Universal Access to Information & Communication Technology in the Asia Pacific Region The Asia and Pacific Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Telecommunication Development Conference Bali, Indonesia, 25 to 27 April 2001 9/18/2001 1
Topics Asia Pacific Digital Divide! Measurement! Reasons Initiatives to enhance access! National! Regional! International 2
Some definitions Access to ICT! Physical ownership / availability! Affordability! Skills There will always be segments of any society that will not want to avail themselves of technology In essence, the real difference between the info-poor and the info-rich is the inequality of physical and financial access to ICT and in the actual usage of sources of information in a particular society. Source: www.nitc.org.my/resources/accessequity.pdf 3
ICT Gap in the Asia-Pacific Asia-Pacific. Per 100 people. January 2000. 60 50 40 30 20 x10 55.1 Developing Developed x24 43.0 Difference between developed and developing x28 22.5 10 0 5.3 1.8 0.8 Telephones Mobile Internet Note: Developed refers to Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Hongkong SAR, Korea (Rep.), Singapore and Taiwan-China; developing are all others. Source: ITU. 4
ICT Gap within countries Internet penetration in Malaysian states, 2000 KL Selangor Penang Melaka MALAYSIA Johor Sarawak Negeri Sembilan Perak Kedah / Perlis Pahang Terengganu Sabah Kelantan 11.3% 8.9% 5.9% 4.6% 4.4% 3.7% 3.2% 2.7% 2.0% 1.4% 1.1% 0.9% 0.5% 19.2% Source: ITU adapted from NITC. 5
Obstacles to bridging the Digital Divide 25% 20% N. America Europe S. America Africa Asia-Pacific 15% 10% 5% 0% Protectionism Corruption Infrastructure Language Bureaucracy Poverty Culture Source: Global Information Infrastructure Commission 6
Income barrier Internet Penetration 100.0% R 2 = 0.6884 10.0% 1.0% 0.1% 1'000 10'000 100'000 GDP per capita 7
Tariff barrier Thirty hours of Internet access, October 2000, US$ Kiribati Maldives Cambodia New Caledonia Solomon Japan PNG ASIA-PACIFIC Indonesia Guam Lao P.D.R. Fiji Nepal New Zealand Malaysia Singapore ISP Telephone $0 $50 $100 $150 $200 Source: ITU 8
Socio-cultural barrier Singapore. Never use Internet (by language). 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% English only Chinese only Malay only English & Chinese Source: ITU adapted from CABSAT/NETWATCH. 9
National policies National ICT plans Liberalization PC ownership subsidies Universal access Skills development Digital legislation Local content 10
National ICT Plans Elevate ICT to top of agenda Specify policies and actions that are relevant to country Roadmap 11
Liberalization Open up infrastructure and services market Allow full service operators Liberalization of the VSAT market in Nepal has led to a sharp drop of Internet tariffs and consequent rise in users 12
Personal Computer (PC) Ownership Reduce or eliminate tariffs on PCs Provide incentives for purchasing PCs! Republic of Korea! Singapore! Malaysia 13
Universal access: Diversity of models 14
Skills development Most effective way of developing ICT skills is to wire schools ICT human resource requirements Private sector 15
Digital legislation Acceptance of electronic forms Security, confidence Crime, copyright Convergence 16
Local content: Pondicherry, India Knowledge Centre staff at Embalam village explaining use of RealAudio Weather reports Fish stocks Entitlement, nutrition, job, women databases Agricultural info Entertainment 17
Regional initiatives APT AII - Asia-Pacific Summit on the Information Society e-asean e-apec 18
Global Initiatives G-8 DOT Force UNDP Digital Opportunity Initiative 19
Next Steps What should ITU Development Sector role be in reducing the Digital Divide? 20
What does Digital Divide Mean? Asia-Pacific Africa S. America Business Opportunity ICT Access Developed-Developing Urban-Rural Europe N. America 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Percentage of Responses by Region 21
Needed Public Policy 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% N. America Europe S. America Africa Asia-Pacific 22 Percentage of Responses by Region Independent Regulator Privatization Deregulation Open Investment Policies Basic Education IT Skills-Building Consumer Protection Rules Open Access Mandates
Digital Bridge Applications 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% Electronic Commerce Distance Education Telemedicine E-Government 0% 23 Percentage of Responses by Region N. America S. America Europe Africa Asia-Pacific
Who Should Bridge the Digital Divide? 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% 24 Private Sector Government Foreign Aid Development Organizations NGOs Civil Society Philanthropy Percentage of Responses by Region N. America Europe S. America Africa Asia-Pacific