REACHING THE UNREACHED - TOWARDS ACCESSIBILITY FOR ALL
ITU'S ROLE IN EXPANDING TELECOMMUNICATIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Access to high-speed telecommunication networks will be the economic lifeblood of the emerging Information Age, just as access to capital and labour were crucial to the national economies of the industrial era. Converging technologies, their rapid rate of change and their importance in the development of the economic, social and financial sectors, are opening up new opportunity. At the same time, these changes pose fresh challenges — especially to those in the developing world who have been shut out of the digital revolution and the promise it holds.

As the pace of the technological revolution increases, so does the digital divide. Of the one billion fixed telephone lines installed throughout the world, over 50 percent are found in the 29 richest countries, even though they only account for 15 percent of the world's population. Only ten percent of the world's population are Internet users but 72 percent of these live in developed countries.

All is not doom and gloom however. Developing countries are entering the Information Age - by adopting technologies most suitable to their needs and environment. Developing countries have witnessed remarkable advances in the more widespread use of mobile phones where growth is now far outstripping that of fixed lines: between 1993 and 2002, the number of mobile users in developing nations soared from 3 million to over 500 million. The number of mobile subscribers now exceeds fixed-lines in developing nations. The developing world presents the highest potential for growth in infrastructure, services, applications and revenue.

Equitable, sustainable deployment of affordable ICT networks and services

Through its development arm (the Telecommunication Development Bureau) established in 1989, ITU is helping developing countries to bridge the digital divide, by promoting the mobilization of people, funding and technology to developing countries in ways that make sense in these countries.

ITU development activities focus on six principal areas, as determined most recently by the Istanbul Action Plan, adopted at the 2002 World Telecommunication Development Conference. These are:

• Regulatory Reform
• Technologies and Telecommunication Network Development
• E-strategies and Applications
• Economics and Finance including Cost and Tariff programme
• Human Capacity Building
• The Special Programme for the least developed countries (LDCs)

In addition, two cross-cutting activities to support the six programmes — statistics and information on ICTs and partnerships and promotion — are critical to the sustainability of ICT development. In driving forward the Istanbul Action Plan, ITU is helping developing countries to promote the equitable and sustainable deployment of affordable ICT networks and services.

Regulatory reform

ITU is an authoritative voice on — and plays a leadership role in — issues associated with policy, regulation and network readiness. ITU identifies and analyzes world trends in telecommunication reform and helps member states in reforming their telecommunication policies and regulations.

ITU publishes an annual survey of the telecommunication regulatory community, organizes workshops and seminars, produces publications and products related to telecom regulation and continually monitors the industry.

The ITU leadership role in this area has become more critical than ever against a rapidly changing industry characterized by changes in operator ownership and the opening of previously protected domestic markets. Governments look for counsel and support from ITU as they move to reform their telecommunications legislation or create new regulatory agencies.

Technologies and telecommunication network development

ITU has been bringing broadcast, mobile, telephone, fax, Internet, e-mail, distance-learning and telemedicine to remote villages of developing countries around the world by providing help with planning, operation, upgrading, extension and management of wired and wireless networks and services.

For example, in the migration from pre-IMT-2000 to third generation IMT-2000 networks, ITU provides a framework of objectives, background information and guidelines to help policy makers, regulators and operators develop strategies. ITU increases awareness of issues and provides the knowledge to enable decision makers, including mobile operators, service providers and regulators, to select options and strategies for the smooth implementation of IMT-2000 systems throughout the world.

ITU helps regulators in developing countries to set up a regulatory and legal framework which minimizes network deployment costs while maximizing network coverage and other social service and applications. It works with policy makers, regulators and operators to increase awareness and knowledge of the principles involved in, and requirements of convergence of fixed and mobile networks to bridge the digital divide in the developing countries.

The development of multipurpose community telecentres (MCT) makes it possible for teachers to run educational software on personal computers or access online libraries. Local administrators can access information on basic social services such as water supply or infrastructure and local entrepreneurs can use the telecentre for normal office services. ITU, with the help of partners including local communities, governments and private sector, have deployed MCTs across Africa, Asia and the Americas. Since 1998, it has also effectively integrated gender issues into the development process, and all projects take women into account in the operation of telecentres and help establish women-run and owned telecentres.

