Forum Summit
Panel Session: Innovating Together: Connectivity That Matters
Talking points
Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Director, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau
14:15-15:30, Room 1
Session overview
Connectivity is central to development throughout the world, producing a direct, positive and measurable impact on economies and benefiting lives across every sector of society. Ensuring universal access to high-speed Internet, and the services, applications and products it enables, is essential. But it is not enough. To be meaningful, connectivity must be affordable, fit-for-purpose and relevant to local contexts, supported by digital literacy and skills, and accessible to the digitally disenfranchised such as those in rural and remote areas. What innovative solutions, hybrid technology mixes and cross-sector partnerships can drive universal access? How can innovative regulatory approaches, government initiatives or incentives, and industry models impact on increasing meaningful connectivity? Can we nurture a culture of responsible innovation, rather than innovation for innovation's sake? How can we work together to bring about meaningful, inclusive and relevant connectivity that improves lives everywhere?
Q1: How can all stakeholders work together to bring about meaningful, inclusive and relevant connectivity that improves lives everywhere? What is ITU's work to promote meaningful connectivity? What is the importance of having all stakeholders around the table?
I think this concept of 'meaningful connectivity' is absolutely critical. It is a key focus of the 2019 edition of the State of Broadband report, which will be launched by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development in New York in two weeks' time.
At ITU, we are proud that 2018 marked the milestone where half the world has online access.
This is a remarkable achievement when we remember that back at ITU Telecom 95, almost 25 years ago, the Internet reached about 0.3% of the global population.
As a technology, nothing has ever rivalled the popularity of the Internet. It took 125 years to reach one billion fixed telephone subscribers. It took around 15 years for the Internet to pass the one billion mark. Mobile Internet has been even faster: 3G took 10 years to reach 1 billion subscriptions; 4G took less than six. Some are forecasting one billion 5G subscriptions in less than five years.
However, as we all know, statistics can conceal as much as they reveal. When we measure connectivity, we are not comparing apples with apples. Millions of people who we count as 'connected' are NOT connected in the way you or I are connected.
Instead, they struggle with laboriously slow connections, frequent drop-outs, and web pages too data-heavy to load.
This is NOT meaningful connectivity. It is better than nothing, but we must not pretend that a trickle from the kitchen tap is the same as a power shower.
Getting the remaining 3.7 billion online is important.
But just as important is ensuring that those who ARE online have access to the bandwidth today's interfaces demand, so that they are empowered to use the net in a productive way.
That's going to mean looking at:
- new ways to optimize mobile spectrum
- new ways of sharing infrastructure
- new ways to promote public-private sector collaboration.
If there is one certainty in this fast moving industry, it is that the next 10 years are going demand an unprecedented level of cooperation. Governments and regulators need to be more open to creative private sector partnership models. And the private sector needs to recognize that simply crushing the competition is no longer the name of the game – that promoting a core level of meaningful connectivity is ultimately good for EVERYONE.
There's now a strong move towards a 'Whole of Government' approach to digital strategy. We might go further and advocate for a 'Whole of Society' approach to building of tomorrow's digitally-empowered world – a vision that is inclusive of ALL stakeholders. It's time to stop dictating to people what they need, and to LISTEN to what they want.
Q2: What innovative solutions, hybrid technology mixes and cross-sector partnerships can drive universal access? What are the key initiatives ITU is promoting to fulfill the SDGs?
I'm not sure we can talk anymore about 'solutions'. There are no easy solutions to the connectivity challenge. I think we recognize now that there are, instead, many components of a complex structure, and that all of these are essential to building the digitally-empowered 'future we want'.
Getting the infrastructure in place is clearly one component. There are no services without networks. ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau works very closely with the ICT regulatory community to help policymakers create frameworks conducive to inclusivity and growth. Fresh new approaches like 'regulatory sandboxes' can help formulate innovative and effective strategies that break the old mindsets that can hold us back.
At the same time, we provide tools to help governments design and evaluate network roll-out strategies – for example, our new 'SDG Digital Investment Framework' report and our 'ICT Infrastructure Business Planning Toolkit', which look at lower-cost hybrid models and a more holistic approach that breaks down the silos that are limiting the impact of our digital transformation.
Networks and services are, of course, of no benefit if people are not empowered to use them. Since I took office in January my own Bureau has been strengthening its focus on digital skills development , through inclusive global training initiatives like our Centres of Excellence and ITU Academy, and through the important work of the Skills Coalition of the EQUALS Global Partnership for digital gender equality, which I helped found back in 2016. And this week at Telecom we'll be launching an exciting new digital skills initiative with a leading private sector player.
Promoting digital innovation in the developing world is also a key driver of ICT growth at the local level. Tomorrow, our Innovation unit will be presenting the winners of our annual global ICT Innovation Challenge here at Telecom, and I hope many of you will join me there to celebrate these young ICT champions.
ITU is also working to promote digital inclusion for people with disabilities and marginalized communities, is helping build trust and confidence in ICT networks through global cybersecurity programmes designed to build the capacity in developing countries and emerging economies, and is very active in multi-stakeholder partnerships around e-health, smart cities and e-agriculture.
For example, in Papua New Guinea we recently led a pilot e-agriculture initiative to help livestock and citrus farmers leverage mobile technology to improve animal husbandry and crop management. The success of this trial will now help us scale up e-applications for local small-holders in other countries.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let's not forget the importance of involving the voice of youth as we work towards building tomorrow's ICT ecosystems.
People under the age of 25 now make up 42% of the global population. Youth are the most prolific users of technology, and will reap the rewards – or bear the brunt – of the decisions we make today about the shape of our digital future. They are a vital presence at the table.
The next 10 years are going to be absolutely crucial. In its recommendations to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation recommended a new Global Commitment for Digital Cooperation based on a multi-stakeholder “systems" approach that is adaptive, agile, inclusive and fit-for-purpose.
As the UN specialized agency for ICTs, ITU will continue to serve as the torch-bearer for the UN system in developing and broadening cross-sectoral collaboration.
