Uni Icts for the Long-Run Broadband: What Happened Since Athens 2007?

UNI ICTS FOR THE LONG-RUN BROADBAND: WHAT HAPPENED SINCE ATHENS 2007? Prepared by Lorenzo De Santis, UNI Global Union, for the Inaugural UNI ICTS World Conference, Mexico, October 2011 BROADBAND: WHAT HAPPENED SINCE ATHENS 2007? 1 Overview Access to broadband has become es- In the US, a recent study sential for full participation in the economy and society at large. Fast broadband net- showed that every percent- works have the potential to create jobs and boost economic output. UNI global union age point increase in broad- and its affiliates have been very active in this field and their campaigns to influence band penetration leads to policy and action in this area are too nu- the creation of 300,000 jobs. merous to mention individually. 1 In the US, a recent study showed that every percentage point increase in broadband penetration leads to the creation of 300,000 jobs. is a vital utility for small businesses and According to the World Bank, in low-and broadband provision should be a universal 2 1 We know that unions such as middle-income countries every 10 percent- service obligation. Prospect, Ver.di, CWA, CWU-UK, age point increase in broadband penetra- CCOO, UGT, Dansk Metal, Pro and Sintetel are deeply involved in tion improves economic growth by 1.38 During the 2nd UNI Telecom World Confer- their respective national debates, among others. percentage points. And business agrees, ence held in Athens in 2007 we launched 2 Broadband: Steps for an incom- with the Federation of Small Businesses the “UNI Telecom for the long-run cam- ing Government (Federation of Small Businesses, May 2010). (FSB) in the UK arguing that broadband paign” which called for: 1 Universal and Affordable Service. 2 Fixed wired broadband subscriptions Quality Jobs and Service. per 100 inhabitants, 2000-2010 3 Financial Equity & Transparency. 30 Four years later it is time to give an update Developed 25 World on where we stand on these topics. Since Developing 2007 the world has considerably changed 20 together with the ICT industry. To reflect S these changes the IT and Telecom sectors 15 are merging into one to form UNI ICTS. Additionally, the sector decided to focus PER 100 INHABITANT 10 on the first two points and their evolution since 2007 as point number three is less relevant to the sectors’ strategy. 5 On a global level, the proportion of peo- 0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 ple connected via wired broadband grew by 43% since the last UNI World Telecom The developed/developing country classifications are based on the UN M49, see: http://www.itu.int/ Conference. The increase in the devel- ITU-D/ict/definitions/regions/index.html. Source: ITU World Telecommunication /ICT Indicators database. 2 UNI ICTS FOR THE LONG-RUN oping world (over 80%)3 has been more Active mobile broadband subscriptions impressive than in developed countries per 100 inhabitants, 2007-2010 Overview (29%). However, the penetration rate re- 50 mains much lower in developing econo- mies with 4.2% than in the developed world 45 Developed World with 23.6%. The proportion of households 40 Developing having access to broadband in the EU 27 and US reached more than 60% in 2010. 35 S 30 In comparison, active mobile broadband 25 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants tripled 20 worldwide since 2007. Although the pene- PER 100 INHABITANT tration remains low in the developing world 15 (5%) the increase has still been outstanding there with a penetration rate being 6 times 10 higher in 2010 than in 2007. In developed 5 countries this proportion “only” grew by 0 150% with almost half the population now 2007 2008 2009 2010 having mobile broadband access.4 Clearly The developed/developing country classifications are based on the UN M49, see: http://www.itu.int/ the growth in active mobile broadband sub- ITU-D/ict/definitions/regions/index.html. Source: ITU World Telecommunication /ICT Indicators database. scriptions is driven by the increasing use of mobile phones to surf the internet. to broadband while this share reaches In 2007 19% of mobile phone owners in 68% in cities. And the divide exists not the US used their phone to access the only among geographic areas but income 3 The proportion of fixed wired broadband subscriptions grew Internet, and by May 2010 the share had as well. Ninety-three percent of American from 18.3% to 23.6% in developed doubled to 38%. In the EU 27, the use of households earning more than USD 75,000 countries while it grew from 2.3% to 4.2% during the same period in mobile phones to access the Internet by annually have access to broadband com- developing ones. 4 individuals jumped from 7.4% in 2008 to pared to 40% of those earning below USD The number of mobile broadband subscriptions refers to subscrip- 13.8% in 2010. During the same period 20,000. In the UK, if market solutions were tions that have access to a high- speed mobile network. It must be of time, the number of persons using their the only options in place for broadband ac- used with caution and rather indi- mobile phones to access the internet more cess only two-thirds of households would cates a potential for Internet access since it does not necessarily than tripled in the UK. In Korea more than gain access to new superfast broadband. mean that subscribers are actual users of those services (they may 50% of wireless internet users declared to That is the reason why the UK government just be using their mobiles for tel- use their phone to surf the web in 2009. and more than 40 governments around ephone calls or SMS messages). 