| |
 |
| photo credit: Andorra Telecom |
| Participants on the opening day of the meeting |
| |
Delegates from around Europe gathered in the
Principality of Andorra on 1–3 December 2009 to
discuss regional priorities for the development of
information and communication technologies (ICT).
Their conclusions will be presented to the ITU World
Telecommunication Development Conference 2010
(WTDC-10), which takes place from 24 May to 4 June
in Hyderabad, India.
The meeting, held in the capital city of Andorra
La Vella, was chaired by Jaume Salvat Font, CEO
of Andorra Telecom. In opening remarks, Vicenç
Alay Ferrer, the Principality’s Minister of Territorial
Planning, Environment and Agriculture, highlighted
the importance of ICT in job creation and raising the
quality of life. For Andorra, he added, ICT constitute
a very important component of national economic
development, and they must be innovative, affordable
and available to all. Mr Alay promised that
Andorra will continue to contribute to the assistance
and activities that ITU coordinates with the aim of
helping developing countries to deploy ICT and related
services.
ITU Deputy Secretary-General Houlin Zhao noted
that “in spite of the global downturn, ITU has seen
over the last year that our Member States continue
to recognize the essential role that ICT play in all areas
of our daily lives and how important they are for
social and economic development.” The European
region has its own characteristics and its own needs,
he said, and the meeting was “a great opportunity”
to assess those needs in order to determine future
work plans for ITU.
The Director of ITU’s Telecommunication
Development Bureau (BDT), Sami Al Basheer Al
Morshid, said that “WTDC-10 is a landmark, global
conference which will provide our Members and
other stakeholders with an opportunity to assess the
progress that has been made since we met in Doha
in 2006 for the last WTDC”. Since then, there have
been many changes and new developments, and Mr
Al Basheer invited participants at Andorra “to embrace
this opportunity and get your voice heard.” He
added that as well as identifying the needs of the
European region, the meeting could “go beyond to
look at global issues that may help shape the global
ICT landscape, which can help the world develop and
reduce poverty.”
Priorities for ICT
The meeting reviewed the 2006 WTDC “Doha Action Plan” and its implementation, and endorsed
the proposal in a document presenting a “fresh look” at how BDT’s activities might be organized and consolidated
so that resources can be allocated in a more efficient way. The next task was to establish priorities for future
development of ICT, under the proposal’s headings. It was decided that emphasis should be
placed on promoting the following areas:
ICT infrastructure
Fixed, mobile, broadband
network development (including
broadcast networks and spectrum
management); rural communications,
and emergency telecommunications
and disaster relief.
Cybersecurity and ICT applications
Applications such as e-government,
e-health, and e-environment;
promotion of cybersecurity,
including the protection of young
people and children.
Enabling environment
Improving telecommunication
and ICT policy and regulations, through such means
as market analysis and cost modeling, as well as
compiling statistics and indicators.
Capacity building and other initiatives
Facilitating access to information and knowledge
for all, in particular to engage women, young people
and children, indigenous people, underserved communities
and other disadvantaged groups.
Regional initiatives
For the first time, the WTDC
preparatory meeting for Europe
proposed a set of key regional
initiatives, under which projects
will be implemented through
partnerships.
Accessibility for the visually impaired
The meeting considered contributions
on this topic from
Bulgaria and Romania, which
proposed a regional initiative focusing
particularly on Central and
Eastern Europe. The goal is to
provide assistance to ITU Member
States in enabling blind people to
use the Internet. It is envisaged
that specialized national and regional
libraries will be created of
resources for those with visual
impairments, and facilities established
to train instructors.
Digital broadcasting
Also in Central and Eastern Europe, ITU Member
States will be assisted to make a smooth transition
from analogue to digital broadcasting. Policy and
regulatory frameworks for digital terrestrial broadcasting
(including mobile television) will be reviewed,
and help will be given in deploying interactive multimedia
services and applications.
E-health
It was agreed that best practice should be shared
across Europe in using e-health applications. The objective
is faster and easier storage, transmission and
access to medical data and health advice, alongside
reduced operational and administrative costs in implementing
healthcare services, particularly in rural
and remote areas.
The information society in Europe
In conjunction with the meeting, ITU released a
new report entitled Information Society Statistical
Profiles 2009: Europe*. It shows that while Europe
has around ten per cent of the global population, by
2009 it accounted for more than 18 per cent of the
world’s mobile subscriptions, 21 per cent of fixed
telephone lines, 22 per cent of Internet users and 31 per cent of fixed and mobile broadband
subscriptions.
“The majority of European countries have surpassed
the 100-per-cent mobile penetration mark,
and close to two out of three Europeans are using
the Internet,” commented Mr Al Basheer. “This region
has for a long time developed, as well as embraced,
new technologies before many others. It was the
first region to adopt a uniform standard for mobile
telephony in the early 1990s, and to introduce nextgeneration
mobile networks in 2000,” he continued.
“The influence and leadership of the European region
in promoting universal access is in no doubt,” said
Mr Al Basheer. “I am ready, and so is my team, to
work with you all and take the experience of Europe
to other regions, so that ICT can become a truly globalizing
engine of our times,” he concluded.
The report can be read online at www.itu.int/publ/D-IND-RPM.EUR-2009/en.
|