Bahrain hosts regional preparatory meeting for ITU World Telecommunication
Development Conference 2014
Arab States rise steadily on ITU’s ICT Development Index
Geneva, 29 October 2013 – The Regional Preparatory Meeting
for the Arab States, ahead of ITU’s World Telecommunication Development
Conference 2014, opened today in Manama, Bahrain. The meeting, in session until
31 October, will assess the ongoing implementation of the Hyderabad Plan of
Action agreed at the last edition of the Conference in 2010 and identify
priority areas for ICT development strategies in the Arab region.
Regional programmes in the Arab region include the roll out of broadband
connectivity, the transition to digital broadcasting, strengthening
cybersecurity, development of Arab digital content, and access to open source
software.
ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré welcomed the preparatory meeting in
Manama, noting that it comes at a time of outstanding growth in digital
development, with cellular mobile penetration in the Arab region pushing 105 per
cent by the year end. “ITU’s engagement in the Arab region has been growing
rapidly,” Dr Touré said. “This is evident from the fact that last year alone
Dubai was host to three important events: ITU Telecom World, the World
Conference on International Telecommunications, and the World Telecommunication
Standardization Assembly. The ITU Connect Arab States Summit was held in Qatar
in March; and next year, Doha will be the venue for ITU Telecom World 2014.”
Speaking at the opening of the Regional Preparatory Meeting, ITU Deputy
Secretary-General Houlin Zhao said, “We have seen extraordinary progress in ICT
development, but at the same time we need to recognize the enormous challenges
facing the ICT sector today, particularly in an era of rapidly growing data
volumes; revenues which are static, or even falling; and of endemic
under-investment in ICT infrastructure. That is why we need to further develop
telecom and ICT services and encourage further investment.”
Mr Mohammed Bubshait, Director General of the Telecommunication Regulatory
Authority of Bahrain, said that the rapidly evolving ICT sector plays an
important role in the growth and development of other sectors and that new
initiatives, such as high-speed broadband, should focus on facilitating
communications for people with special needs, smart resource management and
e-learning.
According to ITU’s flagship “Measuring the Information Society”
Report, Bahrain entered the top 40 of the 2012 ICT Development Index (IDI) with
mobile cellular penetration climbing from 128 per cent in 2011 to 156 per cent
in 2012, while fixed broadband connectivity recorded the highest in the Arab
region. Lebanon ranks 52 in IDI 2012 followed by Oman at 54. The United Arab
Emirates indicated the highest increase in rank, shooting up 12 places to 33rd,
registering remarkable progress in wireless-broadband subscriptions. The UAE
also ranks among the most affordable countries for prepaid mobile-broadband
services.
“While broadband infrastructure development remains a priority, we are also
focusing on making sure that ICTs are used as a delivery vehicle for health,
education, banking, and business in order to achieve sustainable social and
economic growth, not just in the rich world, but in every country, and for every
citizen,” said Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development
Bureau. “We need to promote a generation of content developers to serve the
needs of productive sectors such as agriculture, fishing, small industry, import
and export of products, financing and education.”
Mr Sanou noted that the emergence of a global population of young people born
in the digital age and grown up using ICT in everyday life is increasingly
visible in the Arab region. Young people in the 15 to 24 age group represent 19
per cent of the Arab population. “This is an auspicious sign for the future of
the region,” Mr Sanou said. He went on to launch an initiative that seeks to
encourage young people to create digital content in the Arab Region.
As part of the Arab Digital Content initiative, assistance was provided to
the Arab Region to establish a Top Level Domain: dot.arab. Among other regional
initiatives, the Arab States Broadcasting Union (ABSU), in partnership with ITU,
has promoted the transition from analogue to digital broadcasting. And, in line
with the objectives of ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Agenda, a regional
cybersecurity centre was established in Oman with assistance provided to several
countries with the creation of national Computer Incident Response Teams (CIRT)
in collaboration with ITU’s cybersecurity executing arm, the International
Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats (IMPACT).
For more information, please see
www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Conferences/WTDC/WTDC14/RPM-ARB/Pages/default.aspx
or contact:
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Sanjay Acharya
Chief, Media Relations and Public Information, ITU
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Ebrahim Alhaddad
ITU
Regional Director for Arab Region
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