Archived Newsroom • Press Release |
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Bringing broadband to the world’s poorest communities
New Broadband Commission
report advocates catalytic mix of
appropriate technologies,
innovative financing, training and locally relevant content
Paris, 6 June 2011 – Governments around the world need to rapidly
formulate and implement national multi-sectoral broadband plans – or risk being
seriously disadvantaged in today’s increasingly high-speed digital environment,
according to a new report released today by the Broadband Commission for Digital
Development at its third meeting, held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris.
The report, entitled Broadband: A Platform for
Progress, argues: “To optimize the benefits to society, broadband should be
coordinated on a countrywide basis, promoting facilities-based competition and
with policies encouraging service providers to offer access on fair market
terms...efforts should be coordinated across all sectors of industry,
administration and the economy. Developing isolated projects or piecemeal,
duplicated networks is not only inefficient, it delays provision of
infrastructure that is becoming as crucial in the modern world as roads or
electricity supplies.”
The report also makes a strong case for
broadband as a driver of economic growth and new jobs, citing country case
studies and reports by leading consultancies.
One study suggests that in China, for
instance, every 10% increase in broadband penetration could contribute an extra
2.5% to GDP growth. Other data cited in the report suggest that, for low- and
middle-income countries, a 10-percentage-point rise in broadband penetration
could add up to a 1.4-percentage point rise in economic growth.
Concerning jobs, an analysis for the European
Commission estimates that broadband could create more than two million jobs in
Europe by 2015, while a study in Brazil reports that access to broadband has
already added up to 1.4% to the employment growth rate.
Offering much more than faster access to web
pages, broadband networks are a crucial element of the ‘Internet of Things’, by
which ordinary inanimate objects communicate with one another using technologies
like RFID, without the need for human intervention. Such
networks are already revolutionizing inventory control and fleet
management, and are set to play a growing role in key social sectors like
healthcare, through e-health applications, education, through remote learning
and teacher training, and environmental management through applications like
smart grids, monitoring systems and smart buildings.
“History has witnessed many ‘declarations of
independence’. But in today’s interconnected world we might propose a new
‘Declaration of Inter-dependence’ – a recognition that the economic welfare of
each individual country increasingly depends on access to the rest of the world
through broadband Internet,” said ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré. “This
new Broadband Commission report indicates that improvements in broadband
penetration directly correlate to improvements in GDP. Basically, the more
available and cheaper broadband access is, the better for a country’s economy
and growth prospects.”
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova spoke of the
importance of broadband in sharing knowledge and extending education to people
everywhere.
“Provided it is available to
all and affordable for all, broadband-powered applications and content can be a
powerful lever for achieving Education for All goals. Inclusive, universal and
equitable broadband roll-out can be a tremendous accelerator for development and
growth – one way to build Knowledge Societies and to share the wealth of the
world’s cultural, linguistic and scientific resources,” she said.
“Access to broadband is only one part of the
picture – developing human capacity is absolutely vital, to ensure that
individuals have the skills to make the most of new technologies. This means
education, it means media literacy, it means ensuring that all marginalized
groups are included. All actors – national, international, private and public –
must work together to these ends. The case for this has been made. Now we must
make it happen.”
Prices falling, but most of the world remains unconnected
Positive findings
released by ITU on 16 May show that, on average, consumers are paying 50%
less for high-speed Internet connections than they were two years ago. However,
this fall is mainly due to price decreases in developing countries, with steep
declines often reflecting the extremely high cost of broadband in the developing
world.
The top
places with the cheapest broadband prices relative to average national monthly
income are all high-income economies: Monaco, Macau (China), Liechtenstein, the
US and Austria. Customers in 31 countries – all of them highly industrialized
nations – pay only the equivalent of 1% or less of average monthly GNI per
capita for an entry-level broadband connection.
At the
other end of the scale, in 19 countries, a broadband connection costs more than
100% of monthly GNI per capita. And in a handful of developing countries the
monthly price of a fast Internet connection is still more than ten times monthly
average income.
Despite
encouraging trends, Africa continues to stand out for its relatively high
prices. Fixed broadband Internet access in particular remains prohibitively
high, and, across the region as a whole, still represented almost three times
the monthly average per capita income. Only one out of ten people in Africa is
using the Internet.
Download the
full report (199 pages) and
Executive Summary (14 pages).
High-resolution photos of the June 6 meeting are available at:
www.flickr.com/photos/itupictures/sets/72157626772779031/
Follow the Broadband Commission on
Facebook:
www.facebook.com/broadbandcommission
Follow the Broadband Commission on
Twitter:
www.itu.int/twitter
For further information, please contact:
Sarah Parkes
Chief, Media Relations & Public Information, ITU
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Sue Williams
Chief, Media Section, Bureau of Public Information, UNESCO
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About ITU...
About UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialised agency of the United Nations. Established in 1946, UNESCO works for world peace and international understanding through its key programme areas: education, natural and social sciences, culture, and communication and information.
UNESCO aims to create the conditions for dialogue and cooperation between the peoples of the world, based upon commonly shared values and respect for individual civilizations and cultures. Through diverse and extensive strategies and projects, UNESCO is actively pursuing the Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, placing particular emphasis on initiatives which focus on eradicating poverty and promoting human rights; achieving universal primary education and eliminating gender disparity in education; helping countries to implement national strategies for sustainable development; preserving tangible and intangible cultural heritage and halting the loss of environmental resources. Promoting activities and mobilizing resources in favour of Africa is also a priority of the Organization.
Through its standard-setting action, UNESCO works towards universal agreements on the ethical, normative and intellectual issues of our time