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CONCLUSIONS
The
Arab Region Internet and Telecom Summit, organized by the International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) and hosted by the Oman Telecommunications
Company (OmanTel), took place in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman from 28 –
30 May 2001. There were 85 participants from ten countries. Mohammed
Nasser Al-Harthy, Acting Director General, Coordination and
International Services of OmanTel and Khalil Aburizik from the ITU
Regional Office in Cairo made introductory remarks. The summit programme
and documents are available at: www.itu.int/arabinternet2001.
The
following are the main conclusions:
1)
Internet penetration of 2.2 per cent in the Arab region is ranked low, at less than half the world
average of 5.2 per cent and increased effort is needed to catch up.
2)
There is a shortage of Arabic language content and Internet
applications relevant to the region’s existing and potential users.
Development of relevant content should be one of the region’s top
priorities.
3)
The cost of Internet access and usage charges plus the associated
investment in home PCs are prohibitive relative to average salary levels
prevailing in the region and need to be reduced to encourage Internet
services usage.
4)
Increased public access (e.g., Multi-Purpose Community
Telecenters) is an important means for widening the Internet user base.
5)
Operators need scalable solutions with sufficient real-time
bandwidth to cost effectively migrate from circuit-switched to
packet-switched networks and to evolve from pure transporters of
information to providers of revenue generating, value-added services in
line with their customers’ needs.
6)
There is a shortage of reliable, up-to-date Internet market
information on the region that in turn limits analysis of Internet
development.
7)
Despite their significant role in ICT, women Internet users are
under-represented in the region and their potential (e.g., for tele-working
from home) needs to be further developed.
8)
With mobile telephone users surpassing fixed telephone users,
mobile subscribers outnumbering Internet subscribers by ten to one and
more mobile handsets than PCs, mobile Internet access and associated
services such as messaging can be key
Internet drivers in the Arab region.
9)
Governments need to take an active role as Internet facilitators
in the region through the establishment of national ICT plans including
local services industry development, training, communications
infrastructure development and the promotion/pioneering of ICT
applications and legislation through model laws, e-government,
e-procurement etc.
Penetration
With
an Internet penetration of 2.2 per cent, the Arab region ranks low
compared to other regions in the world and it has less than half of the
world average of 5.2 per cent. These figures suggest that there is
considerable room for improvement. Even though Internet penetration in
the region is relatively low, it is growing rapidly. The number of users
has been doubling in the last few years and at the end of 2000 the Arab
Internet market was estimated to have over two million users. However,
because of the late introduction of the Internet to the region, good
growth is not enough and increased efforts are needed to catch up.
Content
A
lack of Arabic content and relevant applications limits expansion of the
Internet in the region. In Lebanon, for example, none of the main ISP
portals provide content in Arabic, which limits Internet access to those
who speak English or French. It was also noted that most Arabs online
use chat or email and there is a shortage of content, such as
educational applications. Therefore, providing relevant content in the
Arab language should be one of the region’s top priorities. The ITU
has announced its intention to expand its
e-learning activities and initiatives within the Arab Region but
support from within the region is needed to adapt the existing course
materials to specific needs and to translate it into Arabic.
The
discussion showed an overall agreement that although Arabic needs to be
promoted, other second languages, especially English, are important for
the development of the Internet. Enhanced training in English would
allow more Arabs to make use of already available content. It is equally
important to increase the number of Arab speaking software developers
who understand English and then develop programs in their own language.
Language
must be adapted to content. Whereas e-government applications should be
developed in Arabic, tourism web sites might be more relevant in English
and other languages.
Some
government officials in the region still tend to be protective of
information and reluctant to make it publicly available online, fearing
that they may lose influence or that the information could be false or
misleading. There was a consensus that governments not only need to
promote the use of the Internet but also need to get online themselves
and provide useful applications for their citizens, such as e-government
and e-procurement.
Costs
Although
Internet access prices in the region have been dropping, they still
constitute a major barrier to higher Internet penetration. It is
important to note that telephone usage tariffs constitute a significant
portion of overall Internet access charges in many countries. Several
countries have recently reduced Internet access prices by introducing
free ISP services or by lowering telephone usage charges when accessing
the Internet. For example, in Jordan, telephone usage charges have been
reduced for dial-up Internet access. In Lebanon some banks provide free
Internet access to their customers, which has led other ISPs to
dramatically lower their prices. The proven success of mobile pre-paid
cards suggests that pre-paid access should be extended to Internet
services. Another barrier is the relatively high cost of Personal
Computers (PCs). In Oman, OmanTel is planning to facilitate the purchase
of PCs via installment payments and thus allow more people to have home
access.
Public Access
Public
access is an important means for widening Internet access, especially
where home access is limited. For example, a majority of Internet users
in Morocco access the Internet from cybercafés. In Jordan, it is often
cheaper to use a cybercafé than to access the Internet from home. There
are a number of initiatives and ideas to enhance public access. In Yemen
telephone call centers have been very successful and
could be expanded to also provide Internet access. In the UAE,
the number of Internet Surfing Centers (ISCs) has increased since
licensing was liberalized and the ISCs are now charged by the number of
PCs they have rather than a flat rate. The importance of a
community-based approach to public access was emphasized. The Egyptian
experience with Multipurpose Community Telecenters (MCTs) was
highlighted. The MCTs provide technical and technological support to
users and an enabling environment for the creation of local information
content.
