Global Information Society Watch 2008 Global Information Society Watch 2008 Global Information Society Watch 2008 Steering committee Karen Banks (APC) Roberto Bissio (ITeM) Anriette Esterhuysen (APC) Paul Maassen (Hivos) Loe Schout (Hivos) Magela Sigillito (ITeM) Coordination committee Pablo Accuosto (ITeM) Inés Campanella (ITeM) Monique Doppert (Hivos) Karen Higgs (APC) Natasha Primo (APC) Editor Alan Finlay Assistant editor Lori Nordstrom Publication production Karen Higgs Graphic design MONOCROMO Myriam Bustos, Leticia da Fonte, Pablo Uribe [email protected] Phone: +598 (2) 400 1685 Cover illustration Matias Bervejillo Proofreading Lori Nordstrom Lisa Cyr Website www.GISWatch.org Andrea Antelo Ximena Pucciarelli Monocromo Printed by CinnamonTeal Print and Publishing Printed in India Global Information Society Watch 2008 Published by APC, Hivos and ITeM 2008 Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licence creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 Some rights reserved ISBN: 92-95049-65-9 APC-200812-CIPP-R-EN-P-0058 Table of contents Preface ........................................................................... 7 Colombia ............................................................. 103 Introduction: Access to infrastructure ........................... 9 Congo, Democratic Republic of (DRC) ............... 106 Congo, Republic of .............................................. 108 THEMatic REPORTS Costa Rica ........................................................... 111 Net neutrality ............................................................... 17 Croatia ................................................................. 115 Open standards ............................................................ 20 Ecuador ................................................................ 118 Spectrum management ................................................ 23 Egypt .................................................................... 121 Trends in technology .................................................... 27 Ethiopia ............................................................... 124 Accessing content ........................................................ 31 India .................................................................... 127 INSTITUTIONAL OVERVIEW Jamaica ............................................................... 131 Institutional overview .................................................. 37 Kazakhstan .......................................................... 135 MEASURING PROGRESS Kenya ................................................................... 139 Towards better measures of global ICT Korea, Republic of .............................................. 142 adoption and use .......................................................... 47 Kyrgyzstan ........................................................... 146 REGIONAL AND COUNTRY REPORTS Mexico ................................................................. 150 Introduction .................................................................. 55 Nigeria ................................................................. 153 Regional reports Pakistan ............................................................... 156 North America ....................................................... 57 Paraguay ............................................................. 159 Latin America and the Caribbean ......................... 60 Peru ..................................................................... 162 Africa ..................................................................... 63 Romania .............................................................. 165 Former Soviet Union ............................................. 68 Rwanda ................................................................ 169 South-East Asia ..................................................... 72 Senegal ............................................................... 172 The Pacific ............................................................. 76 South Africa ......................................................... 175 Country reports Spain ................................................................... 178 Argentina ............................................................... 79 Switzerland .......................................................... 181 Bangladesh ............................................................ 82 Tajikistan ............................................................. 184 Bosnia and Herzegovina ....................................... 86 Tanzania .............................................................. 187 Brazil ..................................................................... 89 Uganda ................................................................ 191 Bulgaria ................................................................. 92 Uruguay ............................................................... 194 Cameroon .............................................................. 96 Uzbekistan ........................................................... 197 Chile .................................................................... 100 Zambia ................................................................ 200 Preface This year’s thematic focus for Global Information Society who work for a just and inclusive information society. Watch (GISWatch) is “access to infrastructure”. The The number of participating organisations is growing: Geneva Plan of Action that emerged from the first phase 38 country reports are published here – 16 more than of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in our previous edition – analysing the status of access declared information and communications technology in countries as diverse as the Democratic Republic of (ICT) infrastructure an “essential foundation for the Congo, Mexico, Switzerland and Kazakhstan. Information Society” and identified it as one of six main action lines. Besides thematic reports dealing with key issues affecting access, such as net neutrality, open standards, In spite of this attention, it is beginning to be considered spectrum management, trends in technology and access of less importance by some development funders and to content, for the first time GISWatch includes regional practitioners, including civil society and communication overviews for North America, Latin America and the and information activists. Caribbean, Africa, the countries of the former Soviet Union, South-East Asia, and the Pacific. One of the consequences of this is the development of a conventional wisdom that leaves the domain of While focusing on ICTs, GISWatch aims to make a infrastructure development to the market; to operators critical contribution to building a people-centred and investors who do not always see the broader social information society. Its purpose is to stimulate a value of communications in society; to governments collaborative approach to policy advocacy, and to create that lack capacity and often clear strategy; and to a common platform where disparate experiences can be international institutions that tend to approach it in a shared, and progress – or lack of progress – assessed. limited and “technocratic” way. Ultimately, it hopes to impact on policy development processes in countries, regions, and at a global level. Access to infrastructure is important in its own right. It constitutes the layer that enables communication, We hope you find GISWatch 2008 thought-provoking and is interlinked with other access challenges such and challenging. n as the capacity to use ICTs, access to content and knowledge, as well as access to public participation and citizenship. In this sense, the overall theme of access to Roberto Bissio infrastructure links to GISWatch 2007’s focus on access Third World Institute (ITeM) to participation, and is a bridge to GISWatch 2009’s theme of access to knowledge. Anriette Esterhuysen Association for Progressive Communications (APC) GISWatch is both a publication and a process. While producing an annual report which is published in Loe Schout print and online, it also aims to build networking and Humanist Institute for Cooperation advocacy capacity among civil society organisations with Developing Countries (Hivos) Preface / 7 Box 1: Extract from WSIS Plan of Action: ICT infrastructure C2. Information and communication infrastructure: An essential foundation for the Information Society 9. Infrastructure is central in achieving the goal of digital e. In the context of national e-strategies, address the inclusion, enabling universal, sustainable, ubiquitous and special requirements of older people, persons with affordable access to ICTs by all, taking into account rele- disabilities, children, especially marginalized children vant solutions already in place in developing countries and and other disadvantaged and vulnerable groups, in- countries with economies in transition, to provide sustain- cluding by appropriate educational administrative and able connectivity and access to remote and marginalized legislative measures to ensure their full inclusion in areas at national and regional levels. the Information Society. f. Encourage the design and production of ICT equipment a. Governments should take action, in the framework and services so that everyone, has easy and affordable of national development policies, in order to support access to them including older people, persons with an enabling and competitive environment for the nec- disabilities, children, especially