The recently released report on the State of Broadband 2014 declares specific targets;
Advocacy Target 1: Making broadband policy universal – by 2015, all countries should have a national broadband plan or strategy or include broadband in UAS Definitions
Advocacy Target 2: Making broadband affordable – by 2015, entry-level broadband services should be made affordable in developing countries through adequate regulation and market forces
Advocacy Target 3: Connecting homes to broadband – by 2015, 40% of households in developing countries should have Internet access
Advocacy Target 4: Getting people online – by 2015, Internet user penetration should reach 60% worldwide, 50% in developing countries and 15% in LDCs
Advocacy Target 5: Achieving gender equality in access to broadband by 2020
How realistic are these targets? I was once told (by a member of the team responsible for setting such targets) that they are not meant to be realistic. The idea being that once declared people will strive to achieve and that will ensure achievement beyond their previous trajectory.
The definition of broadband was something I was looking for; however, it seems the ITU and OECD definition by speed (a minimum of 256 Kbps) has not changed. Although, “the Broadband Commission for Digital Development has defined broadband using a cluster of concepts, as high-speed Internet access which is always-on and capable of multiple service provision simultaneously”, a minimum speed has not been mentioned. Instead, an acknowledgment that there has been steady growth in theoretical and actual speeds. How the latter was obtained has not been made clear.
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Abu Saeed Khan
The outgoing Secretary-General of ITU is known to be obsessed with nonstarter technologies like WiMAX. In his keynote speech at WCIT 2008, held in Kuala Lumpur, I heard him saying that WiMAX was the only way to bridge digital divide by connecting the rural citizens.
Six years later this Broadband Commission report (Page 75) says, “If we have an objective of reaching a 70% penetration rate of broadband services in urban areas, the most inexpensive way to provide the service is through WiMAX.”
I hope the new Secretary-General will appreciate the fundamentals of technology instead of being a technological fundamentalist.