World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the Digital Divide Dr Tim Kelly, Head, Strategy and Policy Unit International Telecommunication Union KADO/APWINC Digital Opportunity Conference, Seoul, 24 November 2004 world summit on the information society 1
Agenda WSIS: Origins and First Phase Digital Inclusion Availability (Digital divide) Accessibility (Social inclusion) Affordability (Wealth/Age divide) What does WSIS say about the Digital Divide? WSIS: Tunis Phase world summit on the information society 2
WSIS: Origins and status WSIS originally proposed by Tunisia at ITU PP in 1998 Formally endorsed by the UN in 2001 PrepCom process, started in July 2002 Regional meetings, 2002 2003 First phase, Geneva 10-12 December 2003 PrepCom process, restarted in June 2004 Regional and thematic meetings, 2004-05 Second phase, Tunis, 16-18 November 2005 world summit on the information society 3
WSIS first phase: some numbers More than 11 000 participants 176 UN member states About 50 Head of States and Governments and Vice- Presidents 3 300 representatives of from civil society 514 business representatives from 98 organizations 87 international organizations More than 1 000 media representatives More than 300 Summit events world summit on the information society 4
Adoption of a Declaration of Principles and a Plan of Action which: Create a common vision of the information society Set out an agenda for building an inclusive development-oriented Information Society Establish a framework which will involve all stakeholders Request the UN Secretary General to initiate action in a number of crucially important areas such as the creation of a Digital Solidarity Fund and Internet Governance world summit on the information society 5
A common vision of the Information society We [ ] declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and developmentoriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life (Declaration, Paragraph 1) world summit on the information society 6
WSIS Key Principles 1) The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development 2) Information and communication infrastructure: an essential foundation for an inclusive information society 3) Access to information and knowledge 4) Capacity building 5) Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs 6) Enabling environment 7) ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life 8) Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content 9) Media 10)Ethical dimensions of the information society 11)International and regional cooperation world summit on the information society 7
Summit Objectives by 2015 a) to connect all villages with ICTs b) to connect all educational institutions c) to connect all scientific and research centres; d) to connect all public libraries, museums and archives e) to connect all health centres and hospitals; f) to connect local and central government departments g) to adapt all primary and secondary school curricula to meet the challenges of the Information Society; h) to ensure that all have access to television and radio services; i) to encourage the development of content on the Internet; j) to ensure that more than half the world s inhabitants have access to ICTs within their reach. world summit on the information society 8
Digital Divide: Availability of ICTs Distribution of population and ICTs, 2003 100% 17% 80% 60% 49% 55% 68% 76% Developed Developing 40% 83% 20% 51% 45% 32% 24% 0% Population Fixed Mobile Internet users PCs world summit on the information society 9 Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database.
Effective teledensity, 2002 Phones per 100 inhabitants 2002 Above 46 per 100 (47) 23 to 46 (33) 11 to 23 (32) 3 to 11 (38) Below 3 per 100 (48) world summit on the information society 10 Note: Effective teledensity = fixed lines or mobile phones per 100 inhabitants, whichever is higher. Source: ITU.
The shrinking digital divide Fixed-lines (million) 100% Mobile (million) 100% 80% 60% 440 521 567 80% 60% 31 244 734 40% 40% 20% 0% 546 288 141 1993 1998 2003 20% 0% 608 3 80 1993 1998 2003 Developed Developing world summit on the information society 11 Source: ITU Internet Reports 2004: The Portable Internet
All developing regions are doing well 35 30 25 Change in effective teledensity, developing regions, 1993-2003 1993 2003 24.8 31.4 20 19.6 15 17.1 15.0 10 5 0 4.0 South Asia 5.3 0.8 1.1 Sub-Saharan Africa 7.0 4.5 5.2 1.5 7.9 Pacific Arab States East Asia Latin America & Caribbean Europe & Central Asia world summit on the information society 12 Note: Effective teledensity = fixed lines or mobile phones per 100 inhabitants, whichever is higher. Source: ITU.
