A study done by the Gartner Group in May 1999 estimated that about 80% of the total cost of setting up an electronic commerce service is labor (application development, customization, integration, security consultants and training). One of the goals of the ECDC project is to reduce the cost of setting up and running the electronic commerce infrastructure and services by:

• making use of available infrastructure,
• providing technical assistance in the design, development and implementation phases and
• an intensive training program (destined for IT professionals) for building local capacity necessary for implementing, running and maintaining the electronic commerce services provided by the ECDC center.

The public and/or private sector of the host country normally fund ECDC projects, at least in part. ITU coordinates the execution and together with its partners, provides technical assistance responsible for reducing the implementation cost. The actual financial requirements for setting an ECDC center can only be determined after the results of a feasibility study. The information you provide will facilitate this feasibility study and speed up the process of establishing the cost of implementing this service.

Provide information on how the project would be funded. Funding could be provided by the businesses interested in participating in the project, the public sector, investors, the local telecom operator or ISP that will provide this service.