ITU-initiated telemedicine projects are helping extend vital medical services to remote and underprivileged areas through pilot programmes in Asia, Africa, CIS and the Americas. Telemedicine enables the exchange of medical information, video conferencing and distance consultation. Since 1998, ITU has implemented a large number of telemedicine projects, again in partnership with different stakeholders. ITU has for example helped Mozambique in implementing a tele-radiology link connecting two hospitals more than 1 000 km distant.

ITU has also helped in preparing the groundwork for large-scale deployment of telemedicine and tele-education services in India, Kenya and Morocco to serve as a launch pad for applying similar approaches elsewhere.

E-nabling Industry and government through E-strategies

By bringing together governments, the private sector and international organizations, ITU has created a framework in developing countries for projects in e-government, e-agriculture, e-commerce, e-health and e-learning. These projects establish security and confidence in the use of public networks and create conditions for affordable access to ICTs.

ITU is implementing projects to deliver secure e-government, e-commerce and digital certification solutions in 8 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas.

As part of the ITU e-strategies programme, training in security and trust technologies are underway in Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Pakistan, Peru and Senegal and governments in Georgia, Cameroon, Rwanda and Paraguay benefit from ITU help in creating efficiencies in government services through e-government projects. A 3 500 member strong association of African women entrepreneurs (ASAFE) is using ICTs to create new business models and increase revenues. Rural farmers in the Tokmok region of Kyrgyzstan will for the first time use Internet technologies for enhancing their agricultural activities, while students in Timbouctou in Mali are now able to leverage the potential of Internet to communicate worldwide thereby accessing a wide range of information through the ITU Internet@school project.

Through its World E-Trust initiative, ITU has created the framework to bring together partners to enable the development and deployment of highly secure infrastructure and applications for e-services in developing countries. More than 20 leading IT companies, with more than US$12 million in contributions, have begun developing low-cost, secure solutions for e-applications. Deployed in October 2001, the initiative is considered by International Security Review as the largest e-business project in the world with over 100 developing countries interested in participating. Operational infrastructure projects are currently underway in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Arab States. Twelve additional countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas are scheduled to be operational by the end of 2003.

Formulating economic and financial strategies

ITU helps Member States put into place mechanisms designed to promote private investment where public investment has become unlikely and to implement appropriate public or private-public partnership funding mechanisms where appropriate. ITU helps Members to identify success factors, and how these can provide service at equitable, affordable and cost-orientated prices.

In addition, as technologies and general conditions of trade in telecommunication/ICT services are rapidly evolving, Members have expressed the need to have access to information on these services' economic impact, and to guidelines that help maximize opportunities and minimize drawbacks.

The work undertaken by ITU in the areas of radiocommunication and standard-setting inevitably has a significant impact on the work in telecommunication development. The Telecommunication Development Bureau increasingly plays an active role in raising awareness of this impact by developing and implementing appropriate activities that complement efforts undertaken by the other two sectors of ITU (the Radiocommunication Sector and the Telecommunication Standardization Sector).

ITU provides counsel and a wealth of information to help member states formulate financial strategies as they navigate the maze of cost and tariff mechanisms in telecommunications. It develops publications and reports on costs and tariffs and organizes training workshop on the use of ITU software for calculating telephone service costs, tariffs, and interconnection charges (COSITU). ITU members also have access to the databases on financing institutions and on tariff policies as well as to the widely respected and much anticipated reports on trends in economics and finance. Such intelligence information produced by ITU for its Members has proved to be extremely useful tools in the context of public-private sector partnership.

In addition, ITU provides direct assistance to country regulators in areas such as revising reserves applications, establishing universal access criteria and assessing international services. In this context it prepares in-depth Country Case Studies at the request of member states that can be used to identify and rectify operational, technical and policy issues.

