Overcoming the digital divide not "just a click away"
The
question "Is e-business just a click away for developing countries?",
the title of a session on bridging the digital divide, provoked a resounding
negative.
.
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, President of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, of Jordan, said: "The
short answer is no", and most participants agreed with him. "We face
the digital divide, and that divide is particularly acute when we compare developed
countries to developing countries," Mr Abu-Ghazaleh said.
Information and communication
technologies may help societies to leapfrog over some stages of development,
but they could not instantly transform society because they depended on society
to thrive. Other speakers echoed Mr Abu-Ghazaleh's call for broad and sustained
efforts at education and capacity building to develop the human resources necessary
to build a viable information society.
Ayisi Makatiani, CEO of
African Online Holdings, an Internet service provider in Kenya, said that, while
12% of the world's population lives in Africa, Africa is home to only 2% of
the world's fixed telephone lines. The continent contained only 1.6% of the
world's mobile phone users, 1.4% of the world's personal computers, and 0.8%
of the world's Internet users.
He said: "Even if people
do get PCs, they probably won't be able to afford telephone lines, which you
need for Internet access." Although the statistic were grim, Mr Makatiani
still believed that Africa can become part of the digital world and reap the
advantages of e-business.
In contrast with Africa,
China was making strong digital progress, said Lyric Hughes, publisher and CEO
of China Online. She said that although statistics varied "there is no
doubt that 18 months from now, China's Internet population will be the largest
in the world, surpassing that of the United States."
The Internet's penetration
in China was partly the result of an early decision by the Chinese government
that Internet dial-up changes should be kept low, Ms Hughes said. By declaring
a "taxation holiday" on Internet transactions, the Chinese government
was helping to e
ncourage e-business.
Samuel Gleiser Katz, Chairman
and CEO of Corporacion Rey, Peru, quoted statistics demonstrating the comparatively
low percentage of Internet users in the total population in Latin America compared
with North America, Oceania and Europe. Almost 50% of North Americans have Internet
access compared with 4.2% in Latin America. He said e-business in Latin America
had to contend with technological, educational and income gaps.
However, Internet users
in Peru, currently estimated at 900,000, were expected to reach 2.4 million
by 2005. Mr Gleiser Katz pointed out that as much as 76% of Internet access
in his country was via telecentres offering communal use.
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