Access to high-speed telecommunication networks is the economic lifeblood of the emerging Information Age, just as access to capital and labour were crucial to the national economies of the industrial era. Converging technologies, their rapid rate of change and their importance in the development of the economic, social and financial sectors, are opening up new opportunities. At the same time, these changes pose fresh challenges — especially to those in the developing world who have been shut out of the digital revolution and all the promise it holds.

With the fast pace of the technological revolution, the digital divide is changing. For example, the gap between developed and developing countries for number of fixed lines has shrunk from 14 times greater in 1992 to only 5 times greater in 2002. For mobile phones, it shrunk from 30 times more in 1992 to just 5 times as many in 2002.

But while the gap is generally narrowing, it is still far too wide, particularly when it comes to the Internet. Of the one billion fixed telephone lines installed throughout the world, over 50 percent are found in the 29 richest countries, even though these nations only account for 15 percent of the world's population. Only ten percent of the world's population uses the Internet, and 72 percent of these live in developed countries.

All is not doom and gloom, however. Developing countries are finally getting a chance to enter the Information Age through adoption of new kinds of technologies more suited to their needs and environment. Most of these countries have witnessed remarkable advances in the use of mobile phones, where growth is now far outstripping that of fixed lines: as an example, between 1993 and 2002, the number of mobile users in developing nations soared from 3 million to over 500 million. The developing world presents the highest potential for growth in infrastructure, services, applications and revenue.
 

Through its Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D), ITU is helping developing countries to bridge the digital divide. Development activities focus on six principal areas, outlined in the Istanbul Action Plan adopted at the 2002 World Telecommunication Development Conference:

ITU-D plays a leadership role in policy, regulation and network readiness, identifying and analyzing world trends in telecommunication reform and working together with Member States to help them reform their telecommunication sectors.

ITU’s annual Trends in Telecommunication Reform is widely recognized as an invaluable reference document for policy makers, regulators and industry players. The 2004 edition, which was published to coincide with the 2004 Global Symposium for Regulators, spotlights the global trend towards reducing licensing requirements and adopting converged licensing regimes that will enable service providers to offer any and all services using the technology of their choice in a more competitive market environment.

The annual Global Symposium for Regulators itself attracted regulators from nearly 80 countries in 2004, who agreed on a set of best practice regulatory guidelines for the Promotion of Low-Cost Broadband and Internet Connectivity.

ITU also conducts an annual survey of the telecommunication regulatory community, providing much of the data it collects on its TREG website, organizes workshops and seminars, conducts specialized country case studies, and develops training materials and other products related to telecommunication regulation. Recent case studies on convergence and the advent of the Information Society in Latin America focused on capacity-based interconnection charges in Colombia; the SCM (Serviços de Comunicação Multimídia) licensing service category in Brazil; and SMS convergence interconnection in Venezuela.

In addition, ITU provides an on-line forum for regulators and policy-makers, known as the Global Regulators Exchange (G-REX). Using G-REX, regulators have an opportunity to share experiences and exchange best practices on an on-going basis.

ITU’s regional offices in the Americas region also regularly conduct numerous seminars, training programmes, activities and projects in the area of policy, legislation, and regulation.
 

ITU brings broadcast, mobile, telephone, fax, Internet, e-mail, distance-learning and telemedicine to remote villages of developing countries around the world, providing help with planning, operation, upgrading, extension and management of wired and wireless networks and services.

Through its in-house technical expertise, ITU helps developing and Least Developed Countries to maximize use of appropriate new technologies. Activities are focused on knowledge transfer in areas including Network Planning, Mobile Communication, Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting and Spectrum Management.

Particular attention is paid to resource mobilization, while network planning activities cover traffic and demand forecasting, network management, interconnectivity, interoperability and quality of service standards for wired-line and wireless networks. Migration from 2G to 3G mobile networks is also a key issue in the developing world, were wireless systems are often the dominant form of communications.
 

With the active support of more than 150 countries on six continents, ITU E-strategies is now one of the world’s leading e-empowerment programmes. By bringing together governments, the private sector and international organizations, ITU has created a framework for projects in six priority areas: e-applications (such as e-health, e-learning, e-government, e-agriculture, e-community, d-cinema and more), e-security, Multipurpose Community Telecentres (MCTs), the Internet, ICT awareness and e-legislation.

ITU has implemented projects to deliver secure e-applications and digital certification solutions in over 20 countries in Africa, Europe, the Arab States, Asia and the Pacific, and the Americas. In addition, assistance for the establishment of a harmonized legal environment for e-commerce has been offered to Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mongolia, Peru and Venezuela, and training in security and trust technologies has recently taken place in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Pakistan, Peru and Senegal.