Expanding human capacity through training

ITU provides training in developing countries on telecommunication policy, regulation, management and advanced telecommunication technology. This is done via regional centres, online education, distance learning and IP technology training either alone or in partnership with public and private partners in existing institutions, while co-sharing the sponsorship of trainees from developing countries.

The ITU Centres of Excellence serve as regional focal points for professional development, research and information and offer training to high-level decision-makers in the telecommunications industry. They also provide consultancy services to the government and private sector. Building on the existing experience and infrastructure in each region, ITU has created six Centres of Excellence in Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Arab Region and Europe/CIS. More than 1 500 top and middle managers have been trained during 2002 on regulatory issues, spectrum management, technology awareness and business management.

To promote continuous online education, ITU provides academic degrees through the Global Telecommunication University (GTU) and short-term courses through the Global Telecommunication Training Institute.

The ITU e-Learning Centre uses ICTs to deliver distance education and training in human resource management and telecommunications. The e-Learning Centre has a library offering training information, a resource centre with extensive information on databases as well as the means to organize actual, virtual and distance learning courses. In 2002, 30 percent of the 94 courses conducted were delivered online.

Partnering with the public and private sectors, the Internet Training Centres Initiative (ITCI) has established more than 50 training centres worldwide within existing training/educational institutions. These centres provide students with access to affordable and relevant training on IP technologies for the "new economy". To strengthen the Internet skills within the staff of national telecommunication operators, ITU encourages centres to develop partnership arrangements with the operators.

The Special Programme for the least developed countries

ITU helps integrate the world's 49 most marginalized countries into the global telecommunication network through its special Programme for Least Developed Countries. Most of these countries have very poor telecommunication networks resulting in teledensities below 1 per 100 inhabitants. They have very low per capita incomes and suffer from long-term constraints to growth as a result of human resource and severe infrastructure weaknesses. Citizens of such countries are often divided digitally from the rest of the world firstly because they do not have access to information and communication technologies (the majority have not used or even seen a telephone) and secondly because the rural population is often further divided from city dwellers in terms of access and connectivity.

Following a decision made at the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2002, the programme now delivers concentrated assistance to countries over a period of two years starting from 2003. Projects are implemented with 100% funding from the ITU regular budget, ITU TELECOM Surplus Funds¹ and from co-financing arrangements with development partners. Over the past three years, the following countries have benefited from this programme:

2001: Eritrea, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger and Yemen.

2002: Bhutan, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Haiti, Kiribati, Malawi, Mali, and Zambia.

2003: Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Lao P.D.R., Kiribati, Haiti, Central African Republic, Malawi, Mali, Zambia, Somalia, Djibouti, and Uganda.

ITU has provided help to these countries in these priority areas:

• Introducing new technologies and services for network expansion and modernization (with projects focused on migration from circuit-switched telephone networks to Internet Protocol based networks).
• Reforming and restructuring the telecommunication sector to create an environment conducive to increased investment and competition.
• Developing the human resources necessary to ensure sustainability of the management and operation of the telecommunication sector.
• Promoting financing and partnerships as a strategy to attract investment into the sector.

Progress is encouraging and supports the provisions of the Programme of Action, and the Declaration adopted by the Brussels Third United Nations Conference for LDCs that was held in 2001 as mandated by the United Nations General Assembly.

Measuring and monitoring the information society

ITU is recognized as the leading intergovernmental source of telecommunication / ICT statistics. Statistics and analysis explaining trends in ICT development are crucial for benchmarking countries, evaluating e-readiness and making informed national policy, legislation and regulation choices for ICT development. Statistics and analysis form the basis for objective and measurable indicators on the state of the global information economy and society.

Funding and partnerships

ITU undertakes development projects on the basis of their long-term sustainable impact as well as their self-sufficiency in the short to medium term. To fund these, ITU uses internally sourced funding as well as funding from external partnerships.

ITU plays an increasingly important role as a catalyst for forging development partnerships between government and private industry to help bring about improvements in telecommunication infrastructure in the world's developing economies. ITU partners in the private sector include many operators and service providers as well as equipment suppliers, integrators, consulting firms and financial institutions such as Alcatel, Cable & Wireless, Cisco, Detecon, Fastlink, Inmarsat, ITXC, Japan Telecom, Jordan Telecom, Nortel Networks, Rhode and Schwarz, Siemens, Sonatel, Spectrocan, Vodafone.

