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Presentation at WTO Symposium on 15th

Anniversary of the ITA Geneva, 14 May 2012

Torbjörn Fredriksson

Chief, ICT Analysis Section UNCTAD

Socio-economic benefits of ICT diffusion and its significance for

trade and development

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The Evolving ICT Landscape (1) Mobiles preferred ICT tool among small businesses

Source: ITU

Mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, by country group, 2000-2010

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The Evolving ICT Landscape (2) New forms of mobile use

Text messaging (SMS)

Mobile money

Expanding especially in Africa

Only 5 systems in the EU*

Mobile Internet

Smartphone sales surging

Africa: 84m mobiles already Internet-enabled

China: 12% of Internet users go on-line via the mobile

India: >250m mobile data users

Mobile broadband

Sources: UNCTAD, GSMA, ITU, national data, Gartner, J.M. Ledgard.

Mobile money deployments, 2001-2011

(number of deployments)

* Austria, Belgium, Germany (Mpass), Portugal, UK

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The Evolving ICT Landscape (3) Broadband divides

Sources: UNCTAD, Ookla, ITU.

Average download speeds, selected economies, 2010 (Mbps)

Penetration gap • < 1m fixed broadband subscriptions in LDCs • Person in developed country almost 300 times more likely to have access to fixed broadband than a person in an LDC

Different speed Price differences

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The Evolving ICT Landscape (4) Broadband applications

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)

Cost-effective

Expanding fast

Restricted in some countries

Social media

Cost-effective alternative to traditional websites

Tool for consumer interaction

Mobile versions require less bandwidth

Global subscriptions of VoIP, Q4 2005-Q2 2010 (millions)

Sources: UNCTAD, ITU, Point Topic.

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Four Facets of the Interface between ICT and Private Sector Development

Source: UNCTAD.

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ICT Production a Key Part of the Private Sector

A vibrant ICT sector contributes to PSD Creates productive jobs, generates export revenue, spurs innovation

Supports ICT use throughout the economy and society

Growing importance in many developing countries 24% of Kenya’s GDP growth in the past decade

Cameroon: ICT sector grew between 15% and 46% per year (2000-08); 60,000 formal and 200,000 informal jobs

India: ICT sector’s share of GDP up from 3.4% (2001) to 5.9% (2008)

New opportunities arising for low-income countries Mobile sector – informal and formal enterprises – >10 million jobs, most of which in airtime distribution

Outsourcing (and crowd-sourcing) of micro-work

Source: UNCTAD, World Bank, Orbicom.

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Mobile Sector Employment, Selected Economies

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Crowd-sourcing of Micro-work a new form of more inclusive outsourcing

Source: UNCTAD, World Bank and ODesk.

Case Amazon Mechanical Turk

• In 2008, 76% of micro-

workers in US, 8% India • In 2010, 47% in US, 34%

in India, remaining 19% in 66 (!) other countries

Hours worked by week via the ODesk platform

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Freelancers in Bangladesh

10,000 freelancers active online

Most service clients in US or Europe

Provide a range of services over the web Software development

Graphic design

Social media marketing, etc

New Central Bank Directive (2011): Revenue should be treated as export-related commercial income rather than as remittances

Source: UNCTAD, BASIS and ITC.

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Mobile phones and dairy farmers in Bhutan

98 per cent of population (690,000) live in rural areas

Mobiles 2005-2010: from 5 to 55 subscriptions/100 people

Now supporting dairy farmers Access to market and price information

Avoid intermediaries – deal directly with customers

Increased direct sales, less waiting time

Improved communications

Mobiles are affordable

Government launched mobile info system – 4 languages

New employment has been created

Support to livelihood of poor farmers

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Composition of ICT Sector Varies Telecommunications dominate in most developing countries

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China

26.7%

Developed

countries

32.6%

Other

developing

Asia

36.6%

LAC

3.8%

Africa

0.2%

Other

economies

0.1%

Exports of ICT Goods Mainly from Asia

2010 data

Source: UNCTAD based on Comtrade.

China in 2010 became world’s largest exporter and

importer of ICT goods

Exports of laptops and other portable processing devices

grew from $25 billion to $125 billion

between 2000 and 2010

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Opportunities and Implications

New ICT landscape opens for more inclusive development

Key areas within ICT sector: Mobile sector

Software – growing local demand, new export channels

Outsourcing/crowdsourcing – ICT-enabled services

It takes more than infrastructure

Need for comprehensive strategies – address the four facets – to reap full development benefit from ICTs

Move from supply to demand-driven interventions

Leverage partnerships with private sector and civil society

Better data needed – especially in services

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Thank You!

The Information Economy Report 2011 can be downloaded free of charge at

www.unctad.org/ier2011.