A joint initiative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UNESCO, by The Broadband Commission for Digital Development has issued a new report looking at several aspects of broadband and its positive effects on people, environment and society. The report, entitled “Transformational Solutions for 2015 and Beyond: the report of the Broadband Commission Task Force on Sustainable Development” analyzes national broadband plans for 138 countries and identifies best government practices, urges governments to act now and to include broadband in their national development agenda. It also makes a number of supporting recommendations.
The Task Force which delivered the report was led by Hans Vestberg, President & CEO of Ericsson. Hans Vestberg stated, “As the post-2015 sustainable development agenda process evolved, we felt an urgent need to see action. We see so many opportunities for broadband to transform all aspects of the society. Technology evolves faster than policy, and we wanted to make a concerted effort to do everything we could to raise awareness of the potential.
Dr Hamadoun Touré, Secretary General, ITU, says, Through this work, the Broadband Commission would like to encourage the international community to recognize the need for transformative solutions in the post-2015 development agenda. The report presents for the first time new research showing how countries around the world use their national broadband plans as key policy instruments to leverage the full potential of broadband as an enabling infrastructure to accelerate sustainable development.
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Among the ten recommendations are “make broadband affordable for all”, and “deploy national development policies and plans to actively drive cross-sector integration of economic and social outcomes deliverable and scalable through ICT and broadband”.
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