“Access: The Local Challenge”
The general purpose of this panel was to discuss what should be done at the local level to reduce the costs of access and build sustainable locally developed ICT projects.
Panelists included:
Sylvia Cadena: has been the coordinator of WiLAC, a wireless for development initiative and TRICALCAR, a capacity building and applied research project for community wireless networks for the past two years.
Valerie d’Costa: InfoDev’s Program Manager at the World Bank.
Jim Dempsey: Policy Director at the Center for Democracy and Technology, with offices in Washington and San Francisco.
Christian O’Flaherty : the Regional IP Technology Manager at Impsat Fiber Networks (Global Crossing Latin America), Policy Chair at LACNIC (Internet Registry for Latin America and Caribbean), member of the board at ISOC Argentina, and a member (and co-Founder) of IPv6 Task Force Argentina.
Nii Quaynor : the Convener of the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG), a founding member of AfriNIC, the African numbers registry, Chairman of Network Computer Systems and a Professor of Computer Science at University of Cape-Coast, Ghana.
Karen Rose (moderator): the Director of Education and Programs at the Internet Society.
Rajnesh Singh: the Chief Operating Officer at PATARA, a leading technology vendor in the Pacific Islands, and the current Chairman of the Pacific Islands Chapter of the Internet Society (PICISOC).
David Souter: writes and provides expertise for a wide variety of organizations on issues concerned with information, communications and development.
Revenues instead of developing industry (arguing there needs to be a shift) ex à majority (in Africa) are still searching for information outside of Africa. In general they need to improve access – to also improve the development of local content Wireless technologies in Latin America – it is perceived as the “new thing” which has enabled sharing of resources and encouraged learning cooperation and collaboration. There needs to be a promotion of regional talent as well. There could be a strategy for applied research by working on a dialogue between the regulatory bodies of nations. Rural communities should not be treated as an exception to the norm. This was a theme mentioned by many of the presenters throughout the conference. There is an urban standard, and so there should be a different rural standard. There have been many questions surrounding how to improve service and lower costs as many of the issues at the local level relate to expenses and lack of infrastructure. For example many rural communities are hooked up using satellite connections – the most expensive way to gain access. This is due to a lack of infrastructure, which in turn is related to a lack of funds, which in many cases is due to geography or poor economic development. d’Costa said that we must think of access beyond simply having a computer, and include service and content in our consideration. She went on to say that in many communities are beginning to access the internet not necessarily via a PC. The impact this could have on development is substantial, as it could improve life through a reduction of poverty. Valerie d’Costa proposed linking the managers of universal service funds with community based access solutions. She also pointed out a contradiction within the system, as there has been so much focus and discussion on the tremendous progress of internet development; ignoring the unevenness of that development and the failure to make progress in developing countries. Privatization becomes problematic when put before competition, and can lead to monopoly. Another part of the problem is that so far there are few local stakeholders. There was also a lot of discussion surrounding monopolies, as with all of the sessions. There were many people who opposed the continued growth of current monopolies: and spoke out against various governments’ participation in the creation of these ICT monopolies. Access is all about the perspective of the user and arguably demand drives substantive and useful content. d’Costa also mentioned that there is a stat somewhere saying that every 15 minutes there are 15,000 new mobile subscribers. When you consider the impact access to the net (not via a PC) can do to improve the standard of living within an otherwise isolated community. There was also mention that the use of appropriate technology must also be consider when linking communities – going back to the mobile vs. PC debate. Capacity building and the need for technical skill development for productive ICT use within communities was also recognized. It was also pointed out that many rural/isolated communities are short on infrastructure in every capacity and we should be careful no to view communication as the single issue. Providing connectivity does not automatically provide access. Some of the questions that arose from the panel were: - What is the role of government in making regulations ?- When should they be active and inactive? - How do we drive local content? - What is to be considered local?
For more information:
http://www.intgovforum.org/wks_session_info.php?numes=32
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