[WSIS CS-Plenary] World Bank sees digital divide narrowing, 25 Feb

[Rik Panganiban]

Dear friends,

Here is an interesting article on the World Bank views on the WSIS.

Rik Panganiban

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ABC News
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1310673.htm

Last Update: Friday, February 25, 2005. 9:21am (AEDT)

World Bank sees digital divide narrowing

The World Bank has called into question a costly UN campaign to bring 
hi-tech communications to the developing world, saying the "digital 
divide" between rich and poor nations is narrowing fast.

The World Bank says in a report that telecommunications services to 
poor countries are growing at an explosive rate.

"People in the developing world are getting more access at an 
incredible rate - far faster than they got access to new technologies 
in the past," the report said.

It says half the world's population now enjoys access to a fixed-line 
telephone and 77 per cent to a mobile network - surpassing a World 
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) goal that calls for 50 per 
cent access by 2015.

The report says there were 59 million fixed-line or mobile phones in 
Africa in 2002 - contradicting Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade's 
claim last year that there were more telephones in Manhattan than in 
all of Africa.

  "Unless New Yorkers and their commuter friends have 12 phones each, 
Africa now has many more telephones than Manhattan," the World Bank 
report said.

  The UN hopes that widening access within the developing world to 
technology such as mobile phones and the Internet will help eradicate 
poverty and build stable democracies.

  Poorer countries, particularly from Africa, are expected to repeat 
calls in Geneva for a "Digital Solidarity Fund" to help finance the 
infrastructure they say is needed to close the perceived technology 
gap.

  To help fuel fierce demand for communications in countries which lack 
fixed-line alternatives, US mobile phone equipment maker Motorola Corp 
announced this month it planned to provide an ultra low-cost mobile 
phone for less than $US40.

  It will be aimed at emerging markets.

  About 1,700 international experts are gathering in Switzerland to 
prepare for the United Nation's World Summit on the Information Society 
(WSIS).
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RIK PANGANIBAN       Communications Coordinator
Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations 
(CONGO)
web: http://www.ngocongo.org
email: rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org
mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524 
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