WCA March 2015

Telecom news

The two reports, in brief: • The m-Powering Development Initiative finds that technological innovations and initiatives utilising mobile phones have the potential to confer exponential benefits on entire communities and make a valuable contribution to global development. It calls for an enabling regulatory environment from which no one is excluded on affordability, accessibility or availability issues. This report also affirms that mobile initiatives need to be addressed in a holistic manner to avoid the ‘vertical silo’ effect of an information management system unable to freely communicate with other information management systems. • The Smart Sustainable Develop- ment Model Initiative focuses on the link between ICT for Development and ICT for Disaster Management, and their roles in these processes, with emphasis on the profound effect ICTs can have on individuals, communities and nations. Specific technological solutions are seen as applicable in all phases of disaster management, including preparedness, reduc- tion, mitigation and post-disaster rehabilitation. However, without a favourable regulatory framework within which to operate, the benefits that ICT can provide are significantly reduced. This report urges governments to make telecommunication infrastructures more resilient to disasters, especially in developing countries where they are more susceptible to breakdown. A return to growth in sight, Europe’s telecom network operators urge EU reforms to foster an investor-friendly environment “The telecom industry is instru- mental to accelerating . . . a European digital society and there is a high level of excitement in the industry as new market trends bring the promise of a return to growth. 

Over three billion people are now online, and information and communication technology (ICT) growth remains buoyant in just about every country worldwide, according to ‘Measuring the Information Society,’ published 24 th November by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The annual report from the Geneva-based UN specialised agency is considered to contain the most reliable and impartial global data and analysis on the state of ICT development. It is relied upon by governments, financial institutions, and private sector analysts worldwide. The ITU data shows that Internet use continued to grow steadily in 2014, at 3.3 per cent in developed countries, and 8.7 per cent in the developing world. The number of Internet users in developing countries doubled in the five years 2009-2014, with two-thirds of all those online now living in the developing world. Of the 4.3 billion people not yet using the Internet, 90 per cent live in developing countries. In the world’s 42 least-connected countries (LCCs), home to 2.5 billion people, access to ICTs remains largely out of reach, particularly for the large rural populations in these countries. In the mobile cellular segment, the ITU report estimates that by the end of 2014 there were seven billion mobile subscriptions, roughly corresponding to the total global population. But it warns against concluding that everyone is connected: many users have multiple subscriptions, and an estimated 450 million people worldwide live in places which are still out of reach of mobile cellular service. On an encouraging note, the report sees substantial improvement in access to international bandwidth in poorer countries, with developing nations’ share of total global international bandwidth rising from just nine per cent in 2004 to over 30 per cent today. But lack of sufficient international Internet bandwidth in many of the LCCs remains an important barrier to ICT uptake in these countries, and often limits the quality of Internet access. ICT development index rankings Last year Denmark ranked first in ITU’s ICT development index (IDI), a composite measurement that ranks 166 countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills. The Republic of Korea was runner-up for the year. IDI values are on average twice as high in the developed world as in the developing countries. But almost all countries surveyed improved their IDI ranking last year. Europe’s average IDI value of 7.14 remains well ahead of the next best-performing region, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at 5.33; followed by the Americas (4.86), Asia/Pacific (4.57), the Arab States (4.55), and Africa at 2.31. • The ITU report also identifies the ‘most dynamic countries’ – those which recorded above-average improvement in their IDI rank over the year. For 2014 these are (starting with most improved): United Arab Emirates, Fiji, Cape Verde, Thailand, Oman, Qatar, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Georgia. The ITU finds 8.7 per cent growth in Internet usage in the developing world in 2014, and Denmark the global leader in ICT

From Telecom World 2014: a call for more disaster-resilient telecommunications infrastructures, especially in developing nations Held 7 th to 10 th of December in Doha, Qatar, by the International Tele- communication Union, Telecom World

2014 saw the release of the first reports from the advisory boards of the ITU m-Powering Development and Smart Sustainable Development Model Initiatives. The analysis and recommendations in the reports are intended to drive efforts to harness the power of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in the service of advocacy and global dialogue, innovation, and resource mobilisation.

BigStockPhoto.com • Photographer: Krishnacreations

42

Wire & Cable ASIA –March/April 2015

www.read-wca.com