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Oliebol
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Progress made in bridging the digital divide
September 26, 2006 - 09:36 PM
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Geneva, 13 September 2006 — The International Telecommunication Union launched a report in New York today on ICT/Telecommunication development in least developed countries (LDCs). The report examines key developments in the information and communication technology (ICT) and telecommunications sector including trends and challenges in the world’s poorest countries in the period 2001 to 2005. ITU’s findings reveal that considerable progress has been made to bridge the digital divide and that teledensity targets set by the Brussels Programme of Action (BPoA) have been met by 25 of the 50 LDCs.
The ITU report was unveiled during a special session on "Integrating Least Developed Countries (LDCs) into the world economy through telecommunications/ICT" held during the Mid-Term Review on implementation of the Brussels Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries for the decade 2001-2010.
According to ITU, teledensity has more than doubled in the majority of least developed countries since 2000 with some of them boosting connectivity by as much as 20 times, thanks to rapid growth in the deployment of mobile technologies. The race towards universal access in LDCs has been mainly led by Small Island Developing States such as Cape Verde, Maldives and Samoa and small to average sized countries such as Gambia, Lesotho, and Mauritania, some of which have achieved teledensities of up to 44 lines per 100 inhabitants surpassing many developing countries.
http://www.itu.int/newsroom/press_releases/2006/16.html
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MOHAMMED ALIYU PAIKO
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Re: Progress made in bridging the digital divide
September 27, 2006 - 06:50 AM
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The ITU report is surely a welcome relief, especially to those who believe that the digital divide is getting wider.
What remains now is a new set of initiatives to enlighten the youth in particular, from these developing countries on how they can translate the new knowledge of ICT into real, practical sustainable development processes on the ground. Only then can we confidently begin to celebrate the advances being made in bridging the gap of the digital divide, in our march towards achieving the MDGs by 2015.
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Tarli
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Re: Progress made in bridging the digital divide
September 28, 2006 - 03:58 AM
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I am not sure it is as simple as a: new set of initiatives to enlighten the youth
Recent industry discussion indicates that the divide between the Haves and Have Nots of Information Technology is still prevelant.
Some countries— Brazil, China, India — are powerhouse economies, yet have vast rural regions where computers are a rare commodity and Internet access is nonexistent. Hungary, a former communist bloc state that joined the European Union last year, is also poor by Western standards.
There are cultural, as well as financial reasons behind the resistance to change. According to a Russian member of Microsoft Office Information Worker Board of the Future the ability to connect with markets around the world is unlikely to unify the global economy.In my country, people are completely different and the financial means are different - Sofya Mezhorina (Russia).
Many companies don’t want to move from a hierarchical structure to a more networked, collaborative structure. So empowering employees with information worker technology may be extremely difficult - (source - http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2005/jun05/06-29IWBoard.mspx)
We need to identify the cultural reasons underlying resistance to change and address organisational design. A move to a more networked, collaborative structure, as Sofya mentioned, will empower employees with information and facilitate autonomous or independent business development.
This is an affordable option for large companies to move into developing markets.
This post was edited on: 2006-11-06 at 10:58 PM by: Tarli
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Oliebol
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Re: Progress made in bridging the digital divide
February 7, 2007 - 12:14 AM
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Hi Trali, - Interesting point that you reiterating, ‘A move to a more networked, collaborative structure’ and ‘rural regions where computers are a rare commodity and Internet access is nonexistent’ Do you think that it is a bit of a catch 22 that these scenarios need to employ more IT infrastructure in order to achieve ‘a more networked, collaborative structure’ but until you have ‘a more networked, collaborative structure’ uptake of IT infrastructure is going to be slower?
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