World Telecommunication Day 1999 |
The latter would lack all of the above; their access to information would be limited and expensive, with content determined by other markets than their own.
Such a scenario is disturbing to more than utopian dreamers; businesses and consumers everywhere would pay an economic and social price for such disparity. ''The problem of 'have-nots' has always been around, but now it has a new face,'' explains Ben Petrazzini, a policy analyst for the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). With the pace of change - technological and social - increasing, the gap threatens to widen more quickly than in the past.
At the same time, even relatively poor countries can create new economic opportunities by riding the rising tide of e-commerce. ''For example,'' Mr. Petrazzini goes on, ''with relatively low capital expenditures, you can have an industry for data processing, call centers or servicing opportunities.''
Under the aegis of the World Trade Organization, telecommunications agreements have been reached that liberalize 95 percent of the world market in telecommunications, finance and information technology - more than $1 trillion worth of trade.
e-Infrastructure
The enormous size and impact of the market is one reason investment in information and communications technologies is a prerequisite for broad-based economic development, a fact of life that is acknowledged by many organizations and business groups.
One of the newest is Global Business Dialogue, an industry-driven group that held its first meeting early in 1999. Although its members are mainly large companies from the developed world, there are also representatives from developing countries and small-to-medium enterprises. ''This was done by design to encompass their viewpoints,'' explains Bill Poulos, director of electronic commerce policy for member company Electronic Data Systems.
The Global Business Dialogue helps shape policy by participating in discussions by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Union and others regarding e-commerce decisions.
Mr. Poulos points out, ''It is in industry's best interest to develop future markets, so today's 'have-not' countries are of genuine concern.'' He does not view funding as a major problem. Although government spending - through a country's own resources or direct foreign aid - is not sufficient in every case, private investors are often able to fill the gap. ''The money is there,'' he says. ''The issue is whether the investment climate is open enough to do business.''
This view was echoed by James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, in April. He noted that there would have to be ''some mechanism for keeping private-sector investors interested'' in capital flows to developing countries. Without such a mechanism, he said, many investors would simply avoid risky countries, which count on foreign capital to finance economic expansion.
One way to mollify the concerns of investors is to ensure a competitive environment, which causes infrastructure to be put in place more quickly. Competition implies the existence of open markets and strong regulators, says Mr. Petrazzini, and has the added advantage of driving down prices for users.
The existence of a basic telecommunications infrastructure is not enough. Telecommunications services must be affordable if access is not to be effectively prohibited, says Mr. Petrazzini. Costs include hardware (the computer), access (the Internet service provider) and telecommunications charges. In some countries, the price of an international leased line can be as high as $11,000, compared with $300 in the United States. That is a big impediment for e-commerce start-ups.
Prices of computers are dropping so dramatically that one low-cost option for developing countries is free hardware in exchange for information. In the not-too-distant future, predict industry analysts, computers will be only one of many ''information appliances'' available at low cost.
Access and telecommunications charges will fall if a competitive environment is in place and is supported by regulatory authorities.
Governments and business have to work together in a cooperative effort, says the Internet Society, a nongovernmental organization for global coordination and cooperation for the Internet. It maintains that education is as important as the business climate for investment. ''A cadre of expertise is needed to run these networks,'' says Martin Burack, the organization's executive director.
Mr. Poulos of EDS specifies that technical literacy ''means more than knowing how to use a computer; it's knowing how to leverage IT technology for business.'' He believes that closing the gap between haves and have-nots depends on the latters' developing an understanding of ''the rules of the road, transparency, education and job skills training.''
He is optimistic that this will happen ''because this technology lends itself to rapid change, so I think progress can occur faster than anyone has dreamed.''
Claudia Flisi