Four targets to change the nature of global broadband
The four targets which cover areas relating to national broadband policy, affordability and uptake include firstly, a call for all countries to develop a broadband strategy by 2015. Secondly, an aim to make sure that broadband services are affordable. The Commission refers to a level that is less than 5% of average monthly income. Thirdly, it wants 40% of households in developing countries to have broadband access by 2015. Finally, the Commission is aiming for internet penetration to reach 60% worldwide by 2015, and 50% in developing countries.

Targets will require both public and private sector development
The Commission, co-chaired by Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, and Carlos Slim Helú, CEO of Telmex, has described the targets as ‘ambitious but achievable’ and hope that partnerships betweeen governments and the private sector will lead to their completion. The International Telecommunication Union will measure each countries progress towards reaching the targets and plan to produce an annual broadband report with rankings of each country in terms of broadband policy, affordability and uptake to aid in the monitoring process.

Faster broadband can improve many things
The results found have been explained by many different factors which would result from an improvement in a country’s broadband service. Firstly, the increase in the number of new businesses and services which would be created as a result of increased broadband speeds and penetration. The researchers claim this would contribute to a third of the rise in GDP. Further increases would come from more automated and simplified processes which would arise as a result of broadband developments, as well as better access to services such as education and health.

Only 10 broadband users per 100 persons globally
However, the researchers, who used broadband data from 33 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) countries, failed to include data from many countries with limited broadband services. The countries used included Australia, Germany and UK as well as many others with similarly well developed broadband infrastructures. Indeed, statistics from the International Telecommunication Union show that in 2010, the average number of fixed broadband subcriptions per 100 persons was 25.40 for the 33 countries surveyed. This is in comparison to an annual average of 10.23 broadband users per 100 persons.

More research needed
Given the above figures, it appers clear that future research could be carried out into how broadband speeds effect GDP in countries with less well developed broadband infrastructure. If a similarly positive relationship could be shown, this could greatly impact GDP in such countries as they have a higher potential to increase broadband speeds given that exisiting speeds may be relatively low.

Facebook, email and online chat access using SMS
Africa’s premier telecoms award gala has shortlisted ForgetMeNot Africa for the deployment of its Message Optimiser technology with Econet Wireless Zimbabwe’s eTXT service, which provides Facebook, email and online chat access using SMS to all of Econet’s 5 million subscribers.

47.5 million people access to Facebook via SMS
The Message Optimiser technology has been implemented by six operators in five countries across east, west, southern and central Africa, giving 47.5 million people access to Facebook via SMS in February 2011, in addition to email and online chat.

Transforms the most basic SMS-enabled device
Message Optimiser bypasses the need for fixed telephone line Internet access, PCs, expensive subscriptions, smartphones, Java downloads and data connections to provide email, online chat, instant messaging and social networking to even the most rural communities in Africa. It transforms even the most basic SMS-enabled device into a virtual smartphone.

AfricaCom Awards
The AfricaCom Awards – now in its 4th year – is supported by Orange, Gateway Communications and ComViva. The ceremony, which recognises and rewards excellence in the African telecommunications market, will be held at the Waterfront Lookout, in Cape Town, South Africa on 9th November 2011. For more information visit: http://www.africacomawards.com/

For more information on ForgetMeNot Africa call +44 207 408 4730 or visit www.fmnafrica.com

The report, ‘Measuring the Information Society 2011,’ revealed price decreases of over 50% in some regions such as Africa, as well as a 47% price decrease in Asia and the Pacific. In the Arab States, prices fell by 35% and by 18% in Europe. Only the Americas saw a price decrease of less than 10%. Such figures reflect a narrowing of the broadband price divide considering the far larger decreases in the price of broadband in developing countries.

Despite these encouraging signs, far more development is needed to drive boradband prices even further down. In Africa for example, the cost per month for broadband was three times that of the average monthly per capita income. In other regions, while nowhere near the extreme levels seen in Africa, broadband still remained prohibitively expensive. In the Arab States, monthly broadband cost just over half the average monthly income, and in Asia and the Pacific, just over a quarter. Such figures compare poorly with the more developed regions such as Europe where the cost of broadband is 1.4% of monthly income.

Such figures explain why internet usage is so high in developed countries yet relatively low in less developed areas such as in Africa. Clearly, broadband prices need to fall even further over the next two years in order to become available to the vast majority of people in regions such as Asia. Although the desire to use the internet may be present, it remains unaffordable for too many.

However, many international projects are being introduced to increase internet access and hopefully, competition amongst providers which should see price decreases. Multiple fibre optic submarine cables have landed on the coast of Africa and other regions in recent years increasing the amount of Internet bandwidth in the regions, a key factor in driving down prices. Furthermore, with the 2015 deadline approaching for meeting the Millenium Development Goals, focus will be on increasing access to technologies such as the internet, one of the aims of such goals. It seems clear that given the frequency of projects such as this, and the trends revealed in the report in terms of falling broadband prices, the number of internet users in developing countries should greatly increase in the coming years.

