DEVELOPMENT-TRADE: UN Calls for Equitable Internet Access

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Dec 1 1998 (IPS) - The United Nations (UN) shares ideas of the potential benefits of electronic commerce commonly raised by the industrial powers, but warned access is barred to many by technological inequities.

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Tuesday called for removal of obstacles blocking access to the telecommunications infrastructure and networks like the Internet.

A report by the body recognised the exponential growth of connections to Internet world-wide, stressing these growth rates are highest in the developing countries.

The UN agency revealed its strategy for electronic commerce in the developing countries just one day after US President Bill Clinton announced the launch of new initiatives to encourage on- line sales.

Clinton’s plan aims to stimulate private investment in high speed data networks favouring the incorporation of small companies into digital dealing.

UNCTAD’s objective agrees with strengthening the participation of companies in electronic trading, but resticted to the world of the developing countries and transition economies.

Resolutions adopted by UNCTAD aim to encourage governments to approve investment policies in local telecommunications infrastructures and to promote connections to the Internet.

An UNCTAD intergovernmental commission last week examined the priorities in this sector in the developing countries and transition economies.

Participants estimated the international community should reinforce assistance to these countries through training and information, said Carine Richard-Van Maele, UNCTAD press officer.

Inequalities in access to electronic commerce continue remarkably high, as the capacity to produce, store and disseminate information in the Internet is still strongly concentrated in the industrialised countries, stated the UNCTAD report.

This tendency cannot be changed if the current costing structures are not modified, forecast the study. The dominant characteristic is of scarce and expensive access to the Internet in the developing countries.

UNCTAD said the participation of the poor countries in electronic commerce will be limited to the traditional subcontracting and pre-contracting relations.

The extraordinary growth of electronic trade between the industrialised economies is due to them having reached a critical mass of on-line users, unlike the developing countries.

A report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) estimated the current population of Internet users at around 100 million, while the study distributed along with Clinton’s announcement gave a higher figure of 170 million.

In 2002, according to the IDC, the world population of users will reach 320 million.

The UNCTAD document adopted a generic stance on the debated regulation of electronic trade, which up until now has enjoyed almost absolute freedom in the telecommunications networks.

Like any new market, said the entity, electronic sales demand a delicate balance between freedom and regulation.

Being global in nature, he insisted, electronic trade will need a well-balanced group of world rules with the objective of being free from restrictions blocking this it on a national level.

In a study by region, UNCTAD estimated Africa’s connection capacity has improved significantly since the early nineties, but is still at very low levels compared with the industrialised countries.

There are some 150,000 Internet hosts in Africa, using something like 250 servers. Most of the continent’s users are concentrated in South Africa, with 600,000, while in the rest of the region the average is of one user for every 8,000 inhabitants.

The African countries with the greatest growth in Internet use include Senegal (2,500 users), Tunisia (3,500), Ghana (4,500), Kenya (5,000), Morocco (6,000) and Zimbabwe (10,000).

Although estimates on Latin America agree there has been an explosive growth in use of the network, estimates of the total number of users range from 4.5 to 8.5 million.

Brazil appears to be the main Internet market in the region with a number of on-line users of between one and 1.3 million. Mexico has 370,000 users, Chile 200,000, Colombia 120,000 and Argentina 170,000.

In any case, within the region only Costa Rica, with 50,000 users, exceeds the critical mass of five percent of the population necessary to effectively support electronic commerce.

In Asia, the total number of users stands at around 22 million, of whom 12.1 percent are Japanese, 3.3 Australian, 1.5 South Korean and 1.275 Chinese.

One report estimated that in 2001, income from electronic commerce will rise to a billion dollars in Malaysia, 800 million in Singapore, 200 million in Thailand and figures of around 200 million in Indonesia and the Phillipines.