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Broadband Manifesto champions transformative power of
high-speed networks to drive socio-economic development
Broadband a vital element of new sustainable development goals
Geneva, 26 November 2013 – Broadband infrastructure,
applications and services have become critical to driving growth, delivering
social services, improving environmental management, and transforming people’s
lives, according to a new
Manifesto released today by the
Broadband Commission for
Digital Development and signed by 48 members of the Commission,
along with other prominent figures from industry, civil society and the UN
family.
“Overcoming the digital divide makes sense not only on the basis of
principles of fairness and justice; connecting the world makes sound commercial
sense,” the Manifesto reads. “The vital role of broadband needs to be
acknowledged at the core of any post-2015 sustainable development framework, to
ensure that all countries – developed and developing alike – are empowered to
participate in the global digital economy.”
Signatories to the Manifesto include Commission Co-Chairs President Paul
Kagame of Rwanda and business magnate Carlos Slim, co-Vice Chairs Dr Hamadoun I.
Touré, ITU Secretary-General, and Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General, along
with prominent members of the Commission including European Commission
Vice-President Neelie Kroes, business leaders including Anne Bouverot
(Director-General, GSMA), Michel Combes (CEO, Alcatel-Lucent), Sunil Bharti
Mittal (CEO, Bharti Airtel), Denis O’Brien (CEO, Digicel), Hans Vestberg (CEO,
Ericsson), and Sun Yafang (Chairwoman, Huawei), UN heads of agency including
Kathy Calvin (CEO, UN Foundation), Helen Clark (Administrator, UNDP) and
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (Executive Director, UN Women), and prominent technology
advocates including Academy-Award winning actor Geena Davis, Mo Ibrahim
(Chairman, Mo Ibrahim Foundation), Youssou N’Dour (musician and Minister for
Tourism & Leisure, Senegal), Jeffrey Sachs (Special Adviser to the UN
Secretary-General for the Millennium Development Goals & Director, Earth
Institute, Columbia University), Muhammad Yunus (Founder, Grameen Bank and Nobel
Laureate), and many others.
The Manifesto will be presented at a side event of the 5th session of the
United Nations Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, to be held
at UN headquarters in New York later today. It follows on the heels of a new
report,
Transformational Solutions for 2015 and Beyond,
which was prepared by a Broadband Commission Task Force and launched at the 8th
meeting of the Commission on 21 September 2013.
ITU figures released last month show mobile broadband over
smartphones and tablets has become the fastest growing segment of the global ICT
market. By end 2013 ITU estimates there will be 6.8 billion total
mobile-cellular subscriptions – almost as many as there are people on the planet
– and 2.7 billion people connected to the Internet.
Meanwhile, mobile broadband connections over 3G and 3G+ networks are growing
at an average annual rate of 40 per cent. Almost 50 per cent of all people
worldwide are now covered by a 3G network.
“ITU research clearly shows that governments are prioritizing ICTs as a major
lever of socio-economic growth,” said ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I.
Touré. “Now, as we strive to define a new model for sustainable global
development, we need to identify ways to enable all countries to deploy the
networks and services that will help lift them out of poverty.”
In the four years between 2008-2012, fixed-broadband prices fell by 82 per
cent overall, from 115.1 per cent of average monthly income per capita in 2008
to 22.1 per cent in 2012. The biggest drop occurred in developing countries,
where fixed-broadband prices fell by 30 per cent year on year between 2008 and
2011. The
global broadband affordability target set in 2011 by the Broadband
Commission aims to bring the cost of entry-level broadband service
to less than 5% of average monthly income.
ITU research shows that while the number of households with Internet access
is increasing in all world regions, large differences persist. Penetration rates
at end 2013 are set to reach 80 per cent in the developed world, compared with
under 30 per cent in the developing world. An estimated 1.1 billion households
worldwide are still not connected to the Internet; 90 per cent of these are in
the developing world.
Follow the Broadband Commission on Twitter at: @UNBBcom
For more information, please contact:
Sarah Parkes
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information
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Gary Fowlie
Head, ITU Liaison Office, NY
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