closing digital divide gap

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The following quotes are from the Foreword of the above report:

“As this report shows, tremendous progress has been made over the past decade, with close to five billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide at the end of 2010, and almost two billion people throughout the world now having access to the Internet.”

World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report 2010

MONITORING THE WSIS TARGETS A mid-term review

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“But there is still a vast amount of work to be done. In particular, we need to bring affordable fast broadband access within reach of the great majority of the world’s people — noting today that three quarters of the world’s inhabitants still have no access to the Internet at all. So what we need is to see a rapid and equitable spread of broadband networks matching the extraordinary growth of mobile cellular networks over the past decade.”

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“The key – as this report acknowledges – will be in recognizing that broadband networks deliver benefits right across society, and can quickly pay for themselves in terms of the savings gained through the more efficient provision of essential services such as healthcare, education, power, water, transportation and e-government.” End of Quotes

***From the “Executive Summary of “Connecting America : The National Broadband Plan,” Mar 2010

Broadband is the great infrastructure challenge of the early 21st century.

Like electricity a century ago, broadband is a foundation for economic growth, job creation, global competitiveness and a better way of life. It is enabling entire new industries and unlocking vast new possibilities for existing ones. It is changing how we educate children, deliver health care, manage energy, ensure public safety, engage government, and access, organize and disseminate knowledge.

Closing the Digital Divide:Inclusion of Rural/Remote Communities

William T Torres, PhDNational Academy of Science and Technology

Talking Points

• What is the Digital Divide?oBroadband ConnectivityoGlobal perspectiveoPhilippine perspective

• Closing the Digital Divideo Include Remote Communities!

• Strategic Action Plan

Asia’s broadband – markets rankedby household penetration – 2009

Market ranking | Penetration range | (as proportion of all households) | Market (household penetration) |

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

High | >50% |South Korea (85%) | Singapore (82%) | Hong Kong (80%) | Macau (72%) |Taiwan (64%) | Japan (54%) | 

Medium | 2-40% | Malaysia (21%) | China (20%) | Brunei (18%) | Maldives (15%) | Kazakhstan (15%) | Vietnam (12%) | Philippines (10%) | Thailand (8%) | Georgia (4%) | 

Low | 0-2% | Azerbaijan (2%) | India (2%) | Indonesia (1%) | + 18 other countries in Asia| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--Source: BuddeComm estimates

http://www.reportlinker.com/p0170440/Asian-Broadband-Market.html#ixzz1H6Y9fBlx

Asia-Pacific Broadband

• Penetration• Speed• Price

Philippine broadband

compared with

Asia-Pacific countries?

Philippine broadband: typically 256 kbps, no or small CIR for uplink.

Philippine broadband connections per 100 persons: 1.2 in 2007, 3.4 in 2008 (EIU IT Competitive Index 2008)

Can we close the Broadband Connectivity Gap?

• Developing and under-developed countries will not be able to catch up with the developed countries if we make comparisons:o based on “individual ratio”o based on “household ratio”

• But if we use a different measurement, I believe we can!o Use “barangay ratio” (This means number of barangays with broadband

connectivity per 100 barangays.)

Closing the Digital Divide

• Include the Rural Communities!o Prioritize remote areas that cannot be reached by telcos

in the foreseeable future

• Adopt a “Shared Broadband Connectivity” schemeo Develop special “pro-poor Value-Added Services”

• Offer mobile cellular phone services and Internet access together

• Adopt a “Social Entrepreneurship” scheme

Intel’s Rural Connectivity Platform

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Barangay Access Point Antennas

Link antennaconnect to

TAP

GSM antennaconnecting

mobile phones

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What are to be set up?

• Barangay Access Point (BAP)• Telco Access Point (TAP)• Broadband connectivity

between TAP and BAPs

• Mobile Telephony• Voice over IP• Internet and Web Services

• Barangay-resident entrepreneur

ICT infrastructure

Services

Owner-Operator

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Business Model (1)

•The Barangay Access Point (BAP) is owned and set up by a barangay-resident entrepreneur.

•The Telco will set up a Telco Access Point (TAP) at its cell site/tower. (Telco owns the TAP which can connect to many BAPs.)

•The TAP-BAP broadband IP connection is subscribed from the Telco and paid for by the barangay entrepreneur.

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Business Model (2)

•The barangay-resident entrepreneur operates the mobile phone and Internet cafe services as owner. Income is earned from many sources.

•On-line Value-Added Services (VAS) will be provided by many third parties.

•A private organization will help bring about this “social entrepreneurship” initiative.

THANK YOU, IN ADVANCE, FOR YOUR ATTENTION IN THE NEAR FUTURE!

Thank you for your attention today.