Despite this, many Peruvians find other ways to access the internet. The study revealed that many Peruvians still access the internet in internet cafes, of which there are many in Peru. This might explain statistics from the International Telecommunication Union saying that there are over 34 internet users per 100 persons in Peru, despite the lack of internet coverage in homes.

Several projects are aslo underway in an attempt to increase the scale of internet coverage in Peru. Gilat Satellite Networks are planning to provide internet and telephone services throughout the country’s rural regions. The network will connect over 770 communities allowing over 215 000 people access to the internet, and should be completed within the next five years. Further initiatives include the Fibre Optic Project in the Andes, a plan to lay over 1800km of cable in the mountainous area of Peru, which will benefit over 2.4 million Peruvians in the interior of the country.

Such initiatives will aid the development of Peru in more ways than one. Aside from the social benefits that the internet will bring to Peruvians, these projects will also enhance the state of Peruvian economy. A recent study from the World Bank on the impact of broadband in the development of medium income countries such as Peru, found that every 10% increase in broadband penetration would result in an increase of 1.38% in the growth rate of the country.

Such a rapid expansion has arisen from both an increase in the popularity of internet sites such as Facebook, Indonesia has the world’s second largest number of Facebook users, and an increase in technology where residents of large urban areas benefit from high-speed mobile internet.

However, some of the more rural areas of the country are still without such options. This is unsurprising given the challenges associated with connecting a country made up of over 17 000 islands. Steps are now being taken to counter this through initiatives such as the Palapa Ring Project which aims to provide better communications to Indonesia with the installation over over 50 000km of fibre optic cable. Other projects include the internet van program in which the government has provided nearly 2000 vans supplied with mobile computing abilities to visit rural areas of the country.

Such varying attempts will go a long way to providing both a wide ranging and reliable internet service across the entirety of Indonesia. Recent forecasts suggst a tripling of internet users in Indonesia by 2015 and few would doubt this based on recent trends.

Internet access in Haiti has alsways been relatively low. Latest statistics from the International Telecommunication Union show only 8.4 internet users per 100 persons in Haiti in 2010. This figure dramatically fell in the immediate aftermath of the earthquake but has been steadily increasing since then and this trend is due to continue.

Many plans have been put in place and are now being implemented to provide internet access to both rural and urban areas of Haiti. In May 2010 the Vietnamese military-owned telecommunications company Viettel was selected as the successful bidder to acquire a 60% share in Teleco, with the Haitian government retaining 40%. The resulting entity was named Natcom. Part of Viettel’s bid included a commitment to build a 2000km fibre optic cable to remote areas of the country. In addition to this, in February 2011 Digicel Jamaica was granted a licence allowing it to connect undersea fibre optic cables to Haiti. Upon completion of both these projects, the internet accessing capabilities of Haiti should be greatly enhanced.

Furthermore, Inveneo, a firm who specialise in providing ICT services in the developing world have recently launched their Haiti Rural Broadband initiative. This initiative aims to bring reliable and sustainable broadband access to six regions and twenty population centres in Haiti which have little, if any broadband access. This should ensure that both rural and urban areas of Haiti have access to the internet.

This statistic is due to increase, with the Panamanian National Internet Network due to be greatly expanded over the coming year. The network provides internet access in central areas such as city halls, schools and health centres where members of the public can browse the web for free. By May 2011, 655 access sites had been set up in 22 cities. The government has pledged to expand the network to over 1000 sites by the end of the year. Such a scheme would see Panama lead the way in terms of internet coverage amongst Central American nations where only Costa Rica and Mexico had internet coverage of over 30% in 2010 (ITU).

However, doubts remain as to the effectiveness of the internet network. Despite figures stating the network will reach 80% of the population, recent figures show only 120 000 registered users of the service. For a country with a population over 3.4m, these statistics suggest that although the internet is available in a large number of public places, few people have signed up to the network and more could be done to encourage this.

The study attempted to find levels of digital inclusion, that is, the ability within the countries to access and use information technologies. Results showed India lying in the extreme risk category, showing a severe lack of digital inclusion within the country. Brazil, Russia, and China were all placed in the medium risk categories. This is despite higher than average growth rates over the past decade for these countries.

However, recent plans in India to increase access to information technologies, such as expanding access to 3G networks across the country could see a narrowing of the digital divide. Whether such services are affordable on a wide scale remains to be seen.

ForgetMeNot Africa joined the likes of Coca Cola, Blackberry and Apple in picking up major awards at the Meffys, the official benchmark for measuring success in the mobile industry, hosted by  TV personality Ruby Wax on Wednesday, July 7.

Meffys judges rewarded ForgetMeNot Africa for its innovation in providing services to consumers who use mobile astheir first and primary point of access to the Internet.
Judges also recognised ForgetMeNot Africa’s provision of a quality consumer experience, success in leveraging local markets and for providing a sustainable business model. Message Optimiser has enabled access to Facebook, as well as email and online chat, to more than 47 million people across east, west, central and southern Africa in the last 12 months.

MEF’s Executive Director, Rimma Perelmuter, said: “Congratulations to ForgetMeNot Africa for bridging the digital divide globally within mobile first nations around the globe by transforming feature phones into smart ones.”