13
NEWS & VIEWS
September 2016
Increasingly affordable ICT services
yet to bridge digital divide
GENEVA – While ICT services are becoming
increasingly affordable, more than half of
the world’s population remain cut-off from
the vast resources available on the Internet.
According to new data released by the
International Telecommunication Union
(ITU), developing countries now account
for the vast majority of Internet users with
2.5 billion users, compared with one billion
in developed countries. However, Internet
penetration currently stands at 40% in
developing countries, compared to 81% in
developed countries. In the Least Developed
Countries — defined by the United Nations
(UN) as least developed in terms of low gross
national incomes, weak human assets and
high degree of economic vulnerability — this
plunges down to 15%.
By end-2016, 3.9 billion people are
expected to still lack access to the Internet.
While almost one billion households in the
world now have Internet access (of which 230
million are in China, 60 million in India and
20 million in the world’s 48 Least Developed
Countries), the extent of the digital divide can
be illustrated by the fact that 84% of households in Europe are connected, compared
with 15.4% in Africa.
Zhao Houlin, secretary-general of the
ITU, urged: “Global interconnectedness is
rapidly expanding; however, more needs
to be done to bridge the digital divide
and bring the more than half of the global
population not using the Internet into the
digital economy.”
Access to information and communication technologies, particularly broadband,
has the potential to serve as a major accelerator of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, added Zhao.
Last September, all 193 UN member
states adopted a plan for achieving a better
future for all, through laying out a path over
the next 15 years to “end extreme poverty,
fight inequality and injustice, and protect
our planet”.
Where affordability is concerned, the ITU
reported that mobile-broadband services
have now become more affordable than
fixed-broadband services. The average price
for a basic fixed-broadband plan is now more
than twice as high as the average price of a
comparable mobile-broadband plan.
Mobile-phone coverage is also now
“near-ubiquitous”, with an estimated 95% of
the global population — or some seven billion people — living in an area covered by a
basic 2G mobile-cellular network. Advanced
mobile-broadband networks (LTE) have
shown strong growth over the past three
years, reaching almost four billion people,
or 53% of the global population.
But while the number of mobile-broadband subscriptions continues to grow at
double-digit rates in developing countries
to reach a penetration rate of close to 41%,
mobile-broadband penetration growth has
While ICT services
are becoming
increasingly
affordable, more
than half of the
world’s population
remains cutoff from the
vast resources
available on the
Internet.
slowed overall. Globally, the total number of
mobile-broadband subscriptions is expected
to reach 3.6 billion by end-2016, compared
with 3.2 billion at end-2015
It’s all
about the
money
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BBC provides 360°
view of Rio Olympics
LONDON – As part of its coverage of last
month’s Olympic Games in Brazil, the BBC
launched BBC Sport 360, an experimental
service bringing selected content from the
Games live and on-demand in 360° video.
Through the BBC Sport 360 trial app,
the BBC provided live 360° video footage of
an event from the Games, with around 100
hours in total and a choice of up to four different camera angles, plus a daily 360° video
highlights package.
BBC Sport 360, according to the UK public broadcaster, builds on the BBC’s work in
exploring the potential of immersive media
for future audiences.
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