The Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) - ITU

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than Brazilian ones, but this is not the case. More research is needed on the reasons why people living in households with computers may not connect to the Internet. While the explosion of public facilities offering Internet access is admirable (see Chapter six), policy-makers should focus on the benefits of each household having its own, regular Internet access. 3.5.3 The death of dial-up? The Digital Opportunity Index tracks access to new and advanced technologies, including fixed and wireless broadband. The telecommunication industry reached a key milestone in 2005, when broadband subscribers exceeded dial-up for the first time as the primary way of accessing the Internet. By the end of 2005, there were nearly 218 million broadband subscribers around the world, accounting for 53 per cent of all Internet subscriptions. At current rates of growth, the vast majority of Internet subscriptions should be at broadband speeds (equal to or greater than 256 kbit/s) by the end of this decade. There is a widespread perception that broadband is less relevant for developing countries, but this is not the case. Broadband is increasingly available in developing countries. By the start of 2007, ADSL at speeds of 256 kbit/s and above was available in 170 economies (Figure 3.9, left). DSL was rolled out in Ghana 21 and Libya 22 during 2006. In 2007, Telecom Lesotho will introduce ADSL to improve Internet services and has submitted its proposed tariffs to the Lesotho Telecommunications Authority, which launched a Public Consultation on ADSL tariffs 23 , with a pilot project to be launched in Maseru. 24 As long ago as December 2003, Macedonia became the last unserved European country to introduce broadband, with an ADSL service. However, due to Maktel’s monopoly over access to Internet bandwidth, Macedonia is focusing on wireless broadband, for example, for USAID’s school connectivity project to connect 461 schools. 25 Meanwhile, the speed and choice of services available are growing. Maroc Telecom launched Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) over DSL in May 2006 26 and has recently launched the first four Mbit/s broadband package in Africa 27 (Figure 3.9, right). Qtel (Qatar) is one of the first telecommunication operators in the Middle East to have introduced a triple play offering over ADSL. 28 Meanwhile, for many developing countries, wireless broadband offers an attractive way of reaching greater number subscribers at reduced costs. In 2006, Africa Online Uganda introduced broadband wireless with a wider coverage, designed to suit both business and home users. Wireless broadband can be much cheaper compared to leased lines, as bills are based on usage, rather than fixed monthly payments. 29 Figure 3.10: Ratio of broadband to total Internet subscribers, Hong Kong, SAR % 70 Proportion of total subscribers 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 02/2000 06/2000 10/2000 02/2001 06/2001 10/2001 02/2002 06/2002 10/2002 02/2003 06/2003 10/2003 02/2004 06/2004 10/2004 02/2005 06/2005 10/2005 Source: Adapted from Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA), Hong Kong, SAR. World Information Society Report 2007 51
Statistical Chapter Three Annex Some economies are taking longer to convert their Internet subscriber base to broadband, however, especially where there is a competitive market and tariffs are relatively low. In Hong Kong SAR, the broadband market boomed after 2000 with the ratio of broadband to total Internet subscribers increasing by around one per cent a month (Figure 3.10). 30 However, broadband growth has stagnated recently and the ratio of broadband to total Internet subscribers only increased by four per cent in 2005 to 63 per cent. What explains this resistance to broadband? 31 One factor is that even though broadband prices have dropped dramatically and bandwidth has risen, dial-up is still often cheaper in many economies, particularly those, such as Hong Kong SAR, that do not charge for local calls. Also, some users do not like the always-on feature of broadband, fearing it makes them more vulnerable to cyber-intrusion (an issue examined in Chapter five). Some users simply do not need broadband since they use mostly low-bandwidth applications such as email. Finally, there are users who do not have access to broadband because they live in remote areas, outside of the range of DSL or cable. This group of users is increasingly important as one focus of debates over universal service. 3.5.4 Growth in 3G mobile There is strong growth in third generation (3G) mobile services, particularly in Asia and Europe, where nearly all the top ten largest markets are situated (Figure 3.11, left). Mobile broadband has grown in speed and by the first quarter of 2006, operators were advertising commercially available download velocities of between 384 kbit/s – 1.4 Mbit/s. The industry promises even higher speeds in the future. For example, Telstra, a mobile operator in Australia claims that it will soon be providing peak network speeds of 14.4 Mbit/s over its High Speed Download Packet Access (HSDPA) network. Mobile broadband (3G) services are now offered in many developing countries throughout central and eastern Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean (Figure 3.10, right). Wideband CDMA networks were operational in 49 countries by the start of 2007, with 24 HSDPA networks. Twelve economies had separate networks supporting both W-CDMA and CDMA 2000 1x in 2006. 32 As operators introduce these advanced mobile services, they are now deriving a greater proportion of their revenues from data services. In Africa, data revenues are small, but growing. Vodacom Figure 3.11: Expansion of mobile broadband and 3G mobile Top ten 3G mobile markets, 2005 Number of economies with mobile broadband technologies, 2001-2006 Australia Portugal Spain France Germany USA UK Italy Korea (Rep.) Japan CDMA 1x EV-DO W-CDMA 0 5 10 15 20 79 61 CDMA 1x EV-DO 30 W-CDMA only W-CDMA+HSDPA 42 20 11 25 Total 32 12 26 2 2 7 24 5 9 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Source: ITU/UNCTAD/KADO Digital Opportunity Platform and ITU Internet Report 2006: digital.life. 52
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