1 Presentation at Short courses on key international economic issues Geneva, 14 May 2012 Torbjörn Fredriksson OIC, Science, Technology and ICT Branch, UNCTAD ICT for Development

2 Outline Why information and communication technologies (ICTs) matter Recent trends in the global ICT landscape UNCTAD’s role Cécile: E-commerce and cyberlaw harmonization UNCTAD’s support to the EAC The case of Mobile Money Planned projects (ASEAN, Central America) ICTPRs

3 Why ICTs matter (1) To enhance progress towards the MDGs New technology-based solutions that did not exist when the Goals were endorsed can and should be leveraged to allow for rapid scaling up. The most important of these technologies involve use of mobile telephones, broadband Internet, and other information and communications technologies. “ ” Source: Report of the Secretary-General, 12 February 2010, A/64/665.

4 Why ICTs matter (2) General-purpose technology: can be applied throughout society ICT4D E-government E-health E-commerce E-agricultureE-business E-education E-environment E-banking Disaster risk reduction E-governance ICT InfrastructureICT skillsLocal content Legal framework

5 Why ICTs matter (3) Areas of relevance to UNCTAD Information Economy rather than Information Society The production of ICT goods and services Value added/composition of ICT sector Job creation Trade (ITA; Offshoring; Value chains, etc) Innovation The use of ICT goods and services Digital divides Enhanced productivity E-government for business Legal issues

6 Why ICTs matter (4) ICTs, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation

7 Why ICTs matter (5) The case of ICTs and Private Sector Development

8 The Evolving ICT Landscape (1) Mobiles preferred ICT tool among small businesses Source: ITU Mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by country group,

9 The Evolving ICT Landscape (2) New forms of mobile use Text messaging (SMS) Mobile money Expanding especially in Africa Only 5 systems in the EU Mobile Internet Smartphone sales surging Africa: 84m mobiles already Internet-enabled China: 12% of Internet users go on-line via the mobile India: >250m mobile data users Mobile broadband Sources: UNCTAD, GSMA, ITU, national data, Gartner, J.M. Ledgard. Mobile money deployments, (number of deployments)

10 The Evolving ICT Landscape (3) Broadband divides Sources: UNCTAD, Ookla, ITU. Average download speeds, selected economies, 2010 (Mbps) Penetration gap < 1m fixed broadband subscriptions in LDCs Person in developed country almost 300 times more likely to have access to fixed broadband than a person in an LDC Different speeds Price differences

11 Mobile Sector Employment, Selected Economies The Evolving ICT Landscape (4) New job opportunities in mobile sector

12 Mobile phones and dairy farmers in Bhutan 98 per cent of population (690,000) live in rural areas Mobiles : from 5 to 55 subscriptions/100 people Now supporting dairy farmers Access to market and price information Avoid intermediaries – deal directly with customers Increased direct sales, less waiting time Improved communications Mobiles are affordable Government launched mobile info system – 4 languages New employment has been created Support to livelihood of poor farmers

13 Crowd-sourcing of Micro-work Source: UNCTAD, World Bank and ODesk. Case Amazon Mechanical Turk In 2008, 76% of micro- workers in US, 8% India In 2010, 47% in US, 34% in India, remaining 19% in 66 (!) other countries Hours worked by week via the ODesk platform The Evolving ICT Landscape (5) The rise of "crowdsourcing" and "freelancing"

14 Freelancers in Bangladesh 10,000 freelancers active online Most service clients in US or Europe Provide a range of services over the web Software development Graphic design Social media marketing, etc New Central Bank Directive (2011): Revenue should be treated as export-related commercial income rather than as remittances Source: UNCTAD, BASIS and ITC.

15 Opportunities and Implications New ICT landscape opens for more inclusive development Key areas within ICT sector: Mobile sector Software – growing local demand, new export channels Outsourcing/crowdsourcing – ICT-enabled services It takes more than infrastructure Need for comprehensive strategies – address the four facets – to reap full development benefit from ICTs Move from supply to demand-driven interventions Leverage partnerships with private sector and civil society Better data needed – especially in services

16 UNCTAD’s Role (1) Mandate Doha Mandate $56q Accra Accord $ Active in all three pillars Research and analysis Information Economy Report, statistics Technical assistance and capacity-building Measuring the Information Economy E-commerce and law reform ICT Policy Reviews Consensus-building

17 UN Group on the Information Society (UNGIS) UNCTAD current chair (until end of 2012) ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNDESA vice chairs 29 members Co-organizer of the annual WSIS Forum Lead facilitator of Action Line C7 on E-business Secretariat of the (CSTD) Follow-up to the WSIS Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development Member of its Steering Committee 12 members UNCTAD’s Role (2) Collaboration within UN system

18 Donors Supporting UNCTAD in ICT4D

19 Questions and Answers