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| photo credit: ITU/V. Martin |
| Arriving at the summit (left to right): ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré; President of Kyrgyzstan Kurmanbek Bakiyev; President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev; President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko; President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon, and President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan |
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As part of its Connect the World series, ITU organized
a Connect CIS Summit in Minsk, Belarus,
on 26–27 November 2009. It brought together
some 350 participants from the Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) and neighbouring countries,
including five Heads of State from Armenia,
Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, as
well as representatives of government, industry and
financial and development institutions. The summit
was hosted by President of Belarus Alexander
Lukashenko, and was preceded by a ministerial
meeting on 25 November.
In his message to the summit, United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that “unequal
access to information and communication technologies
(ICT) impedes productivity and innovation”. This
directly affects efforts to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals, he added, and so “we want to
enhance digital opportunities for all, and find new
ways for these remarkable technologies to advance
economic and social development.”
Noting that “it is now time to turn words into action,”
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré said
that “this can only happen through a renewed commitment
to partnership — in particular partnerships
between the public and private sectors. It can only happen if policy and regulatory frameworks are conducive
to doing business profitably. And it can only
happen with the political will on the part of governments
to make ICT a key priority in their development
agendas.”
The summit was organized in partnership with,
among others, the Regional Commonwealth in
the Field of Communications; the Commonwealth
of Independent States Executive Committee; the
World Bank; the European Bank for Reconstruction
and Development; the European Investment Bank;
the Islamic Development Bank; the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe, and the United
Nations Global Alliance for ICT and Development.
Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid, Director of ITU’s
Telecommunication Development Bureau, spoke
about the increasingly important
role of broadband Internet
access for the overall economy.
He said “broadband is no longer
a luxury. It has become the core
infrastructure of the modern
economy, which is needed to
support advanced applications
and services for governments,
businesses and consumers. If
we take the right steps together
now, broadband networks will
serve as a platform in the coming
years for innovation, growth
and development across the CIS
region.”
The Director of ITU’s
Radiocommunication Bureau
Valery Timofeev focused on
the transition to digital broadcasting,
which will “revolutionize
communication in the CIS
region and set the stage for a
rich digital dividend,” and it is very important that a
smooth switchover takes place. “Digital broadcasting
media enables high quality delivery of multimedia
applications such as films, books and data, while
using less radio-frequency spectrum,” Mr Timofeev
commented.
Investing in ICT
The Connect CIS Summit offered a venue for exchanging
ideas and forging new partnerships, with
the aim of mobilizing the human, financial and technical
resources needed to support the region’s transition
to digital infrastructure and services.
The opening plenary session considered the impact
of the recent global financial crisis and the role of
ICT in supporting a recovery
and generating long-term
growth. Broadband access to
the Internet is one of the most
powerful ways to achieve this.
Most CIS countries have opened
their markets, and incumbent
operators and new entrants
have invested in Internet protocol
(IP)-enabled next-generation
networks (NGN). However, advanced
services, such as fixed
broadband Internet access and
third-generation (3G) mobile
telephony, remain limited to
major cities. The summit’s first
panel discussion, on the topic of
“Building a broadband-enabled
future”, examined the status of
broadband infrastructure and
how it could be expanded.
The second high-level panel looked at ways to
foster an enabling environment. It reviewed regulatory
frameworks and considered measures that
could be taken to harmonize them across the region
in order to attract investment. A panel discussion
on “Strengthening public service through ICT”
introduced some of the new applications available over high-speed broadband infrastructure, such as
e-health, online education and e-commerce. In addition,
it examined the issues involved in moving government
services online.
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Igor Shegolev, Minister of Telecom and Mass Communications, Russian
Federation, said that large-scale projects are needed to foster access to ICT. Also, appropriate regulatory frameworks are essential for promoting
broadband |
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Another panel considered some of the essential
ingredients for building a knowledge-based society,
and examined how CIS countries can best build upon
their strength in highly skilled personnel. It also examined
how broadband connectivity for schools
not only promotes ICT literacy and provides a platform
for lifelong training, but also means that
schools can be used as ICT centres for their surrounding
communities. ITU’s Connect a School, Connect
a Community initiative was particularly noted in this
context, as well as the ITU Academy that promotes
specialist training.
