Greater cooperation could avert marginalization...

The globalization process, facilitated by information and communication technologies (ICT), underscores the need for even greater cooperation among countries to avert the problem of marginalization that could affect collateral interests of developed countries.

This reality was made clear at last year’s Americas Regional Preparatory Meeting, which was held in Trinidad and Tobago. This country welcomed the opportunity to host the meeting, which attracted approximately 150 participants from 30 countries throughout the Americas region.

The event provided a prime opportunity for participants to identify critical issues in the area of telecommunications development within the region. Specifically, the digital divide, lack of financial, human and technical resources, finance and investment, and telecommunication policy regulations were identified as the priority areas that needed to be addressed.

These issues, identified as critical to the development of telecommunications in the Americas are also being considered on the global level. However this region’s economic, cultural and geographical realities dictate that they be addressed differently.

Developing nations, including those of the Americas region, must of necessity address head-on the issue of the digital divide if they are to successfully implement strategies to prevent economic hardships. The digital divide in a region as geographically fragmented as ours can present a greater challenge to development than one with an equal amount of land space on one continuous stretch of land. The region’s geography affects trade, cultural exchange, intra and extra regional technical cooperation, and other activities vital to development.

While internal initiatives by decision-makers such as the provision of community access points to ICT, can serve to mitigate the situation, the need for global cooperation in this matter is an issue that must not be ignored. Private sector partnerships with regional governments should also work towards the promotion of interoperability that would allow for more effective communication among individuals and groups as well as governments within the region. Private sector companies can also play an active role in bridging this divide by seeking investment opportunities to promote more widespread ownership by lower end users of the technology.

Infrastructure development remains one of the primary objectives in the narrowing and the ultimate elimination of the digital divide. Therefore, the sharing of global resources to bring relief in this area is an issue that should be put on the front burner of discussions on the digital divide. The injection of funds by international funding agencies towards the acquisition of basic computer hardware, software and networking would certainly add a meaning fillip to developing economies.

The economic issues that stem from the digital divide easily overflow into the wider finance and investment issue. At the Regional Preparatory Meeting, there was unanimous support for the implementation of measures to increase the size of investment in telecommunication services in the region. The private sector in particular was identified for the role it could play in ensuring the injection of finances into hard-pressed areas.

Capital flows into projects geared towards the upgrading of physical resources particularly in rural areas in Latin American and Caribbean countries would work towards narrowing the divide. While this would not immediately result in these areas’ ability to operate on the same technological frequency as other countries, it would serve to leverage efforts of central governments to deal with matters pertinent to economic strength in today’s globalized environment.

Globalization is an economic matter that inherently encompasses the issue of demonopolization but is poised to bring major investment and employment opportunities to the peoples of this region. Governments are therefore coming to terms with the negative and sometimes explosive effects of monopolization, which could stymie future lucrative benefits in the area of information and communication technologies. In recognition of this, the process of demonopolization has begun to be dealt with in many of the region’s States.

Economic challenges, which hinder the establishment of independent regulators, have led to the idea of establishing a regional regulator such as the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL).

An interesting point that must be noted is that the human resource bases in the region must be strengthened in order to effect any of the changes required for telecommunication development. This is another area of critical concern. Technology workers need constant retooling to remain at the cutting edge. Acquisition of skills and abilities in various areas of the technology arena are required to allow for easy adaptability in a rapidly changing global environment.

Training in ICT at all levels and access to technology would not only ensure the development of a technologically adept human resource base in the region, but also allow for the acquisition of skills necessary for parity in technology expertise.

The Americas region, while faced with a number of challenges within the context of the global technological advancement scenario, is willing to cooperate with the International Telecommunication Union to promote more opportunities.

The Inter-American Telecommunication Commission (CITEL) also discussed this matter. CITEL’s working group advanced support for the restructuring of the various working groups in the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU–D) into project management groups. This would mean a more focused agenda, and specific time frame, that is easy to monitor in terms of implementation of the project assignments and to evaluate various groups in terms of the achievement of objectives.

The region looks forward to the World Telecommunication Development Conference in Istanbul as it will provide an ideal forum for all regions to collectively address these and other issues that affect ICT development in their respective parts of the globe.

As countries representing the five world regions come together and ideas flow, the synergy created could lead to the identification and formulation of workable solutions that would benefit the global community.

If these issues are effectively addressed, the World Telecommunication Development Conference could very well mark the start of a new thrust in technical cooperation on the wider global level with the involvement of national and international funding agencies and the International Telecommunication Union at the core. The rate of technology advance would affect the global economy, which must be viewed as an organism. This organism is a whole that consists of interdependent parts. It must therefore be recognized that strangulation at any point of that organism, would eventually negatively affect the whole.