1. e-Bulgaria Current State and Trends in Information Society Development in Bulgaria Dinka Dinkova, ARC Fund eEurope+ 2003 International Benchmarking Workshop Prague, 2-3 December 2003 Prague, 2-3 December 2003

2. Context  Progress in EU accession (2004 – expected formal end of negotiations; 2007 – expected accession)  Macroeconomic stability, instrumental role of currency board  5% projected economic growth in 2003 (yet GDP per capita still low compared to other accession co’s); IT sector grows at 12-14%  Rapid credit growth (mostly consumer credits) leads to increase in consumer good imports (incl. computers and communications equipment)  Growing FDI and domestic investments (yet foreign green field investments still low)  New investments focused on sectors with low export capacity  Exports mainly in low value-added goods and resources  25-30% informal economy; larger in the ICT sector

3. Context (2)  Major policies, strategies in place for ICT development (e.g. Info Society, e-Government, ICT Competitiveness, ICT in Education, etc.)  Low institutional capacity for policy implementation and horizontal coordination / cooperation; high turnover of responsible personnel; inter- institutional rivalries  Political and institutional blockage (e.g. BTC still not privatized after 3 decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court)  Not fully transparent policy and decision making process  Lack of strong political will, commitment and leadership; political apathy  Public-Private-Partnerships gaining momentum (e.g. e-Government Strategy, ICT strategy)  Strong third sector and int’l donor community involvement but overall short-term thinking in society

4. Context (3)  Liberalization of telecom market (2 private operators of fixed telephony licensed in 2003; effective start in Q2 2004)  Frequent and unpredicted changes in regulations (esp. in case of telecom’s privatization)  Improvements with regard to e-regulation (strategy; law on electronic signature, secondary legislation in place; 2 providers of universal e- signatures licensed in 2003; amendments expected to introduce e- documents in the judiciary)  Implementation of adequate regulatory framework about R&D, innovation and large e-Government projects (PPPs) still lagging behind  IPR (and general PR) protection still weak

5. E-Bulgaria: Main Building Blocks  Background/methodology  Access  Learning/Education  Society  Economy/Business  Government  Overall trends

6. Assessment Model  91 variables  19 indicators  5 categories:  Access; Learning / Education; Society; Economy / Business; Government  Aggregate index

7. Status Quo: Access  International connectivity  National connectivity  Affordability of network access  Telephony - Mobile users - VoIP  BG DNS and TLD  Index dynamics

8. Affordability of internet Source: Bulgaria Online (ISP)

9. Mobile users dynamics Source: Vitosha Research, ISPO, ITU, mobile operators

10. VoIP: Growing business Source: ARC Fund’s estimates based on data and projections of BTC-Net and VoIP providers

12. Status Quo: e-Society  Users of computers  Users of Internet  Internet services  Internet users’ habits  Organizations online

13. Access to Internet Source: Vitosha Research representative surveys (2000 - 2003)

14. Access to PCs

15. Frequency of accessing Internet sites Source: Vitosha Research

17. Status Quo: Education / Learning  Technical facilities / ICT infrastructure in schools and universities  Teachers and ICT technologies  Internet sites of schools and universities  ICT training policy  ICT education

18. e-Learning/Education Source: MTC, Survey 2003

19. Connected PCs to Internet Source: MTC

20. Internet for teaching purposes Source: MTC

21. ‘e’-Needs Financing

23. Status Quo: Economy / Business  Computer usage in business  Internet usage in business  Web space usage by business  Availability of e-payment instruments  ICT employment opportunities

24. Computers in business  Computers in use in 2003 fall in the range of 520 – 600 thousands.  Around 120 – 130 thousands are PCs at homes  About 130 – 160 thousands are used in the public administration  Some 270 – 310 thousands are used in the private sector.  After the initial slow-down of new computers penetration in 2000 and 2001 (mainly due to increased costs of complying with property rights for software used) businesses started to renew their computer infrastructure in 2002 and 2000.  Around 1/3 of computers in business were bought in the last two years.

25. e-Payments Source: Borika

26. Preferred goods purchased on the Internet Source: Vitosha Research

30. Thank you!