Digital Reach

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deployment, to optimize payback (2004):
13 Ibid.
14 The Business Management System, International Trade Centre (ITC)
UNCTAD/WTO, Geneva 2003.
Redefining communication, transforming India
1 Reliance Infocomm has over one million R Connect customers today. R World
receives about a billion page view, every month. It receives over seven million
cricket look-ups on the day of a match. Over 10 movies and events have been
covered under its show-time programme, translating to three million hits. The
service has announced some 75 examination results already. Ringtone
downloads are of the tune of 2.5 million every month.
2 Netway is Reliance Infocomm’s triple play service, riding on a bandwidth of
100 Mbps. Home Netway will deliver hundreds of television channels to
thousands of homes through a multifunctional, digital set-top box designed
and manufactured in-house. The 40 GB memory state-of-the-art set-top box is
capable of storing nearly 10 hours of programming.
3 Reliance’s “Monsoon Hungama” offer of June 2003 is a classic case. It offered
mobile handset and connection at a down payment of Rs 501 (approx. USD
11), almost a tenth of what other operators were charging for the same at that
time. The scheme garnered 10 lakh subscribers in less than a month. In little
more than three yeas, competition reduced per minute charges by 90 per
cent. Access, prepay, roaming, and messaging tariffs, likewise fell,” observes
the Shosteck Group.
III
WSIS FOR DEVELOPMENT
The convergence of summits: the 2005 World Summit and the World Summit
on the Information Society
1 The Inequality Predicament: Report on the World Social Situation 2005 (New
York: United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2005).
2 Report of the Secretary-General, In larger freedom: Towards development,
security and human rights for all, (paragraph 27).
eLAC2007 – Implementing the Geneva Plan of Action in Latin America and the
Caribbean
1 The ECLAC Information Society Programme receives financial support from
the @LIS project of the European Commission and the International
Development Research Centre (IDRC)-Institute for Connectivity in the
Americas (ICA).
2 See Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC),
P olíticas públicas para el desarrollo de sociedades de información en América
Latina y el Caribe (LC/W.19), June 2005:
publicaciones/xml/5/21575/P21575
.xml&xsl=ddpe/tpl/p9f.xsl&base=/socinfo/tpl/top-bottom.xsl
3 Martin Hilbert ‘Comment on the Financing Aspect of the Information Society
for Developing Countries’, MIT Press, The World Summit on the Information
Society in Reflection: ITI, information technologies and international
development, Vol. 1, Issues 3-4, (2005):
4 This effort is reflected in particular in the following declarations: the
Declaration of Florianópolis (July 2000), the Declaration of Itacuruçá
(October 2000), the Decision of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Rio
Group to set up a working group on information technologies (March 2001),
the Rio de Janeiro Declaration on ICT for Development (June 2001), Agenda
for Connectivity in the Americas and Plan of Action of Quito (August 2002),
the Bávaro Declaration (January 2003 and the Rio de Janeiro Commitment
(June 2005).
ICT, poverty reduction and the role of micro, small and medium enterprises
1 For further information on UNIDO’s ICT activities, including their linkage
into the technical cooperation programmes of the organization please contact:
Mr. Abel J.J. Rwendeire,
Managing Director,
Programme Development and Technical Cooperation Division,
United Nations Industrial Development Organization,
Vienna International Centre,
Wagramerst. 5,
P.O. Box 300,
A-1400 Vienna,
Austria,
E-mail:
Financing information infrastructure in the developing world
1 This article is based on the World Bank report, ‘Financing Information and
Communication Infrastructure Needs in the Developing World: Public and Private
Role’, issued in February 2005. This article represents the views of the
authors, not necessarily those of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, or
the countries that they represent. Contact: Thanks
to Isabel Neto for edits and additions. The full version of the report can be
accessed online at:
921A585256FB60051B8F5
2 ‘WSIS Plan of Action’, WSIS-03/GENEVA/DOC/0005 (12 December 2003):
www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_single-en-1160.asp
3 See the full report for details of this calculation.
4 We have evidence from surveys that ask entrepreneurs in the developing
world about the constraints to the growth of their businesses, including a
question regarding the seriousness of constraints created by inadequate
telecommunications services.
5 The companies are Vodacom, MTN, Orange, Orascom, Celtel and Milicom.
The data relates to the continent of Africa, and revenues and profits for
Orange were estimated from its share in Africa’s subscriber base. Data from
ITU News No. 5 (June 2004).
6 Calculated from data in the PPI database, see
7 The International Finance Corporation is the primary provider of financing to
the private sector ICI industry in the WBG— through loans, equity, quasi-
equity, risk management products and guarantees.
8 For more information on the Financing Instruments available in the Bank
Group to support ICT, see Neto, 2005.
Further References:
- Guislain, P. and C. Qiang. FDI in Telecommunications, (World Bank,
Washington, DC Processed 2004).
- ITU, World Telecommunication Development Report. (ITU: Geneva, 2004a).
- ITU, General Trends in Telecommunication Reform, (ITU: Geneva,. 2004b).
- Kenny, C., B. Lanvin and A. Lewin. 2003. The Access Divide: 1990 to 2000 in
World Bank Global ICT Department ICT and Development (Washington, DC:
World Bank, 2003).
- Keremane, R. and C. Kenny, The Costs of Universal Access (World Bank,
Washington DC. Processed, 2005).
- Neto, I. The World Bank Group Financial Instruments and Their Contribution to
Information and Communication Technologies, mimeo, (World Bank, 2005).
- Ure, J. Infrastructure in East Asia and the Pacific – The Way Forward Telecom
Note For the World Bank. World Bank, Washington, DC. (2004).
- Wellenuis, B. Extending Telecommunications Service to Rural Areas – the Chilean
Experience, World Bank Viewpoint Note No. 105. (World Bank, Washington,
DC, 1997).
- World Bank Information and Communications Technologies: A World Bank
Strategy (Washington DC: World Bank, 2002).
How weather, climate and water information saves life and promotes
sustainable development
1 www.wmo.int/index-en.html
2 www.wmo.int/web/www/www.html
3 www.wmo.int/web/www/TEM/gts.html
4 www.wmo.int/web/www/FWIS-Web/homefwis.htm
The social dimension of ICT
1 ILO (2005), Global Employment Trends Brief 2004, Geneva.
2 ILO (2004), World Employment Report 2004-05: Employment, Productivity and
Poverty Reduction, Geneva.
3 ILO (2003), Working out of Poverty, Report of the Director General to the 91st
Session of the International Labour Conference, Geneva.
4 See
5 Author, David H, Wiring the Labor Market. Working Paper 7959 (2000)
6 Hadass, Yael S. (2004): The Effect of Internet Recruiting on the Matching of
Workers and Employers Harvard University.
7 Newman, Nathan, ‘Is Labor Missing The Internet Third Wave?’ Working USA
Volume 8, Issue 4 (June 2005) 383.
8 A further reference to this particular case can be found in Carty, Victoria,
‘Technology and Counter-hegemonic Movements’, Social Movement Studies
Volume 1, Issue 2 (1 October 2002) 129-146.
9 Comfort, Louise K. Rapidly Evolving Response Systems in Crisis Environments:
An Analytical Model Working Paper 2001-6, Graduate School of Public and
International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh.
10 Paragraph 5 of the Millennium Declaration.