The risks and challenges associated with the
emerging information society were further topics of
debate, in particular the need to protect data and
privacy online, through such initiatives as the ITUIMPACT
Collaboration on Cybersecurity. Also, a session
was held on the issues and the timetable for CIS
countries in moving from analogue to digital broadcasting.
And participants considered ways to use
the “digital dividend” of radio-frequency spectrum
that will be released when analogue broadcasting is
discontinued.
Commitment to the future
A number of partners announced commitments
to various initiatives during the Connect CIS Summit. These included implementing the Transnational
Eurasian Information Super Highway project, as described
by Azerbaijan’s Minister of Communications
and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov. The Super
Highway is expected to help supply 20 countries of
the region with high-speed Internet access and telecommunication
systems.
A joint venture in Belarus will develop national
mobile payment systems based on wireless telecommunication
networks. Skylogic (part of the EUTELSAT
Group), offers broadband Internet access via small
and inexpensive bi-directional satellite dishes, known
as “Tooway”. It said that, with a new satellite (KASAT)
to be launched at the end of 2010, higher-speed
services can be provided to consumers in Eastern
Europe at no extra cost, helping to bridge the digital
divide for residents of rural areas especially.
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Jan Kubis, Executive Secretary,
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), said it has several ICT-related activities in the region. Infrastructure, content
and connectivity are vital for achieving an inclusive information society, he added |
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Declaration of support
At a special session, the participating Heads of
State and Government outlined their vision and full
support for the Connect CIS initiative. And the summit
as a whole issued the Connect CIS Declaration,
stating a “common desire to build an inclusive and
development-oriented information society, where
people can achieve their full potential and improve
their quality of life.”
Recognizing “the important contribution of ICT
in stimulating economic growth, employment and
broader sustainable development in the region,” as
well as “the essential role of governments in devising national e-strategies and establishing an enabling
policy and regulatory framework to foster ICT investment,”
CIS leaders reaffirmed their commitment
to achieving the goals of the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS). To this end, the declaration
calls on partners from the telecommunication
and ICT sector, development banks and financial institutions,
international and regional organizations
and civil society, “to mobilize human, financial and
technical resources” for initiatives in the CIS region.
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Viktor Buruya, Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus, said his country is building on the foundations for the information society laid down at WSIS, and significant efforts are being made to create an enabling environment in Belarus |
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A look at the region’s statistics
On the occasion of the Connect CIS Summit,
a report was issued by ITU entitled “Information
Society Statistical Profiles 2009: Commonwealth of
Independent States”. This describes how, over the
past decade, key ICT services have increased throughout
the region. Every year between 2003 and 2008,
the number of fixed telephone lines, Internet users
and mobile phone subscriptions grew twice as fast
as the world average. At the end of 2008, the CIS region
stood out as having the world’s second highest mobile penetration rate at 113 for every 100 inhabitants,
just behind Europe at 116 (see Figure 1).
However, when it comes to fixed access to broadband
Internet services, the region has a penetration
rate of just 4.6 per cent, and 0.9 per cent for mobile
broadband, on average. This covers a wide disparity
among countries, but, overall, it remains a major
challenge to bring the benefits of broadband to more
people, especially in rural areas.
The report suggests that policies targeted towards
the development of the ICT sector are crucial
for encouraging the adoption of ICT in the region.
In many countries the market is still dominated by
incumbent operators that have not yet expanded
broadband services beyond major cities. However, the picture is changing with an increase in deregulation,
the emergence of competitors and a strong
demand for high-speed Internet services. Mobile
technologies and services are expected to help overcome
the broadband divide, particularly in areas with
limited fixed line infrastructure
A number of recommendations are made in
the report on ways to accelerate the expansion of
Internet access and broadband in the CIS region. It
concludes that policy makers and regulators have a
major role to play in providing an environment that
supports the successful development of the market
and which attracts operators and investors.
The report is available in English and Russian at www.itu.int/publ/D-IND-RPM.CIS-2009/en
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| photo credit: ITU/V. Martin |
| Pictured at the close of the summit are (left to right): Sami Al Basheer, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau; Nurudin Mukhitdinov, Director General, Regional Commonwealth in the Field of the
Communications; ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré; Nikolai Pantelei, Minister of Communications and
Informatization, Belarus, and Valery Timofeev, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau |
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