The excess of income over expenditure arising from the ITU TELECOM events is used as seed funding for ITU development projects. From 1998-2002, ITU earmarked a total of US$16 142 million for its development projects based on ITU TELECOM events funds.

The Surplus Programme provides seed money to attract funds from public and private sector and recipient countries themselves for a wide range of national and regional development projects. ITU undertakes development projects on the basis of their long-term sustainable impact as well as their self-sufficiency in the short to medium term. Projects funded through the Programme are broadly grouped into four key areas: Human Resource Development, Infrastructure Development, Assistance to Countries in Special Needs, and Application of New Technologies.

Another interesting scheme is the ITU YES programme. The Youth Education Scheme or YES was launched to ensure that young people who are interested in pursuing careers as communication policy-makers, business people, lawyers, or engineers will benefit from completing the education they need. In partnership with leading companies such as Alcatel and Vodafone, ITU provides scholarships for young people who demonstrate that they are at the top of their university classes, have great potential for leadership positions and who require financial assistance to complete their degrees.

Extending e-commerce to developing economies has also been a success story resulting from fruitful public-private partnerships. Under the Electronic Commerce for Developing Countries initiative (EC-DC) launched in March 1998, partnership agreements have been established with WISEkey, World Trade Centre Geneva, FUNDANDINA of Venezuela and Goodwin Proctor LLP of the US. Several leading industry partners, including MCI WorldCom, Baltimore Technologies, Network Communication Products, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, Datamatics, Entegrity, Celo Communications, ValiCert, Rainbow Technologies and Vitress, also contributed their technologies and services to the project. This collaboration between ITU and its partners led to the launching of a certification authority and operational projects for digital certification and secure e-transactions in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe.

The EC-DC project allowed firms in developing countries to access secure e-commerce portals through local banks and World Trade Centres, thus providing them with digital certification and secure electronic payment facilities which they would not have had the technical or financial capacity to create themselves.

In Africa for example, ITU has been working with the government of Japan to provide technical and financial assistance to the Association pour le Soutien et l'Appui à la Femme Entrepreneur (ASAFE) based in Cameroon. ASAFE, which groups 3 500 women entrepreneurs in various countries of Western Africa, provides training, research and financing through its Femme Epargne Crédit (women's credit/loan) programme.

In Viet Nam, ITU helped to establish the Viet Nam Electronic Commerce Portal. This project has been implemented in partnership with the Vietnamese Government as part of an effort to establish a Global Electronic Commerce Network for developing countries. Through the portal, users can access the latest trade news from Viet Nam, legal documents, information about that country's businesses and economy, and details about import and export tariffs. The portal also allows Vietnamese firms to receive information about Global Electronic Trading Opportunities through the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's (UNCTAD) Trade Point Development Centre, a service that is particularly useful for small- and medium-sized businesses looking for buyers and sellers abroad.

In total, over 100 countries now have access to an e-business infrastructure, many with operational training and development centres. In addition, several e-commerce portals have been created.

Following the adoption of the Istanbul Action Plan by the World Telecommunication Development Conference in 2002, EC-DC expanded to E-strategies which now also include e-government, e-health, e-agriculture.

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 About ITU

ITU is a world-wide organization which brings governments and industry together to coordinate the establishment and operation of global telecommunication networks and services; it is responsible for standardization, coordination and development of international telecommunications including radiocommunications, as well as the harmonization of national policies.

To fulfil its mission, ITU adopts international regulations and treaties governing all terrestrial and space uses of the frequency spectrum as well as the use of all satellite orbits which serve as a framework for national legislations; it develops standards to foster the interconnection of telecommunication systems on a worldwide scale regardless of the type of technology used; it also fosters the development of telecommunications in developing countries.

ITU also organizes worldwide and regional exhibitions and forums bringing together the most influential representatives of government and the telecommunications industry to exchange ideas, knowledge and technology for the benefit of the global community, and in particular the developing world.