Treaty (2002); Using ICTs for Disaster Risk Reduction, enhance awareness and develop rules to ensure preparedness of Disaster monitoring, warning and management systems. Others. UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 53

54 THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION! UNESCAP/EG July09/SKH 54