Mobile communications leading to a new era of growth 24.6% Growth rates in effective teledensity, Africa, 1978-2003 7.5% 5.6% 5.7% 6.4% 1978-83 1983-88 1988-93 1993-98 1998-2003 world summit on the information society 13 Note: Effective teledensity = fixed lines or mobile phones per 100 inhabitants, whichever is higher. Source: ITU.
Digital inclusion (2): Accessibility Gender balance in ICT usage USA Canada Mexico Korea (Rep) Taiwan Singapore Hong Kong UK Norway Japan Switzerland Brazil France Germany Source: Nielsen-Netratings. % Female users, At home June 2001 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 world summit on the information society 14
140 120 Digital Inclusion (3): Affordability Fixed charges 100 80 60 40 20 0 Average trends in OECD economies (30), 1990=100 Usage charges Total charges 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 world summit on the information society 15 Source: OECD Communications Outlook, 2003
What does WSIS say about the digital divide? We are fully committed to turning this digital divide into a digital opportunity for all, particularly for those who risk being left behind and being further marginalized. (Declaration, para 10) Realizing that the ambitious goal of this Declaration bridging the digital divide and ensuring harmonious, fair and equitable development for all will require strong commitment by all stakeholders, we call for digital solidarity, both at national and international levels. (Declaration, para 17) world summit on the information society 16
Preparatory process for Tunis Phase The second phase of the summit will take place in Tunis from November 16 th to 18 th, 2005 Preparatory process: Drafting work carried out by Group of Friends of Chair PrepCom-1, Hammamet, 24-26 June 2004: Focus and output of Tunis Phase PrepCom-2, Geneva, 17-24 February 2005: Financing Mechanisms PrepCom-3, September 2005: Internet Governance Regional and Thematic Meetings E.g., ITU WSIS Thematic Meeting on Countering Spam, Geneva, 7-9 July 2004 E.g., Govt of Japan/ITU/UNU on Ubiquitous Network Society, Tokyo world summit on the information society 17
Outline of the preparatory process June 2004 Feb 2005 Sept 2005 Nov 2005 PrepCom 1 PrepCom 2 PrepCom 3 Summit Intersessional work Task Force on Financial Mechanisms Working Group on Internet Governance
Focus of the Tunis Phase (PrepCom 1) Follow-up and implementation of the Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action by stakeholders at national, regional and international levels, with particular attention to the challenges facing the Least Developed Countries; Consideration of the report of the Task Force on Financial Mechanisms (TFFM) and appropriate action; Internet governance: consideration of the report of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) and appropriate action. world summit on the information society 19
Tunis Focus (1): Follow-up and implementation Stocktaking Creation of database of WSIS-related activities See www.itu.int/wsis/stocktaking Measuring ICT for development Partnership bringing together ITU, UNCTAD, OECD, UN regional commmissions and others WSIS Thematic Meeting, February 7-9 2005, Geneva Regional meetings to establish a core set of indicators WSIS regional and thematic meetings world summit on the information society 20
Tunis Focus (2): Internet governance The UN Secretary General is asked to set up a working group to investigate and make proposals for action, as appropriate, on the governance of Internet by 2005 (Paragraph C6, 13 b) Plan of Action) Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) Chaired by Nitin Desai, Head of Secretariat, Markus Kummer Initial Consultations, 20-21 September 2004 First meeting, 23-25 November 2004 Future meetings in February, April and June 2005 Final report in July 2005 For more information: www.wgig.org world summit on the information society 21
Tunis Focus (3): Digital solidarity fund A review to be completed by the end of 2004 - of the adequacy of current financial mechanisms and the possibility to create a voluntary Digital Solidarity Fund, will be be conducted by a UN Task Force on Financial Mechanisms (TFFM) (Paragraph D2 f) Plan of action) Task Force under auspices of UNDP Membership announced October 2004 Report to UN Secretary-General, December 2004 world summit on the information society 22
website: www.itu.int/wsis contact: wsis@itu.int Thank you world summit on the information society 23