Mission Statement
Inventing the Future in International Telecommunications
By Yoshio Utsumi
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As I enter my second term as Secretary-General of ITU—the world's oldest intergovernmental organization—I'm reluctant to predict what revolutionary change telecommunications will bring to this century. However, I am certain of one thing: information and communication technology (ICT) is at the core of the current evolution of the global information society. Information has the power to dispel ignorance and empower those who are oppressed. It has the power to bind the global community and spread the common ideals of peace and tolerance, growth and development. While the basic needs of humankind have long been food, clothing and shelter, the time has come to add "information" to that list. A concerted global effort is needed to eliminate the gap between rich and poor when it comes to access to information. Unfortunately, we still have many hurdles to overcome. The euphoria of the dot.com boom carried the world into uncharted waters, and at times we lost sight of the horizon. Too much eagerness to "jump on the electronic bandwagon" resulted in a mismatch between supply and demand, which led to telecommunication overcapacity in many areas of the developed world. In 2000 alone, the industry invested more than $200 billion worldwide. But the financial and social dividends have been far from optimal, because we were super-serving the rich few, and failing to provide basic services to the many. Despite the abundance of telecommunication capacity, there is not even a basic telephone connection in many villages of the developing world, where demand continues to outstrip supply. The problem is clearly not one of shortage of resources but of distribution and the lack of a global policy perspective. In the new information society, where information is the key to economic, social and cultural development, ITU must play a key role in helping our membership with policy development. This goes well beyond what the founders of the Union could have imagined in 1865 but, like Marconi and Bell, my objectives are on a more human scale. I want to make certain that a farmer in a remote part of Africa or Asia can have instantaneous access to information on the global market, which directly impacts his life—information that will help him to improve his ability to choose the crops he grows, or to pick the day he takes his harvest to market. I want to ensure that the power of information and communication technologies can bring simple water purification techniques and training to villages, where infant mortality rates are still as high as the day when Marconi's first telegraph message crossed the Atlantic in 1901. The need for ITU to focus on a global policy perspective does not mean I intend to turn my back on the telecommunications industry. Rather, it is within this industry that my hope lies. However, we must acknowledge that the broader goals of humanity, such as those expressed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, will be much easier to achieve once developing countries benefit from the same ubiquity of advanced information and communication technologies as developed countries. The telecommunication operators and manufacturers who have suffered most since the global industry downturn began in 2001 are those who have not invested outside the developed nations. The competition to reach the last 5 per cent or so of potential telecommunication users in the developed world is much more intense than for the 50 per cent who are still unserved in the developing world. Despite the fact that activities based around the creation, processing and dissemination of information already account for more than 80 per cent of employment in the developed world, issues concerning ICTs are not yet high on the political agenda of many of our leaders. Wise politicians may already know how to use the media to win elections, but many do not yet know how to make the best use of ICTs to run the government or extend the reach of educational programmes or medical services. For developing countries, the dawn of the information society poses the opportunity to leapfrog ahead, to be free of the constraints imposed by the distribution of natural resources or the terms of trade. ICTs can directly assist those countries emerging from a troubled history. However, increasing access to ICTs is not without risk to some political leaders, as it may give their citizens more power to control their economic and political destiny. We must help our political leaders, on either side of the "digital divide", to develop a common vision of how to turn the challenges created by the information society into opportunities. The World Summit on the Information Society represents a unique opportunity to do this. The "two-phase" structure of the Summit provides a chance to set the policy agenda for years to come. The first phase will be in Geneva, from 10 to 12 December 2003, and the second in Tunisia in 2005, and we must work to attract high-level participation in both. To do that, the draft action plan we develop must be forward-looking and address tomorrow's problems. In recent years, there have been many initiatives designed to tackle the digital divide, including those of ITU and other UN agencies. While some have been more successful than others, the time has come to seek new and innovative ways of mobilizing and coordinating our investment, by seeking a global perspective that ensures our working together and maximizing our collective strengths, resources and skills. Cyberspace may well be a new land without borders, but it is not a parallel universe. It is just as real, yet even more complex than the one in which we live. Its inhabitants are not only individuals but corporations, Governments and even sovereign States, which require new mechanisms for access and coordination. Cyberspace interacts with our own world and poses many new challenges for policy makers. For instance, we are increasingly dependent on cyberspace, but how can we be protected against international cyber-terrorism? Who can or should police cyberspace, and how? If we pay taxes in the real world, should we also pay for our transactions in cyberspace? To whom? How? How can we control crimes conducted in cyberspace? Which jurisdiction should take precedence? How can freedom of expression or other fundamental human rights be guaranteed in cyberspace? Is there a danger that some would seek to control its content? How can we build user trust and confidence in cyberspace? National policies and laws on these issues may well exist, but their effectiveness is limited by the fact that they only apply within national borders. Yet, increasingly our economic transactions and intellectual activities are conducted in cyberspace, without clear rules and regulations. And as the telecommunication industry inevitably brings more innovative technology to the global village marketplace, the complexity of policy issues surrounding this new frontier will only increase. We stand on the brink of a new era in which we must make fundamental choices about what life in the information society will be like. We may not be able to entirely predict how it will manifest itself, but we have no choice but to embrace it if we wish to ensure that the basic principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and embraced by the Millennium Development Goals are fulfilled. This reality was made very clear to me during the recent ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Marrakesh where I was re-elected. More than 70 Ministers from over 150 Member States attended, and the majority clearly expressed the need for ITU to continue to develop policy initiatives that will help them make certain that the information society does not further marginalize or exclude their citizens. The time has come to make the "global village" a reality and ensure that all of its citizens benefit from the information and communication tools that have created it. The 1.5 million villages still unconnected could be brought through the information society gateway for less than the prices paid for third-generation mobile licences in developed countries that are already well served. Raising that capital investment requires innovative approaches and some bold suggestions for global policy. The World Summit on the Information Society provides the opportunity to do just that. It has been said that the best way to predict the future is to invent it. As I look ahead to my next four years at ITU, I ask that you join us in inventing a future where the tools of communication make the world a more equitable, peaceful and sustainable place for all, not just for a privileged few. |
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