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Analysis,
Conferences, Exhibitions, ITU, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Global: At the Telecom Development Symposium (TDS) held as part of ITU
Telecom World, leaders (including 180 from 90 of the least-developed and
low-income ITU Member States) met to discuss how ICT can help bridge the
digital divide and drive growth in their countries. The event was organised by
the ITU with support from Cisco Systems. Cat Barton Reports.
Developing Nations benefit most from NGNs TDS resoundingly concluded that it is developing nations
such as Cambodia which are likely to benefit most from Next Generation Network
(NGN) technologies, This was the view of Tony Bates, Senior Vice-President and
General Manager of Cisco Systems: “We are at a transformational point in ICT
development and developing nations like Cambodia are in an increasable
position…They have a minimum amount of fixed legacy and are thus in a position
to leapfrog forward.”
Precisely because developing nations such as Cambodia
do not have such fixed legacy, they have no need to pay for expensive overhauls
of such systems but can simply “leapfrog” to using advanced fixed and wireless
technologies.
 Tony Bates, Cisco Systems
Such technologies promise enhanced connectivity through
cost-effective and sustainable infrastructure development and management. And
that is why the ITU argues that NGNs promise to foster the use of
communications for greater socio-economic development, including e-education,
e-health, and e-government, and will enable countries to boost productivity and
growth.
ITU bases its support for NGN technology on its covering
the transition from traditional circuit switched networks to higher capacity,
lower cost packet-based or Internet Protocol (IP) infrastructures. These are
essential to take advantage of new opportunities for development and to bridge
the digital divide. Internet Village Motoman“Already, innovative ICT projects in Cambodia
have helped connect remote rural schools to the internet,” said Tony Bates.
“With NGN technology things can only get better.”
Cambodia was picking itself up and could show the way to several developing
nations. Mr Bates went on to cite the example of a First Mile Solutions project
called “Internet Village Motoman”, which used new ICT to provide internet
access for 15 solar-powered village schools, telemedicine clinics, and the
governor’s office in a remote province of Cambodia -
using five Honda motorcycles.
The project worked by equipping new schools in the villages
with solar panels on the roof to provide sufficient energy to run a computer for
six hours and providing an e-mail link via a motorcycle delivery system.
 Early every morning, five Honda motorcycles leave the hub
in the provincial capital of Banlung, where a satellite dish donated by Shin
Satellite links the provincial hospital and a special skills school to the
Internet for telemedicine and computer training.
The motorcycle drivers, equipped with a small box and
antenna at the rear of their vehicle that downloads and delivers e-mail through
a wi-fi (wireless) card, begin the day by collecting the e-mail from the hub's
dish, which takes just a few seconds.
Then, as they pass each school and one health centre, they
transmit the messages they have downloaded and retrieve any outgoing mail
queued in the school or health centre computer, also equipped with a similar
book-sized transmission box. They then go on to the next school. At the end of
the day they return to the hub to transmit all the collected e-mail to the
Internet for any point on the globe.
“This is an example of technology changing the quality of
life, it is testament to the power of engineering.” While the telecoms industry
is “not inventing technology for technology’s sake, we respond to consumer
demand across the broadest possible consumer base.”
TDS helped to highlight the fact that developing nations
are now a major part of that consumer base, and have now become the primary
focus of the telecommunication industry’s attention, particularly with regards
to NGN technology, this also being the conclusion expressed elsewhere in this
review, of Fernando Lagraña, Executive Manager of ITU Telecom World.
“The industry has the potential of benefiting the
developing world in ways we hadn’t even deemed possible a few years ago,” he
said. “We must ensure that the future of the industry is shaped by the needs of
the least developed and developing world.”
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Date: 8 - 11 December 2008