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UN Commission sets global broadband targets
26 October 2011
Fourth meeting of the Broadband Commission endorses new broadband targets and issues global Broadband Challenge
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internet
Broadband Commission
ITU
Telmex
UN
Geneva
The Broadband Commission for Digital Development has agreed on a set of four “ambitious but achievable” new targets that countries around the world should strive to meet in order to ensure their populations fully participate in tomorrow’s emerging knowledge societies.
Meeting in Geneva at the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecom World conference and exhibition, the Broadband Commission set new targets cover broadband policy, affordability and uptake.
By 2015, all countries should have a national broadband plan or strategy or include broadband in their universal access/service definitions, said the commission.
Broadband should be affordable. By 2015, entry-level broadband services should be made affordable in developing countries through adequate regulation and market forces — for example, amount to less than 5% of average monthly income.
The commission set a target that by 2015, 40% of households in developing countries should have internet access and that the user penetration should reach 60% worldwide, 50% in developing countries and 15% in least developed countries.
“These targets are ambitious but achievable, given the political will and commitment on the part of governments, working in partnership with the private sector,” said Hamadoun Touré, ITU secretary-general, who serves as co-vice chair of the commission alongside Unesco director-general Irina Bokova. The commission is co-chaired by President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Carlos Slim Helú, chairman and CEO of Telmex and América Movíl.
The ITU said it will undertake responsibility for measuring each country’s progress towards the targets, producing an annual broadband report with rankings of nations worldwide in terms of broadband policy, affordability and uptake. GTB