Press release

14 Oct 2010

Beirut

UN Information Economy Report 2010 Launched in Beirut

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Beirut, 14 October 2010 (UN Information Service) — The UN Information Centre in Beirut (UNIC-Beirut) launched today the Information Economy Report (IER) 2010, entitled “Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation.” The report was issued by the Geneva-based UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Speakers at the press conference held at the UN House in Beirut were UNIC Beirut Director Bahaa Elkoussy, ESCWA Information and Communication Technology Division Yousef Nusseir, UNCTAD Economic Affairs Officer Diana Korka, and First Information Technology Officer at ESCWA Rami Zaatari. Elkoussy pointed out that the rate mobile telecom penetration in the least developed countries has recently jumped from 2 percent to 25 percent. “ICTs have become accessible to all, they even permeate our daily lives and became one of the essentials,” he added. Elkoussy noted that the report urges policy makers in developing countries to give higher priority to the ICT sector when developing strategies aimed at reducing poverty. He stressed the role of governments in the formulation of national policies in line with ICT requirements, “Since their increased penetration creates more job and income opportunities.” Introducing the report, Nusseir said while it discusses the close link between ICT, small enterprises and reduction of poverty, it focuses on the central role of technology in improving living conditions of marginalized segments of society, especially the poor, and boosting productivity of small enterprises and businesses that sustain these segments. He added that fighting poverty lies at the heart of the United Nations efforts to promote economic and social welfare of all people in the world. Nusseir said the launch of this report coincides with international preparations for the World Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October. He noted that the number of subscriptions in fixed-line telephones in the world reached about 1.2 billion by the end of 2009, while the figure for mobile phone users reached 5 billion this year, or 68 percent, compared to 60 per cent in 2009.The number of Internet users is estimated at about 1.8 billion at the end of 2009, of whom about 480 million are broadband users. In her presentation, Korka pointed out the role of ICT in providing the means for poor women and men to access useful information and to communicate, saying that they can potentially help them build and improve their livelihoods. She added that the Information Economy Report examines two ways in which ICTs in enterprises can benefit the poor: first, through the use of ICTs by enterprises of direct relevance to the poor, and second, by being involved in the ICT producing sector. Korka spoke about mobile money services, which are also one of the important applications in the ICT field. She explained that many low-income economies are under-banked; for almost all of these, existing data show a higher rate of penetration for mobile telephony than for commercial bank accounts. According to the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, about 1.7 billion people without bank accounts will have mobile phones by the end of 2010. Korka reviewed recommendations of the report for governments in order to secure positive effects of ICTs on the reduction of poverty, such as the importance of further expansion of mobile coverage, making ICT use more affordable, and partnerships with the private sector and civil society. Zaatari gave figures concerning the ESCWA region in the field of ICT, pointing out that mobile phone penetration rose six times between 2003 and 2009, reaching a rate of 68 percent in 2009. Despite great disparities in terms of mobile phone costs in the Arab region, the least developed countries, those with low gross national income, spend on these services more than developed ones, he noted. Zaatri said Western Asia is a consumer region of ICT, rather than a productive one. He added that the Arab region ranked third in terms of high costs of the ICT services. Zaatari concluded with a set of recommendations to improve the ICT sector, such as completing the liberation of all telecom sectors, especially the fixed-line telephone services and the internet. The report also recommends promoting competition, which is one of the most important factors conducive to lower costs and wider penetration. The need to separate the ICT sector from other economic sectors at the national level is another recommendation, and finally the report urges the use of positive effects of internet services in the development process by supporting the liberation of their markets and reducing internet access fees to spread penetration to all segments of society.
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