INTUG

ITU presented a new report yesterday at the World Telecommunication Development Conference in Hyderabad and called for broadband Internet access for half the world’s population by 2015. The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) stressed the need to utilize ICT’s in a way that enhances development.

The World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report 2010 provides a mid-term review of the progress made in creating a global information society by 2015, a commitment that governments agreed upon at the World Summits on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2003 and in 2005.

The study points to the tremendous growth and evolution in the area of mobile cellular technology, which has led to connecting many previously unconnected areas.

Nearly 90% of the world’s population is covered by a mobile cellular network, according to ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré, and even people in rural and remote areas can access the Internet.

Take the world’s two most populous countries in the world, India and China, where mobile technology has provided basic telephone services to over 90% of villages. In many developing countries, fixed telephone lines are largely limited to urban areas. But today, more than half the rural households have a mobile telephone.

The CEO of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, called on global ICT stakeholders to join forces to ensure that ICTs are utilized in a way that enhances development.

In his words, “whether the importance of ICTs are measured by voice and data penetration rates, by percentage contribution to GDP, to national taxes, to employment, empowerment, or to per capita income, there is a worldwide consensus on the contributions of ICTs to development.”

However, indicating that the right to communicate is a basic human right – as recognized by the UN – he pointed out that 30-40% of people in most CTO member countries still do not have access to affordable telecommunications, including mobile communications.

More than 90% of the population in most developing countries does not enjoy the benefits of the Internet.

Dr. Spio-Garbrah stressed on the need to remain “mindful” of the many priorities facing the global ICT community. He pointed out that “unless the last human who is awaiting ICT access, is connected, all of us are poorer and we do not live fully in a globalized world.”

Source: ITU, CTO

Related posts on intug.org:

1. ITU: Global Uptake of ICTs Increasing, Prices Falling
2. UN Internet Governance Forum Focuses on Resources, Access, Privacy – and More
3. ITU and UNESCO to Form Global Broadband Commission

This entry was posted on 26 May, 2010 at 3:15 PM and is filed under News. Tagged: Broadband, CTO, ITU, WTDC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.