Digital Divide Institute

News Wrap, November 15th 2011

A ROLE FOR APEC? Though ITU leads intergovernmental agencies on ICT issues, the top player on the broadband-for-all issue may be Asia Pacific Economic Community (APEC). After establishing the goal of bringing broadband access to all citizens in its 21 “member economies” by 2015, APEC leaders are now debating how to implement that goal. Because of their long history in shaping trade agreements, they are able to draw upon their deep ties to the private sector to produce a winning broadband-for-all formula. APEC has another resource too: its connection to the US government, which wants to push back against Chinese dominance by leveraging the IT expertise of American IT companies. But – surprise, surprise — the pivotal APEC role on the broadband-for-all issue might not be the US at all, but its old nemesis: Russia, which will take over the APEC chairmanship next year. The theme under Russia leadership: “innovation.” Stay tuned.

ALSO, NOTE THAT APEC ALSO BRINGS TAIWAN’s INSIGHTS INTO THE MIX: Republic of China and its flagship IT companies (HTC, ASUS and Acer), along with hundreds of unknown but huge Taiwanese companies that dominate global ICT supply chains can help shape the future of broadband. Innovations embedded in made-in-Taiwan devices are bringing broadband apps to billions of users. But, alas, Taiwan’s insights are shut out of most diplomatic policy forums. Lacking diplomatic relations with the UN, ITU and World Bank, Taiwan’s expertise is clearly felt only at APEC. Many suspect that HTC Chairman Cher Wang, who Forbes calls “the most powerful woman in wireless”, may eventually have an outsized influence in helping to set APEC’s ICT agenda.

DETECON SHINES AT APEC TEL IN KL: On the other hand, current lead in setting APEC’s wireless agenda may not be in APEC’s summit meetings but in a little known committee called APEC TEL. It is the telecommunications task force of APEC which met last month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. DDI’s Craig Warren Smith responded to APEC’s request to present the committee a method to fulfill APEC’s mandate to achieve total broadband access by 2015. To clarify the topic, the task force commissioned a terrific study released at the event by Detecon, a consulting firm of Deutsche Telecom, which clarified how various technological, financial and public-policy barriers blocking broadband’s deployments in low-income countries, could be overcome.

WILL HACKERS FOIL US VIRTUAL INTERNET IN IRAN? Governments continue to leverage the Arab Spring to their advantage. Though it has no diplomatic relations with Iran, the US government has set up a “virtual embassy” to appeal to the hearts and minds of Iranians, encouraging their travel and study in the US. “This is all about correcting misleading information,” said Hillary Rodham Clinton.

GOOGLE’S NEW FOOTPRINT IN SE ASIA: “Is Microsoft afraid of Google?” DDI asked that question to the top of executive at Microsoft for emerging markets (who asked not to be named) and the answer was. “No we are not.” “Why not?” we asked. “It is because Google does not have our footprint in developing countries.” That interview was three years ago, when indeed Google was absent from government policy circles in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Now new policies from Google’s Mountain View HQ has changed all that. In Southeast Asia, Google is opening new offices and putting place experienced locals to head them. Google’s agenda? “Our top priority is to help web developers move their content smoothly onto mobile devices where Google looks to future ad revenues,” said one Google manager, who also did not want to be named. Read more for Google’s expansion plans.

Previous News Wrap:

October 20, 2011: Low cost smart device market in Asia gets crowded as new competitors challenge India’s Aakash tablet…..Singapore’s I-Slate goes into beta…..FCC’s new site is a model of Government 2.0 that developing nations should emulate…..Big Data comes to poor nations…..Amazon and Ebay look South…..For these stories, go inside.

November 04, 2011: Trouble in Thailand…..ITU’s Broadband Challenge…..Sina’s response to the PRC’s warnings…..RIM’s deal with the Indian government on surveillance…..For these stories, go inside.