104 S E R I E desarrollo productivo L atin America on its path into the digital age: where are we? Martin R. Hilbert Division of Production, Productivity and Management Restructuring and and Competitiveness Competitiveness Network Network Division of Production, Productivity and Management Santiago, Chile, June 2001 Latin America on its path into the digital age This document was prepared by Mr. Martin R. Hilbert, Consultant, Division of Production, Productivity and Management of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations (ECLAC). The views expressed in this document, which has been reproduced without formal editing, are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Organization. The author would like to express gratitude to the to the following people for their support in carrying out the study: besonders meiner Familie, Janine Berg, and especially Jorge Katz, to whom I am heavily indebted for his structural guidance, valuable input, time and energy, and whom I admire for his open-mindness towards new ideas. United Nations Publication LC/L. 1555-P ISBN: 92-1-121309-6 ISSN: 1020-5179 Copyright © United Nations, June, 2001. All rights reserved Sales No.: E.01.II.G.100 Printed in United Nations, Santiago, Chile Applications for the right to reproduce this work are welcomed and should be sent to the Secretary of the Publications Board, United Nations Headquarters, New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A. Member States and their governmental institutions may reproduce this work without prior authorization, but are requested to mention the source and inform the United Nations of such reproduction. CEPAL - SERIE Desarrollo productivo No 104 Contents Abstract ........................................................................................ 7 I. New basic conditions.............................................................. 9 1. Revolution, evolution or hype? .......................................... 10 2. Latin American Special Characteristics .............................. 12 3. Measuring the digital Economy........................................... 14 II. E-fra-structure ......................................................................... 17 1. Reforms in the telecommunication industry......................... 18 2. Network access ..................................................................... 21 2.1 Bandwidth ..................................................................... 21 2.2. Mobile ........................................................................... 22 2.3. Wireless......................................................................... 24 2.4. Television...................................................................... 25 2.5. Powerline ...................................................................... 25 3. Internet Service Provider ...................................................... 26 4. Conclusions ICT Infrastructure............................................. 28 III. Digital Divide............................................................................ 31 1. Worldwide............................................................................. 31 1.1. General divide ................................................................ 32 1.2. Economic divide............................................................. 37 2. Regional divide ..................................................................... 40 2.1. Geographic divide .......................................................... 43 2.2. Divide between rich and poor ........................................ 44 3. ICT for development............................................................. 48 4. Conclusions digital divide .................................................... 51 IV. The new performance: e-commerce.................................. 55 1. Introduction to electronic commerce in Latin America........ 55 2. Portals and content................................................................ 59 3 Latin America on its path into the digital age 3. B2B.............................................................................................................................61 4. B2C.............................................................................................................................67 5. eBanking..................................................................................................................... 71 6. C2C.............................................................................................................................71 7. B2G.............................................................................................................................72 8. M-commerce............................................................................................................... 72 9. T-commerce................................................................................................................ 76 10. E-Marketing................................................................................................................ 76 11. Conclusions Performance........................................................................................... 77 V. E-Financing..................................................................................................................... 79 VI. Dot-gov............................................................................................................................. 83 1. Extra-Efforts............................................................................................................... 85 2. E-government ............................................................................................................. 88 2.1 Public Services................................................................................................. 88 2.2 Efficiency ......................................................................................................... 88 2.3 Transparency.................................................................................................... 89 2.4 Setting Standards.............................................................................................. 89 2.5 Government for all ........................................................................................... 90 3. Conclusions dot-gov................................................................................................... 90 VII. Education ........................................................................................................................ 93 1. ICT for education........................................................................................................ 93 2. Education about ICT.................................................................................................... 95 3. The education paradigm .............................................................................................. 96 4. Conclusions education................................................................................................. 97 VIII. Conclusions and look ahead...................................................................................... 99 Bibliography................................................................................................................................. 107 Serie desarrollo productivo: issues published .................................................................. 113 Tables Table 1 Restricted network capacity in Latin America........................................................... 29 Table 2 Latin languages represent a small share and are naturally growing fast.................... 33 Table 3 In relative terms Latin languages are not as extremely underrepresented ................ 33 Table 4 E-readiness ranking of 60 countries (EIU) ................................................................ 35 Table 5 E-readiness ranking regions (InfoDev) ...................................................................... 36 Table 6 E-readiness ranking 42 countries (McConnell).......................................................... 37 Text boxes Text box 1 E-readiness ranking parameters McConnell............................................................... 36 Text box 2 Access- not ownership................................................................................................ 52 Text box 3 Virtual business corridors .......................................................................................... 64 Figures Figure 1 Explosive cyberspace participation in Latin America................................................ 12 Figure 2 Survey about Latin American online activities .......................................................... 13 Figure 3 Different priorities in different regions...................................................................... 14 Figure 4 Highly varying statistical investigations and estimations ......................................... 15 4 CEPAL - SERIE Desarrollo productivo No 104 Figure 5 Percentages of countries that have privatized .......................................................... 18 Figure 6 Main telephone line penetration is still low in Latin America .................................. 19 Figure 7 Latin American mobile markets becoming increasingly competitive........................ 20 Figure 8 The way chosen to access is expected to change rapidly in Latin America .............. 21 Figure 9 The mobile phone is becoming