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Background:
Last December’s World Summit on the Information Society
stated the common desire for, and commitment to build, a
people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented Information
Society. The challenge is to harness ICT in developing countries,
allowing them to achieve their goals. Success in these ventures
demands access to information and knowledge. ICT infrastructure
can deliver such information and knowledge, and broadband
ICT increases value and attractiveness by allowing multi-functional
multimedia capabilities.
Until recently, satcom was viewed as having advantages
for specific applications like TV programme distribution,
private networks, data broadcasting, and acting as an additional
or alternative Internet backbone where hardwired backbones
were infeasible or required backups. For general connectivity
to individuals and communities, it was considered expensive
in terms of access facilities (particularly hub Earth stations),
and provided only limited operational bandwidth. Until recently,
it has mainly been used to serve areas unable to receive
service by terrestrial means.
With the rapid buildout of broadband infrastructure in
general, the satcom industry is also seeking a significant
broadband market share, hoping to capitalize on inherent
advantages such as broad geographical coverage and rapid
deployment and re-deployment to end-users. Satellite operators,
equipment suppliers, and service providers are developing
new technologies and commercial models to make their service
competitive with terrestrial methods. Costs of terminals
have been falling; host servers at gateways have reduced
the entrance threshold for content providers, particularly
for those small ISPs in less developed countries. Technically,
satcom allows neighboring countries to share resources that
are not generally affordable to least developed countries.
Lack of enabling policies and appropriate institutional
arrangements have constrained benefits from this feature.
Beyond financial challenges, a lack of awareness of technical,
policy, and regulatory considerations has sometimes hampered
government authorities outside the telecoms arena, who often
are responsible for prioritizing ICT applications within
their areas as they attempt to determine cost-effective
technical solutions. A survey is planned to be conducted
to help those authorities to prioritizes, as well as aiding
them when addressing relevant regulation and policy issues.
The survey is being developed in cooperation with the International
Telecommunications Union, the United Nations Office for
Outer Space Affairs, and the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications
Council.
For less developed countries, sustainable connectivity
is enabled by the availability of appropriate services and
applications. Combining physical connectivity with national
priority ICT application programmes is one solution, and
group negotiations aimed at mutually beneficial solutions
could be utilized to optimize cost and delivery of products
and services and to create large user communities, facilitating
financial sustainability and continued growth potential.
Please note:
This meeting is open to invitees only. The Regional Working
Group is part of the Regional Space Applications Programme
(RESAP) for Sustainable Development. Members of RESAP participate
in their national delegations, coordinated by their National
Focal Point for RESAP, and their National Contact Point
for Satellite Communication Applications.
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