Page 16 - Building digital public infrastructure for cities and communities

So far, the more-affluent and better-educated populations have generally had earlier and better
access to ICTs than the less-affluent and less-educated populations. Additionally, the global supply
market is showing some signs of dominance in certain parts of the supply chain, leading to potential
vendor lock-in, and other regulatory challenges associated with end-user privacy protection, data
ownership, data sovereignty and data protection.

For over a decade, governments were asked to employ a wide range of strategies and policies to
support the development of ICT infrastructure such as through market liberalization (for example,
opening international gateways to competition) and the allocation and award of new spectrum
for wireless broadband (for example, releasing the “digital dividend” spectrum for commercial
wireless use once the country’s digital television transition is completed) (Kelly & Rossotto, 2011).

While this has proved to be a sound policy, backed-up by plenty of scientific socio-economic
empirical evidence, it has long been recognized that to realize the full benefits of ICT infrastructure,
various sectors of the economy and society must have the capacity to acquire, assimilate, transform
and exploit the capabilities enabled by this platform.

This “absorptive capacity” is the mechanism by which the benefits obtained from ICT (e.g.,
broadband) feed into the greater economy, allowing this technology to unleash its potential and
achieve all promised gains. This requires:

“(a) the creation and availability of broadband-enabled services…”, (or more generally ICT
infrastructure), “…and applications that increase efficiency and productivity and (b) the capacity
of businesses, government, and citizens to use broadband-enabled services and applications in a
productive and efficient way.”

(Kelly & Rossotto, 2011)

Hence, one enduring question remains:

“What policies, strategies, regulatory actions, norms, and industry best practices, are needed to be
embraced by city leaders, government officials, and the whole industry, to ensure an accelerated
and sustainable digital transformation process at the city level, to achieve the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development? If it is not only, supply-side interventions, or demand-side stimulus, what
else could be missing to achieve a successful human-centred digital transformation at scale, at the
city and/or the community level?”

3