“Asia Broadband Program” 2 nd OECD Workshop on Broadband Session III: Policy Issues June 5, 2002 Tetsuo YAMAKAWA Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, JAPAN

Asia Broadband Program 1. Policy Objective For the world economy to grow, Asia must achieve its full potential for growth. Improving IT in Asia is essential in pursuing this goal. Potential of Asian Countries’ Economies 2000 World Population: 6,057 billion 1999 World GNP: 29,798 billion USD Landmarks in Asian IT Growth Japan: Mobile Internet World’s largest number of subscribers to mobile internet: over 50 mil in March 2002 (MPHPT) Singapore: e-government World’s second biggest provider of e-government services in 2001 (Accenture) S. Korea: Broadband spread World’s highest dissemination rate of DSL: 8.91% of population in Nov (MPHPT) China: Potential Market Population 1,300 mil; world’s largest number of mobile phone subscribers: mil. in February (China) India: IT Software Exports Software exports: 620 mil US$ in 2000 (NASSCOM) (Source: World Development Indicators Database, World Bank)

Compared with international trade, information flows between Asia and other parts of the world, as well as within Asia, are unreasonably small. This imbalance must be ended World Trade Flows (in US $) (Source: WTO International Trade Statistics 2000) North America 413 trillion North America Europe Asia Asia Broadband Program 2. Current Situation Asia Europe 564 trillion428 trillion 2001 World Information Flows 162 Gbps 42 Gbps1 Gbps (Source: TeleGeography; Packet Geography 2002)

Ratio of intra-regional to inter-regional Internet bandwidth in Europe, Note: Domestic routes are excluded. Data as of mid (Source: TeleGeography) Asia Broadband Program Internet Bandwidth (Mbps)

Ratio of intra-regional to inter-regional Internet bandwidth in the Asia-Pacific Region, Note: Domestic routes are excluded. Data as of mid (Source: TeleGeography) Asia Broadband Program Internet Bandwidth (Mbps)

Asia Broadband Program CityInternet Bandwidth (Mbps) 1New York149, London85, Amsterdam24, Paris22, San Francisco20, Tokyo16, Washington D.C.13, Miami11, Los Angeles11, Copenhagen10, Frankfurt9, Seattle5, Sydney4, San Paulo4, Chinese Taipei3,738.4 CityInternet Bandwidth (Mbps) 16Seoul3, Hong Kong2, Madrid2, Buenos Aires2, Mexico City2, Dallas1, Sacrament1, Stockholm1, Osaka1, Milan1, Singapore1, Perth1, Monterey1, Auckland1, Rio de Janeiro981.0 (Data as of mid-2001, Source: TeleGeography; Packet Geograph y 2002) Top 30 Hub Cities in Internet Bandwidth

To enhance IT in Asia, Japan proposes an “Asia Broadband Program”, designed to make the region a world information hub through expansion of broadband networks. It would also benefit worldwide ICT development. - Establishment of broadband infrastructure - Efficient distribution of digital content - Improvement of ICT consumer environment through policy and regulation - Capacity-building and education to improve ICT literacy, etc. Asia Broadband Program 3. Promoting ICT through Expanding Broadband Networks By co-operating to set short and long-term targets, Asian countries can overcome these challenges and promote broadband expansion.

Asia Broadband Program 4. Measures Various measures need to be discussed for expanding broadband in Asia, such as: - Construction of Asian R&D broadband network - Promote use of the network for international joint R&D projects - Co-operation among Asian countries in building broadband IX - Study capability of communications satellites to resolve geographical disadvantages - Support scheme to promote efficient distribution of digital content created in Asia

Asia Broadband Program - Harmonized policies to protect copyright, security etc. - Sharing knowledge and expertise among countries on policy-making and regulation - Making use of Japan’s e-Policy Support Network - Co-operation in ICT human resource development, etc. Report to the World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva, 2003)

Countries contain cultural communities with different languages, religions, etc. This could hamper the efficient transmission of digital content across the region. Metropolitan areas and other large economic centers are adequately furnished with ICT infrastructure, but remote areas, such as islands and mountains, have poor access to such infrastructure. Asia Broadband Program 5. Asia’s Special Characteristics Asia is characterized by its diversity of cultures, geographic conditions, and social and economic systems. Attention must be paid to this diversity during development. Because national income levels, main industries, etc. differ greatly from one country to another, ICT must be expected to take a different role in each country.

Asia Broadband Program 6. Points of Importance In implementing the Asia Broadband Program, we should keep in mind these principles : - Economic, geographic and cultural diversity within Asia must be noted and each country’s autonomy must be respected - Each country should be encouraged to be active in making its own efforts to develop ICT The improvement of broadband will best be achieved through building partnerships among: - Governments - Private-sector bodies - NPOs and NGOs - International organizations etc.