Good practices in information and communication technology policies in Asia and the Pacific : promotion of enabling policies and regulatory frameworks for information and communication technology development in the Asia-Pacific region
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Abstract
Information and Communication Technology, or ICT, provides unique opportunities for economic growth and human development. It offers a chance for developing countries to catch up with the developed world in the new millennium. It covers a wide range of applications – from electronic commerce to access to financial markets; from generating employment to providing opportunities for investment to entrepreneurs, in particular small and medium sized enterprises; from improved agricultural and manufacturing productivity to the empowerment of all sections of society; from tele-education to Telemedicine; from environmental management and monitoring to prevention and management of disasters. The potential of ICT is enormous to foster sustainable development, empower people, including women and youth, build capacity and skills, assist small and medium sized enterprises, reduce poverty and reinforce popular participation and informed decision-making at all levels.
When the first edition of the ITU Telecommunications Indicators came out in 1993, the Asia- Pacific region accounted for just one-quarter of the world’s fixed telephone lines and around one-sixth of mobile users. In 2001, the region emerged as the world’s largest telecommunications market. It is today home to over one-third of the earth’s telephone subscribers. It is the only region to have increased its market share significantly, adding more than one new telephone user every second for the last decade. Asia-Pacific also leads in advanced Internet technologies such as broadband access and mobile data, making it an exciting region to watch and from which to learn. The Republic of Korea and Hong Kong, China are the top two economies in the world in terms of broadband Internet penetration. In mobile Internet, Japan and the Republic of Korea were the first-two nations to launch third generation cellular networks commercially. These exploits corroborate the view that the global telecommunications epicentre is shifting from North America and Western Europe to Asia-Pacific.