ICTs have become an integral ingredient in the media and the information flows in general. In other quarters, it is the source of inequality, especially among the world’s rich and poor.
Are modern information communication technologies therefore a boon or a bane to freedom of information?
Read more: ICT herald a new era for the media, but also huge challenges
Co-hosting the Earth Institute’s State of the Planet conference in New York, Vestberg highlighted that telecommunications is unique because it can impact on all of the Millennium Development Goals.
Does access to the Internet promote economic growth in developing countries? How can mobile phones extend financial and health services to the poor? How do manual and e-government services compare? What opportunities does the information technology industry offer for women and youth?
Read more: Information and Communication for Development Report 2009
ICC permanent representative to the UN in New York, Louise Kantrow, recently joined members of the ICC Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecoms (EBITT) and the ICC Business Action to Support the Information Society (BASIS) initiative to convey global business priorities at the 2009 Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) in Monterrey, Mexico.
Read more: Voice of business heard at Global Alliance for ICT and Development
Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact takes an in-depth look at how ICT impacts economic growth in developing countries. The report finds that for every 10 percentage-point increase in high speed Internet connections there is an increase in economic growth of 1.3 percentage points. It also identifies the mobile platform as the single most powerful way to reach and deliver public and private services to hundreds of millions of people in remote and rural areas across the developing world.