2006 Information and Communications for Development: Global Trends and Policies

Front Cover
World Bank Publications, 2006 M01 1 - 303 pages
"""The report is essential reading for policy makers, government workers, and academics pursuing the goal of equitable, sustainable development across the world."" - N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor Infosys Technologies Ltd. Information and communication technology (ICT) is rapidly evolving, changing rich and poor societies alike. It has become a powerful tool for participating in the global economy and for offering new opportunities for development efforts. ICT can and should advance economic growth and reduce poverty in developing countries. It has been 20 years since the first telephone operator was privatized, a little over 10 since the World Wide Web emerged, and 5 since the telecommunications bubble burst. How have the ICT sector and its role in development evolved? What have we learned? How can we move forward? Information and Communications for Development 2006: Global Trends and Policies contains lessons from both developed and developing countries. It examines the roles of the public and private sectors, identifying the challenges and the benefits of adopting and expanding ICT use. The report assesses topics essential to building an information society, including investment, access, diffusion, and country policies and strategies. Assessing what has worked, what hasn't, and why, this report is an invaluable guide for understanding how to capture the benefits of ICT around the world."

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Page 297 - Gross domestic product (GDP) at purchaser prices is the sum of the gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources.
Page 298 - Adult literacy rate is the percentage of adults ages 15 and older who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement about their everyday life.
Page 38 - The index for individual firms is calculated as the average of three ratios: foreign assets to total assets, foreign sales to total sales, and foreign employment to total employment.
Page 26 - East Asia and Pacific Europe and Central Asia Latin America and the Caribbean Middle East and North Africa...
Page 126 - ... to encourage the development of content and to put in place technical conditions in order to facilitate the presence and use of all world languages on the Internet; to ensure that more than half the world's inhabitants have access to ICTs within their reach.
Page 299 - Price basket for Internet is calculated based on the cheapest available tariff for accessing the Internet 20 hours a month (10 hours peak and 10 hours off-peak). The basket does not include the telephone line rental but does include telephone use charges if applicable.
Page 33 - OECS include the independent states of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Page 298 - Telephone maInlInes are telephone lines connecting a customer's equipment to the public switched telephone network. Data are presented for the entire country and for the largest city.
Page 297 - Total population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents regardless of legal status or citizenship.
Page 298 - The number of students enrolled in a level of education, regardless of age, as a percentage of the population of official school age for that level.

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