1.4
Box 2: Profiles of Village Phone Operators in Uganda
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Ms. Sophia Nalujja has been a successful borrower from the Uganda Women’s Finance Trust Limited (UWFT) for many years and is currently in her fifth loan cycle. Married with seven children, she runs a small eating establishment in the village of Kiwangula in the Kayunga district. Through all of her business ventures, she now earns around 280’000 Ugandan Shillings (US$160) per month. Previously, working as a farmer, she earned less than a fifth of that amount.
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Ms. Josephine Namala owns a small retail shop in the remote village of Lukonda in the Kayunga district. Before she began operating her villagePhone business, people in her community had to walk more than 5km to make a phone call. In the evenings, large groups of people gather in front of her store with FM radios to listen to call-in radio shows; they use her village phone to call the radio stations and make their opinions heard nationally.
Source: Uganda villagePhone initiative.
| Other examples
11. The following are additional examples of multi-stakeholder activities submitted by international organisations, private businesses, civil society entities and others:
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Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA): The critical role of the software industry in Latin America;
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Council of Europe: The challenges of e-learning and distance education;
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European Conference of Ministers responsible for Regional/Spatial Planning (CEMAT): Spatial Planning;
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International Steering Committee for Global Mapping (ISCGM): Global Mapping;
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UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation): UNIDO's promotion of ICT activities;
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UNU (United Nations University): Designing the knowledge economy;
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UPU (Universal Postal Union): Bucharest World Postal Strategy (BWPS)-UPU Strategic Planning for 2005-2008;
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WTO (World Trade Organisation): Negotiations on telecommunications services.
2Information and communication infrastructure: an essential foundation for the Information Society (C2)
12. The WSIS Declaration recognises that connectivity is a central enabling agent for the Information Society. Activities submitted to the stocktaking database under this theme suggest the following trends:
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deployment and expansion of broadband access networks (both wired and wireless technology);
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deployment and upgrading of fibre optic backbone networks;
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convergence of networks, allowing both one-to-one and one-to-many communications to be delivered over common platforms;
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the proliferation of wireless networks, which are especially important in developing countries where the fixed-line network may be more limited in coverage;
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increased access points for Internet access (e.g., PCs in schools, telecentres, cybercafés, etc.) and a wider range of technologies for access (fixed, wireless, satellite).
2.1Infrastructure Projects
13. Some 40 per cent of projects submitted to the database mention infrastructure projects. These include:
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In Burkina Faso, the Ministry for Post and Telecommunications has committed to the installation of basic broadband infrastructures for a public voice, network including into rural zones. A national 1'000 km optical fibre data link will be created and connected to an underwater cable, via bordering coastal countries. ADSL and Wi-Fi access to high-speed Internet will also be introduced.
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In the frame of the Compartel Programme, the Colombian Ministry of Communications provides adequate telecommunication infrastructure to rural and low-income communities through community programmes for telephony, Internet and broadband.
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Costa Rica is gradually bridging the digital divide thanks to the special programme, Advanced Internet Network.
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In Guyana, Broadband Inc has committed to develop a Nationwide Network that will provide broadband Internet and voice to 90 per cent of the nation’s populated communities, mining towns and Amerindian villages.
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In Norway, the Norwegian Posts and Telecommunications Authority is responsible for the Norwegian Internet Infrastructure.
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In Peru, a programme of Rural development of Information and Communication Technologies (ERTIC) has been established.
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In Serbia and Montenegro, the Ministry of Science and Environmental Protection is building an academic ICT backbone. It runs through four regional centres and 14 cities, with the central node located at the University of Belgrade.
2.2Convergence of networks
14. The WSIS Declaration of Principles calls for a “well-developed information and communication infrastructure”. A number or projects support infrastructure modernization and are exploiting trends towards network convergence.
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Kuwait runs diverse projects aimed at improving information and communication infrastructure. For instance, in the framework of Fibre-optic Cables between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia project or the Gulf Fibre-optic Cable project, Kuwait intends to provide a high bandwidth link between the Gulf and Arab countries, upgrade the capabilities of Internet communication, as well as providing international services such as Internet , data communication.
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A Gigabit Ethernet connection project aimed at making the Internet more widely available to the public is underway in Lebanon.
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The Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority has submitted a project proposal addressing various areas of the communications sector, which aims at improving information flow to catalyse social, economic and political development. This includes, inter alia, extending the coverage of public radio and TV signals, the installation of a Wireless LAN link-up of all government offices, and the introduction of multi-purpose community telecentres in post offices.
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In Morocco, the telecommunications regulatory agency, ANRT, is carrying out a study to establish the feasibility of setting up call centres as a way of stimulating economic development and creating jobs.
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