The Internet in the Kyrgyz Republic
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Transcript of The Internet in the Kyrgyz Republic
The Internet in the Kyrgyz Republic:
Potential economic impact
Siddhartha Raja
The World Bank Group
December 10, 2014
Overview
• What is the status of the Internet in KR?
• How could the Internet support KR’s economic growth?
– Jobs
– Trade
– Innovation
– Services
• What could KR do to unlock this growth?
– Policies, institutions, and regulations
– Programs
– Supply and demand
Current market situation and comparators
48
14 11 8 7 4 3 2 2 1 1
Ch
ina
Eston
ia
Aze
rbaijan
Pakistan
Mo
ldo
va
Kazakh
stan
Uzb
ekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Afgh
anistan
Turkm
enistan
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Est
on
ia
Mal
aysi
a
Th
aila
nd
Mo
ldo
va
Ser
bia
Arm
enia
Aze
rbai
jan
Geo
rgia
Mo
ng
olia
Kaz
akh
stan
Vie
tnam
Kyr
gyz
stan
Bh
uta
n
Fixed BB
Mobile BB
26
6,2
45
32
,24
9
7,7
08
6,7
61
6,4
80
3,2
75
97
2
95
5
45
8
41
5
10
6
76
Eston
ia
Mo
ldo
va
Kazakh
stan
Aze
rbaijan
Mo
ngo
lia
Ch
ina
Kyrgyzstan
Pakistan
Uzb
ekistan
Tajikistan
Afgh
anistan
Turkm
enistan
Penetration of broadband services
Number of international carriers
International Internet bandwidth (bps/capita)
Source: TeleGeography 2014
Role of the Internet in KR
• Inspiration: National Sustainable Development Strategy For The Kyrgyz
Republic for 2013-2017
– Strategic objectives from Internet access development
• The spread of internet-access – by 2017 all inhabited points in the country will have
full-scale access to Internet, is one of the priority tasks in terms of human capacity
development, ensuring economic growth and fostering development of
culture, education, health care and individual growth.
– Rural connectivity
• Telecommunications infrastructure will also see development; there will be an
enabling environment for further development of communications and expanded
coverage of the country’s regions.
– Use of Internet access
• In the years 2013-2017 the Internet will play a greater role in the activities of
government bodies, there will be a modern system of "e-government” for the
efficient and cost-effective administration, improvement in democracy and increase
in the accountability of the government to its people.
Role of the Internet
Jobs• ICT is now an integral tool in most
jobs/sectors; connects people to work
• ICT enables job creators and job
creation: SME development, online work
• Over 15M people worldwide are
working through online platforms
• Lack of ICT & digital skills will hurt long-
term growth—knowledge economy
• Kids in KG today will be working by
2030—if they are not digital natives,
they will face major barriers
Trade• Access to affordable, reliable, quality
Internet is essential to grow almost any
business that has any links outside its
immediate location
• MGI: Growth in knowledge-intensive goods
trade 1.3x as fast as in labor-intensive
goods; 90% of commercial sellers on eBay
export to other countries, vs. less than
25% of traditional small businesses
Innovation• ICT is an enabler for cross-border
collaboration, innovative activities through
power of computing, data analytics
• Opens avenues for new ICT-enabled
businesses, productive growth
• Enables transfer of knowledge, technology
Services• Improve accountability, access,
transparency, and efficiency of service
delivery
• Public and private sector can benefit
• Need for institutional reforms (can’t only
rely on technology)
So how?
• Ensure wider access to the Internet
– Focus on smaller towns, rural, and hard-to-reach areas
– Build international and domestic connectivity
– Find ways to cut costs of broadband rollout: Wireline and wireless
– Let a competitive private sector lead the way
• Ensure greater use of the Internet
– Find ways to make services more affordable, especially for the poorest
– Identify possible demand driving services to increase attraction—increase local content availability
– Support use of Internet by major users e.g. universities, government, hospitals, banks, tourism
• Challenges to overcome
– Terrain and geography for backbone connectivity, but not a “deal breaker”
– Limited economic development of regions, can rely on public sector strategically
– Skills need to be developed for all types of users
So how? Focus areas…
• Improve international and domestic Internet backbone connectivity
– Position KR as a connector in the region—needs true competition to flourish
– Improve reliability of international and domestic connectivity—facilitate private sector
• Develop appropriate competition-promoting regulations
– Ensure affordable but high quality services
– Counter effects of control of monopoly/limited resources
• Improve management of radio spectrum, especially the digital dividend
– Use finite spectrum for best uses; allow technology neutrality
– Extend low-cost wireless Internet access in rural areas
• Define a new role for the public sector in a competitive market
– Institutions: Need to build capacity and collaboration
– Infrastructure: Kyrgyz Telecom can be a supporting infrastructure, open access provider; share infrastructure of all public entities to cut costs
– Services: e-Government and other e-services can be demand drivers, especially to improve connectivity in rural/remote areas; promote local content development
– Ensure complementary policies are in place (e-payments, skills, innovation)