Strengthening ICT policies and applications to achieve MDGs and WSIS goals in Central Asia and South Asia Sang-yirl Nam, KISDI October 21-22, 2009 UNESCAP 1 CONTENT I. Consensus on ICTs II. Recent development in global ICT sector III. ICT access, use and skills IV. ICT for all in Korea V. Implications 2 1
I. Consensus on ICTs - ICTs are one of the most powerful engines of growth and critical development enablers - It is a global issue to address digital divide by enhancing universal access and utilization of ICT * WSIS and UN MDGs 3 II. Recent development in global ICT sector - ICTs continue to spread throughout the world - More and more people have access to the Internet as well as mobile cellular networks - By the end of 2008, the world had reached over 4 billion mobile cellular subscriptions, 1.3 billion fixed telephone lines, and close to a quarter of the world s population using the Internet. 4 2
II. Recent development in global ICT sector (continue) - Mobile phones have revolutionized telecommunication in the developing countries: an average 49.5% penetration rate at the end of 2008 from close to zero only ten years ago - The number of Internet users has grown at a much slower rate, especially in developing countries; 13 internet users per 100 inhabitants at the end of 2007 5 II. Recent development in global ICT sector (continue) - Fixed Internet access in developing countries is still limited, often slow and/or expensive - Broadband connections are rare and mobile broadband is still insignificant in most developing countries 6 3
III. ICT access, use and skills * ITU (2009), Measuring the Information Society- the ICT Development Index (IDI) three aspects: network infrastructure and access to ICT, use of ICTs in the society, efficient and effective ICT use (skills) compare progress in over 150 countries between 2002 and 2007 - Overall, developed countries in Europe and Korea have primarily gained on the sub-index ICT use with having already fairly good ICT access and top ICT skills in 2002. - Countries with low ICT levels are primarily from the developing world, especially LDCs. 7 III. ICT access, use and skills (continue) - Close relationship between ICT level and income (GDP): a correlation coefficient of 0.91 in 2007. - Over the five-year period, relative change in IDI was similar between developed (36%) and developing countries (38 % increase on average) 8 4
III. ICT access, use and skills (continue) For sub-indices - Huge improvements in the access and use of ICTs worldwide but large disparities remain among countries Developed countries gained highest value on the ICT use sub-index, whereas developing countries made most IDI gains on the access sub-index. - ICT skills: reflecting the nature of the underlying indicators (adult literacy and school enrollment), developing countries have made slightly higher improvements starting from lower levels in 2002. 9 III. ICT access, use and skills (continue) Cost of ICT services * Based on ICT Price Basket relative to GNI per capita: considering fixed telephone prices, mobile cellular prices, and fixed broadband internet prices - High tariffs are practically a major barrier to ICT diffusion and use - The 2008 ICT Price Basket (ITU) value corresponds to from 1.6% in developed countries to 20% in developing countries 10 5
III. ICT access, use and skills (continue) - Fixed telephone tariffs are relatively cheap in most countries, but fixed broadband tariffs are often prohibitive and a major impediment for countries embracing ICTs - Fixed and mobile telephony is becoming more and more affordable worldwide 11 IV. ICT for all in Korea - u-korea: a national information strategy in Korea - Background of introducing u-korea relocation of government offices to rural areas concerns over low growth potential need for differentiation and increased diversity acceleration of low birthrate and aging population to address natural disasters 12 6
IV. ICT for all in Korea (continue) - u-korea's vision and goals: transform Korea into an advanced country based on the u-infrastructure and the green growth in the ICT sector - Five areas: 1. friendly government: to provide customized administrative services 2. intelligent land: to improve the efficiency of the entire country by bringing intelligence into the national infrastructure facilities 13 IV. ICT for all in Korea (continue) 3. regenerative economy: to restore the economy from global economic crisis and create new industries for convergence 4. secure and safe social environment: to make safer living condition based on ubiquitous ICT and real-time responsive system 5. tailored u-life services: to provide more convenient and affluent living conditions based on advanced intelligent system. 14 7
IV. ICT for all in Korea (continue) - At the same time, introducing InVil to address digital divide, especially in rural area * Invil: information network village building project - Aim to address the digital divide between rural and urban regions by increasing availability of e-government services and to increase income levels of local residents by boosting regional economy through e-commerce, eventually to improve the quality of life in rural communities and the balanced national development 15 IV. ICT for all in Korea (continue) - Building broadband internet access, 358 IT centers, and PC distribution to the selected households * Communication network where high-speed Internet can be used with low costs Building Home Internet System: to provide highperformance PC to individual households 16 8
IV. ICT for all in Korea (continue) Establishing Village Information Center: to provide training on information as well as on-line civil affairs services Building Information Contents: to develop information contents with diverse materials collected from public and private agencies in different locations Establishing Management System: to establish InVil Steering Committee for encouraging autonomous management by the residents 17 IV. ICT for all in Korea (continue) - performance of InVil Total participation of 233,540 local residents in 79,279 households in 280 villages (as of 2006). PC distribution increased from 21.0% to 72.1% 18 9
IV. ICT for all in Korea (continue) Internet subscription increased from 8.8% to 66.5% registered members of the main websites has increased to 282,582 (end of 2008, 333% increase from 2004) e-commerce's revenue increased to 9,114 million won (in 2008 from 617 million won in 2003) 19 V. Implications Motivation: awareness and social consensus to develop ICTs, priority setting and resource utilization Guiding role of government policy: ICTs as general purpose technologies or social infrastructure Challenges : such as economic crisis can be utilized as a chance to attain structure change, deregulation, investment in ICT sector (infrastructure, R&D, HRD) 20 10
V. Implications (continue) ICTs for all: contribute not only to narrowing the digital gap as well as development gap between urban and rural areas Global issue: international cooperation to share development experiences and to address digital divide Regional cooperation: identify and prioritize the needs and affordability, balanced resource allocation between addressing digital divide and reducing risks from natural disasters 21 Thank you for your attention! Sang-yirl Nam Director, Center for International Organizations KISDI synam@kisdi.re.kr 22 11