Statement
by
Mr. M. S. Verma
Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

Monday, 18 March 2002

A Forum such as the WTDC is a unique opportunity to take a decision for addressing the issue of Digital Divide for all countries, and to build those decisions into a work programme.

In large part, the efforts to address Digital Divide have to come from the country itself. At this forum, we need to identify supplementary collective measures that support this effort, and decisions need to be taken in that regard.

Effective implementation of the measures requires:

• Information;

• Finance/Funding;

• Standards;

• Appropriate Regulatory Environment.

There must therefore be concerted attempt to address the two most important impediments to decreasing the Digital Divide:

• Lack of cheap customer end equipment, and

• Lack of user awareness, demand and user confidence.

Regarding information, a relatively simple task would be to obtain information on how various countries, especially developing countries, are trying to address the problem of Digital Divide. A group of countries may indicate their willingness to provide such information, and that information may be compiled in the form of a study by the BDT. A format for obtaining the relevant information may also be developed by BDT for subsequent action by the countries concerned.

This effort should not end with only a study but should also envisage the participating countries being part of a Group which may respond to clarifications sought by various countries on this topic. BDT may act as a co-ordinating agency or Secretariat for such a Group.

In addition, we must use this occasion to express a global vision or a plan of action in terms of a specific target for addressing the issue of Digital Divide.

A target date of four years, i.e. till the next WTDC, may be considered for this purpose.

In giving the content to the target, we should take account of certain other relevant targets as well as ideas specifically provided at this Conference by various countries. An action plan on that basis may be adopted at this first WTDC this century – the century that is definitely going to be marked by major developments on account of the use of digital technologies.

In this context, we now need to identify specific measures which will help the developing countries actualize on a wide scale what has been envisaged in the various Declarations, including the Tokyo Declaration of the APT Asia-Pacific Summit on the Information Society in 2000.

It would appear that the efforts made so far have been rather sporadic and the achievements in most developing countries towards bridging the digital divide have at best been limited. One perspective is that instead of getting reduced, the digital divide is increasing. Customer end equipments continue to be expensive and content which can be of local interest and value remains scarce. The most important need of the hour is sustained R&D aimed at innovations which will reduce cost, and create interest in and demand for more information through the internet so that it becomes a part of the common man’s life. There are presently identified low cost technologies and products which are being developed, including some of which have been developed in India. It would be useful for us all to have more comprehensive information on these possibilities, and the ITU could be entrusted this task.

In India, we have a target of providing a phone in every village by the end of this year, and in its Recommendations on Universal Service Obligation, TRAI has envisaged High Speed Public Tele-Info Centres in all decentralized Administrative Blocks in the country by 2005, and by 2010 to upgrade all Village Public Telephones to Public Tele-Info Centres. These Public Tele-Info Centres provide public access to the telephone and the internet.

A similar programme for upgradation may be envisaged for all developing countries, with the ultimate target being provision of such Public Info-Centres at all schools and other places open to public access, or at all decentralized administrative geographic units within a specific time frame.

As I suggested, the first target date for this could be the next WTDC, and we could consider developing countries with substantial coverage to be part of such a target. For others which have a longer way to go in this regard, the target may be to cover half or two-thirds of the overall target, with the rest being covered by the time the subsequent WTDC is held, i.e. by the end of this decade. This vision and resolve will go a long way to address concerns of digital divide in a purposive, result oriented manner.

To bring greater cohesion in the international efforts and increase their effectiveness, we need to request BDT to compile for reference and further consideration, a paper that identifies all the major projects at the global or regional level that are assisting countries to address the digital divide. In addition to informing developing countries about these various initiatives, those implementing these projects should also be made aware of the total vision, as well as the activities in the area so that greater experience-sharing and mutual learning may take place. A co-ordination forum supported by a web based interactive platform may be established with the ITU as the nodal point. It can become a special part of the ITU’s special initiative programme.

I know that all of you may be thinking, and I am a part of that group, that these efforts alone would not adequately achieve our objective. Availability of funds will play a major part in giving any shape to the efforts. To a certain extent, this may be addressed by some of the ongoing schemes and projects. However, participation of commercial enterprises in any such an endeavour is crucial, not only in terms of providing the required services but also in providing financial support to establish a common corpus similar to national Universal Service Fund. The major enterprises in telecom could begin such a Fund with a small contribution; in time, they will definitely be benefiting from the use of the investment and the economic boost that reduction of digital divide will provide at different levels: national, regional and finally global.