World Telecommunication Day 1999 |
Although much of the population in heavily indebted poor countries still lives in poverty, and there continues to be a considerable communications gap between rich and poor nations, almost every emerging society has made it a priority to participate in the global information society.
In fact, very few parts of the world, including rural regions in developing countries, are immune to the impact of the technology that has created the information society.
The pan-European FRIENDS (Farming and Rural Information Expertise and News Dissemination Service) project, for example, resulted in the design of a comprehensive Internet-based information site for remote agricultural communities in Greece.
The objective was not only to create a dedicated electronic information system, but also to include a range of services offered by rural organizations and local cooperatives throughout the country. FRIENDS achieved these goals by collecting and editing a wide range of agriculturally relevant information - ranging from weather patterns to agricultural events - and channeling it to over 1,000 farmers, agribusinesses and agricultural institutions.
Other ''telesystems'' provide rural areas and developing countries with electronic access to everything from sophisticated medical diagnosis to on-line education and opportunities for electronic commerce. The Mediterranean Institute of Teleactivity (IMeT) - founded by a number of research institutes in the Sophia Antipolis science park in the South of France - promotes the introduction of various teleservices, especially teleducation and telemedicine (and the increasingly popular field of teleradiology) to countries throughout the Mediterranean basin, including Tunisia and other North African nations. Côte d'Azur Agency for Economic Development (www.cad.fr), the regional economic development agency for the French Riviera, has over the last 15 years been a key agent in promoting high-tech industries and services in the area, including telecommunications, biotechnology, health care and multimedia.
The ITU has been very active in bringing together the different partners involved in telemedicine solutions. It has implemented pilot projects in selected developing countries as part of a strategy to use information technology to help health professionals solve some of the most acute health care problems in developing and emerging economies. It has helped several countries, including Mozambique, Malta, Georgia and Burma, put together telemedicine facilities to serve as test beds for other developing countries interested in using telecommunications to extend and improve access to health-care services for their population.
There are also dedicated Internet sites aimed at inspiring development in specific emerging markets. The Mbendi AfroPaedia Web site (www.mbendi.co.za), for example, is a virtual encyclopedia of business and commercial information, with sections dealing with African news, employment, trading and tenders. Its objective is to assist companies and businesspeople around the world in doing business in and with Africa.
In addition, many companies advertise their products and services in the MBendi AfroPaedia in order to reach the tens of thousands of investors, traders and other businesspeople around the world who use the site to research African business opportunities.
The electronic village, of course, provides on-line information for virtually everyone, from multinational businesses and emerging entrepreneurs to telemedical specialists. A variety of Web sites, for example, now deal with the legal issues surrounding health information systems and computerized decision-support technologies. The International Telemedicine Center provides telemedicine consulting services, project support and expertise.
On-line activity often enables some emerging markets to benefit off-line. The information society, for example, has also allowed call centers and telemarketing services to locate where labor costs are low.
''We are providing Internet firms with a low-cost operating facility for call centers and other teledistance services,'' explains George Aboagye, chief executive of the Ghana Free Zones Board. ''We are looking forward to a wave of companies in the information technology, telemarketing and service sectors setting up in our free zones because our labor costs are so low.''
The electronic global village has even helped Egypt carve out an additional niche as a Mediterranean conference center. ''It is easy to get top cyberspeakers to come to Cairo and Egyptian resort areas because of the country's traditional tourist attractions,'' says Tarek Kamel, secretary of the Internet Society of Egypt, which has played host to Cainet, the nation's Internet conference and exhibition. ''Despite virtual reality, Egypt often still looks better off-line and in real time.''
Joel Stratte-McClure