The development of Multipurpose Community Telecentres in Africa, Asia and the Americas has been undertaken with the help of partners including local communities, governments, other UN agencies and the private sector. In the area of telemedicine, ITU is helping to extend vital medical services to remote and underprivileged areas through pilot programmes in Asia, Africa, CIS and the Americas.
 

ITU helps Member States put in place mechanisms to promote private investment and to implement appropriate public or private-public partnership funding mechanisms (www.itu.int/ITU-D/finance/).

The Union also develops publications and reports on costs and tariffs, organizes seminars on financial and economic issues, and training workshops on the use of the ITU model for calculating telephone service costs, tariffs, and interconnection rates (COSITU). Assessments on economic market analysis, forecasts, sensitivity and risk analyses of price changes are also undertaken, and ITU Members have access to databases on financing institutions and tariff policies, and to ITU’s widely respected reports on trends in economics and finance.

In addition, ITU provides direct assistance to Member States and/or Sector Members in areas such as market analysis, establishing universal access/service criteria, pricing of telecommunication services, and calculation of cost-based/oriented tariffs of telecommunication services.
 

ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau provides training in developing countries on telecommunication policy, regulation, management and advanced telecommunication technology. Training is carried out via regional centres, online education, e-learning and Internet Training Centres.

ITU Centres of Excellence serve as regional focal points for professional development, research and information and offer training to the Executive Staff and Managers of the telecommunications industry, as well as providing consultancy services to government and the private sector. Building on the existing experience and infrastructure in each region, ITU has created six Centres of Excellence in Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, the Arab Region and Europe/CIS. More than 4’165 top and middle managers were trained in 2004 on regulatory issues, spectrum management, technology awareness and business management

The ITU e-Learning Centre has been established as a global learning platform aimed at strengthening human resources management by leveraging on the digital opportunities available through the Internet. In 2004, more than 1’500 participants registered to learn online through the e-Learning Centre.

Partnering with the public and private sectors, the Internet Training Centres Initiative (ITCI) uses a train-the-trainer approach to assist training/educational institutions in non-industrialized countries in establishing ICT and Internet related training programmes. These centres provide students with access to affordable and relevant training on IP technologies for the "new economy". A total of 2,700 students are presently enrolled in centres worldwide (28.3% of which are females), and 523 students have graduated to date.
 

ITU helps integrate the world's 49 most marginalized countries into the global telecommunication network through its special Programme for Least Developed Countries (LDCs). Most of these UN-designated LDCs have very poor telecommunication networks and teledensities below 1 line per 100 inhabitants. Because they do not have access to ICTs, citizens of LDCs are divided digitally from the rest of the world, with a second divide also visible between rural populations and city dwellers.

ITU’s LDC programme delivers focused assistance to countries over a period of two years. Projects are implemented with 100% ITU funding and from co-financing arrangements with development partners.
 

The Least Developed Countries are not only economically weak, they are also often socially and politically fragile. In recognition of this, ITU's development efforts also take into account countries in special need, particularly LDCs emerging from either civil strife or war.
 

ITU is recognized as a leading intergovernmental source of telecommunication/ICT statistics. Statistics and analysis explaining trends in ICT development are crucial for benchmarking countries, evaluating e-readiness and making informed national policy, legislative and regulatory choices for ICT development.

ITU regularly collects over 100 telecommunication/ICT indicators through an annual questionnaire sent to national telecommunication authorities. Based on data collected, ITU publishes: the Yearbook of Statistics, widely respected as the world’s leading source of ICT statistics; the World Telecommunication Indicators, which provides an important historical perspective on ICTs in some 200 economies; the World Telecommunication Development Report (WTDR), which pinpoints trends in national, regional and international ICT development and explores a specific theme in each edition; and Regional Development Indicators reports, produced and typically published in conjunction with ITU Telecom events.

Finally, ITU is a member of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development. Formally launched in Sao Paulo, Brazil in June 2004, the partnership includes the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Institute for Statistics (UIS), four UN Regional Commissions (Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), and Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)), the UN ICT Task Force and the World Bank. In the Americas region, ITU is working closely with ECLAC to examine issues related to data collection and dissemination of Information Society statistics.
 

ITU-D plays an increasingly important role as a catalyst for forging development partnerships between government and private industry. ITU partners in the private sector include many operators and service providers as well as equipment suppliers, integrators, consulting firms, financial institutions and regional & international organizations.

To address the needs of the next generation, ITU’s Youth Programme aims to help young people from developing countries and from economies in transition to increase their knowledge of ICTs.

One of the programme’s most successful partnership initiatives is the Youth Education Scheme (YES), which provides scholarships for high-achieving university students requiring financial assistance to complete their degrees in ICT-related fields. Since its launch in 2003, 30 young people from developing countries have received YES scholarships.