The ITU’s Broadband Commission for International Development has released a new report [pdf] entitled “The State of Broadband 2012: Achieving Digital Inclusion For All“.
As telecoms.com reported: “while household Internet access has seen strong growth over the past year and is on track to achieve Commission targets, individual Internet use continues to lag behind.”
Frequent readers are aware that this has been a frequent lament of mine. Too often, we have seen broadband initiatives focus on expanding access based on geography, without appropriate consideration to creating incentives based on the affordability of services, independent of geography. This has led to hundreds of thousand of households without broadband service or even home computers in Canadian urban centres.
It was interesting to see the report acknowledge the data gathering challenges in measuring mobile services adoption. The report observed that the discrepancy in mobile adoption measures derived, at least in part from multiple SIM card and multi-device ownership, trends “which are increasing dramatically.”
“Accurate and up-to-date statistics are vital for good policy-making.”
According to the ITU report, the Broadband Commission is working for digital inclusion for all by 2015. Among global best practices, the report cited the US Connect2Compete program that was launched a year ago.
Above all, the report observed that 119 countries now have a national broadband plan, policy or strategy in place. “The Report recognizes a clear need for policy leadership to establish a strong vision among stakeholders and prioritize the deployment of broadband at the national level.”