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UN says digital divide is growing 
Wednesday, June 19 2002
by Matthew Clark


With millions of people in the developing world without access to telephone
services, the United Nations warned this week that the digital divide is growing.

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.