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At a two-day UN General Assembly session that deals with information technology for developing countries, Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), claimed that 83 countries in Africa, Asia and the former Soviet Union have less than 10 telephone lines for every 100 people.
According to Utsumi, 25 countries have less than one phone line for every 100 people, and 61 countries have less than one percent Internet use, primarily in Africa.
A litany of speakers discussed the topic at great length, including UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan who said on Monday, "Despite commendable efforts and various initiatives, we are still very far from ensuring that the benefits of ICT are available to all. The digital
divide still yawns as widely as ever, with billions of people still unconnected to a global society which, on its side, is more and more 'wired.'"
Annan said such was the case, partly because a number of "very promising" initiatives that were set to deal with the issue "did not live up to expectations." And the main cause of this was "insufficient long-term commitment on the part of initiators and sponsors."
He concluded by saying that many initiatives, including the UN's ICT Task Force, set up last year by Annan himself, must have certain qualities to succeed. Some of these qualities include: an enduring vision, support and commitment from stakeholders and adequate resources over the long term.
Annan's comments on Monday, some of which suggested that private firms should offer stronger commitments to supporting ICT in the developing world, came hours before Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard said they would divert 20 percent of their charity donations to providing developing countries with basic telecommunications services.
According to an AP report, last year Microsoft's charity budget was USD215 million in cash and software, and HP donated USD50 million to not-for-profit causes, meaning that the two firms alone will probably route over USD43 million to the ICT in the developing world next year.
This week's event foreshadows the ITU's first World Summit on Information Technology, which begins in Geneva from 10 December to 12 December 2002. A Second summit will take place in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, in 2005.
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