Several
participants, however, noted that cybercafés might actually discourage
Internet use because of poor quality, such as slow speed. Regulators
should make more of an effort to monitor Internet quality of service.
Technology
Telecom
operators face the challenge of transitioning from circuit-switched to
packet-switched networks and to evolve from pure transporters of
information to providers of revenue-generating, value-added services to
meet their customers’ needs. Growing Internet traffic is placing a
burden on the existing network and adding to its management complexity.
The timing of migration to IP-based networks for developing countries is
an important question. The high cost of investment and initial low
revenue stream were cited as major concerns. Another issue is the risk
of duplicate infrastructure and idle capacity. Solutions proposed
included hybrid networks that off-load Internet dial-up traffic from the
Public Switched Telephone Network at key points. Scalable solutions may
also help minimize excess capacity. Operators need to identify their
clients’ needs and market new services effectively. While the core
network is rarely a bottleneck when devices with high broadband capacity
and real-time, sensitive protocols are available, the problem is with
the access network, due to the prevalence of dial-up at slow speed.
Various broadband access solutions such as ADSL, cable modem and fixed
wireless were mentioned.
Data Collection
There
is a shortage of reliable, up-to-date Internet market information on the
region. Existing data such as that collected by the ITU is annual but
more frequent statistics (e.g., monthly or quarterly) are needed, given
that the Internet market changes so rapidly. It was also mentioned that
it is difficult to obtain consistent figures, with different
organizations (e.g., regulator, operator, ISP) within a country
providing different data. ISPs are sometimes reluctant to provide
information because of commercial concerns. Another problem is that
while the number of Internet subscribers is a fairly comparable figure,
there appears to be little consistency about what multiplier to use to
estimate the number of users. Few market research organizations or
national statistical agencies conduct surveys on Internet use in the
region. As a result there is a shortage of methodologically sound data
on the number of users, their place of access, their composition, time
spent on the Internet, web sites visited, etc. This limits analysis of
Internet development in the region.
It
was suggested that the ITU, along with other partners such as ESCWA,
coordinate data collection for the region. This would include measures
to expand the number of Internet indicators collected and making them
available more frequently. One idea would be to bring national
statistical agencies and telecom regulators together to collect Internet
indicators.
Gender
Women
Internet users are underrepresented in the Arab region. One reason is
that the region has a relatively large discrepancy in literacy between
males and females. If the Internet is to expand, this major group of
potential users needs to be brought online. Despite the
statistics—which some participants challenged as misleading—there
are examples where women are significantly involved in ICT. There are,
for example, more women than men in the Egyptian software industry. The
potential of tele-working for utilizing the untapped skills of women at
home is immense (e.g., translation, etc.).
Mobile Internet
Mobile
telephony is growing rapidly in the region. The number of mobile
telephone users in the Arab region will surpass fixed telephone
subscribers in the next few years. Mobile subscribers already outnumber
Internet subscribers by ten to one and there are more mobile handsets
than PCs. Bringing these mobile users online through mobile Internet
access could significantly increase the number of Internet users in the
region. SMS is a good precursor for mobile Internet use but in some
countries the high cost of sending SMS messages is limiting its use. As
in other parts of the world, awareness continues to be a problem and
some users are not aware that they have a WAP-enabled handset and the
possibilities it offers. Concerning the future of mobile technologies,
some worry that 4G mobile may replace 3G even before the latter
launches. The cost of installing a 3G network was also cited as a
concern.
Policy
There
are a number of policy, regulatory and related cultural barriers that
inhibit the use of the Internet in the region. It was mentioned that the
region tends to be reactive rather than proactive. In the area of
e-commerce, for instance, it was only when developed countries started
talking about copyright protection that the region began to react to it.
Arab Internet users are young, on average seven years younger than users
in other developing countries, and therefore have little influence on
Internet policy. Top-level support is crucial for promoting Internet
initiatives and the role of the government is to act as a facilitator.
For example, the e-Dinar
electronic money project in Tunisia has had top-level support from the
President. Governmental projects in Egypt have been significant for
connecting different sectors of the economy to the Internet. Ministries
of Communications by themselves are often not strong enough to exert the
needed influence on Internet policy, which tends to require top-level
governmental support and a national and coherent plan for ICT
development. For example, Egypt was able to obtain significant
concessions from an IT company once the government became involved. The
importance of local champions was also mentioned. An example of this is
doctors promoting Internet health applications.
Concern
about access to sensitive content has in some countries restricted the
provision of international Internet connectivity to one provider. This
has had a detrimental affect on pricing and quality because of a lack of
competition. There are other solutions to restrict access to sensitive
sites, such as industry self-regulation, family-friendly Internet access
plans and filtering software. Although some 80 per cent of the world
market allows IP telephony, many countries in the Arab region restrict
the availability of VoIP and other new services because of concerns
about the impact that these services may have on the incumbent service
provider. These restrictions essentially hinder the development of
cheaper and often more sophisticated applications.
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