5 The 40 countries are: Albania, the world now explicitly mandate access to Andorra, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brazil, Burkina Faso, broadband in their universal service defi- China, Colombia, Dominica, Do- Universal service nitions according to the International Tel- minican Republic, Egypt, Finland, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea, Haiti, 5 still a long way off ecommunication Union (ITU). India, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Malawi, Malaysia, Mongolia, Mo- The digital divide doesn’t exist only be- rocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, tween developing and developed nations Governments have very diverse strategies Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, Sri but also within a country between urban when it comes to funding. Funds specifical- Lanka, Spain, Sudan, Suriname, Switzerland, Trinidad & Tobago, and rural areas, rich and poor. In the US ly dedicated to Universal Broadband Ac- Uganda, United States. (ITU Stat- only 50% of adults in rural areas subscribe cess (UBA) are more prevalent in the de- shot January 2011 (www.itu.int) BROADBAND: WHAT HAPPENED SINCE ATHENS 2007? 3 veloping world than in the developed. For France aims at access for all by 2012 example, only 9 funds exist in developed through the creation of a certificate to be countries for UBA whilst in Africa they are granted to those providers offering a mini- commonly used and funded through oper- mum of 512 Kbps at an affordable price of ator levies, government contributions and/ less than USD 48 per month. or donor funds. Australia and New Zealand have taken the Policies to implement UBA also vary great- initiative to fund and own broadband infra- ly from country to country: structure to guarantee maximum coverage. Switzerland included broadband in USO6 UK the regulator threatened to shorten as a way to expand coverage (2008). The license validity, should coverage obliga- universal service provider charged with tions not be met. USO must provide a broadband connec- tion to the whole population, via DSL or Finally, infrastructure competition contin- satellite or other technologies. ues to prove efficient in Asian nations such as Korea, Hong Kong and China. Gener- Finland broadband access is a legal right ally speaking, alternative platforms like and by the end of 2015, 99% of permanent wireless networks have a crucial role to residences should have access if they re- play in the debate, since they can provide side within 2 kilometres of a fibre-optic or competitive services in remote areas. cable network. Significant investments are required to Chile WiMAX7 operators also include re- achieve the ambitious targets set by gov- gional providers with the regulator plan- ernments. As the EU Commission de- ning to award additional spectrum to any clared, “action needs to be focused on new operator on the third-generation net- providing the right incentives to stimulate works. On the demand-side strategy has private investment, complemented by included programs for e-literacy, e-govern- carefully targeted public investments…” ment, and ICT diffusion. For example, by In the EU the amounts needed are difficult 2008, almost all municipalities had Internet to calculate but a review of recent stud- access, and 80% had Web sites. ies indicates that between EUR 38bn and EUR 58bn would be needed to achieve Malaysia the government is concen- the 30 Mbps coverage for all by 2020 and trating on third-generation WiMAX and between EUR 181bn and EUR 268bn to FTTH8 platforms to expand broadband provide sufficient coverage so that 50% adoption and the network will be rolled of households are on 100 Mbps services. out by Telekom Malaysia under a public- private partnership. Broadband speeds India the government’s plan includes: finan- Recently, particular attention has been cial support for infrastructure sharing, sup- given to the fact that actual speeds don’t porting backbone infrastructure, exemption match advertised ones. For example, in 6 Universal Service Obligation the UK, Ofcom11 reported that advertised 7 Worldwide Interoperability for Mi- from spectrum charges for niche operators, crowave Access discount on annual fees and spectrum fees speeds increased by nearly 50% between 8 Fiber To The Home linked to rural areas, and abandoning rights April 2009 and May 2010, while actual 9 New Generation Networks of way charges for rural networks.

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