Question 5/1: Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas

Final Report

Preface

ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) study groups provide a neutral contribution-driven platform where experts from governments, industry and academia gather to produce practical tools, useful guidelines and resources to address development issues. Through the work of the ITU-D study groups, ITU-D members study and analyse specific task-oriented telecommunication/ICT questions with an aim to accelerate progress on national development priorities.

Study groups provide an opportunity for all ITU-D members to share experiences, present ideas, exchange views and achieve consensus on appropriate strategies to address telecommunication/ICT priorities. ITU-D study groups are responsible for developing reports, guidelines and recommendations based on inputs or contributions received from the membership. Information, which is gathered through surveys, contributions and case studies, is made available for easy access by the membership using content-management and web-publication tools. Their work is linked to the various ITU-D programmes and initiatives to create synergies that benefit the membership in terms of resources and expertise. Collaboration with other groups and organizations conducting work on related topics is essential.

The topics for study by the ITU-D study groups are decided every four years at the World Telecommunication Development Conferences (WTDCs), which establish work programmes and guidelines for defining telecommunication/ICT development questions and priorities for the next four years.

The scope of work for ITU-D Study Group 1 is to study “Enabling environment for the development of telecommunications/ICTs”, and of ITU-D Study Group 2 to study “ICT applications, cybersecurity, emergency telecommunications and climate-change adaptation”.

During the 2014-2017 study period ITU-D Study Group 1 was led by the Chairman, Roxanne McElvane Webber (United States of America), and Vice-Chairmen representing the six regions: Regina Fleur Assoumou-Bessou (Côte d’Ivoire), Peter Ngwan Mbengie (Cameroon), Claymir Carozza Rodriguez (Venezuela), Victor Martinez (Paraguay), Wesam Al-Ramadeen (Jordan), Ahmed Abdel Aziz Gad (Egypt), Yasuhiko Kawasumi (Japan), Nguyen Quy Quyen (Viet Nam), Vadym Kaptur (Ukraine), Almaz Tilenbaev (Kyrgyz Republic), and Blanca Gonzalez (Spain).

Final report

This final report in response to Question 5/1: “Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas” has been developed under the leadership of its Rapporteur: Shuichi Nishimoto (Japan); and eight appointed Vice-Rapporteurs: Edva Altemar (Haiti), Yuriy Sergeevich Avanesov (Russian Federation), Chunxia Bai (People’s Republic of China), Christopher Ganizani Banda (Malawi), Ibrahim A. Kone (Mali), Zhang LI (People’s Republic of China), Tharalika Livera (Sri Lanka) and Joseph Bruno Yuma Utchudi (D.R. of the Congo). They have also been assisted by ITU-D focal points and the ITU-D Study Groups Secretariat.

ISBN

978-92-61-22711-1 (Paper version)

978-92-61-22721-0 (Electronic version)

978-92-61-22731-9 (EPUB version)

978-92-61-22741-8 (Mobi version)

This report has been prepared by many experts from different administrations and companies. The mention of specific companies or products does not imply any endorsement or recommendation by ITU.

Please consider the environment before printing this report.

© ITU 2017

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without the prior written permission of ITU.

Table of Contents

Preface

Final report

1 CHAPTER 1 – Introduction

2 CHAPTER 2 – Background

2.1 Summary of the previous study cycles on this Question

2.2 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

2.3 Broadband Commission

2.4 ITU strategic plan

2.5 WTDC 2014 output

2.6 Importance of study on rural and remote areas

3 CHAPTER 3 – Challenges for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

3.1 Challenges discussed in the previous study cycles on this Question

3.2 Challenges discussed in the contributions in this study period

3.3 Challenges in the questionnaire replies for the global survey

3.4 Methods to overcome the challenges

4 CHAPTER 4 – Technologies for connecting rural and remote areas

4.1 Telecommunications for rural and remote areas

4.2 Network configurations patterns

4.3 Backhaul technologies

4.3.1 General survey result

4.3.2 Optical networks

4.3.3 Microwave link

4.3.4 Satellite link

4.4 Access technologies

4.4.1 General survey result

4.4.2 Fibre to premises

4.4.3 xDSL (twisted pair cable to premises)

4.4.4 CATV (cable to premises)

4.4.5 Mobile network (3G/4G)

4.4.6 Wi-Fi

4.4.7 Satellite broadband access

4.5 Selection of technologies

4.6 Work of ITU-T and ITU-R for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

5 CHAPTER 5 – Services and applications adapted to the needs of users in rural and remote areas

5.1 Telephone (fixed and mobile)

5.2 Internet/ Broadband access (Services and applications adapted to the needs of users in rural and remote areas)

5.3 e-Applications and services

5.3.1 e-Finance/e-Commerce

5.3.2 eHhealth

5.3.3 e-Agriculture

5.3.4 e-Government

5.4 Proposals

6 CHAPTER 6 – ICT in education in rural areas

6.1 Broadband technologies

6.2 Challenges

6.3 Affordability and funding

6.4 Global survey for Question 5/1

6.5 Proposals

7 CHAPTER 7 – Public policies, regulatory measures, funding for development, maintenance and operation of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

7.1 Situation of rural and remote areas in developing countries

7.2 Broadband policy and Broadband plan

7.3 Universal Service Fund (USF)

7.4 Frequency assignment and license conditions

7.5 Multi-stakeholder partnership

7.6 Support for infrastructure

7.7 Support for applications and content

7.8 Capacity building

7.9 Importance of policy, regulation and funding

8 CHAPTER 8 – Business models and incentives of the operators

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Business models

8.3 Incentives of the operators

9 CHAPTER 9 – Conclusions and Guidelines

Acknowledgement

Abbreviations and acronyms

Annexes

Annex 1: All documents received for Question 5/1

Annex 2.1: Analysis of questionnaire replies to the global survey

Annex 2.2: Analysis of questionnaire replies to the global survey – Presentation

Annex 3.1: Measuring the Urban-Rural Digital Divide (URDD)

Annex 3.2: Measuring the Urban-Rural Digital Divide (URDD) – Presentation

Annex 4: Country examples of ICT in education in rural areas

List of tables and figures

Tables

Table 1: Technologies used for rural connections

Table 2: Selection of wired and wireless technologies

Table 3: Summary of ITU-T FTTx wireline broadband standards

Table 4: Sources of USF

Table 1A: Different aspects to the Urban/Rural Digital Divide

Table 2A: Bandwidth requirements for sample apps

Table 3A: Bandwidth requirements for different types of Skype calling

Table 4A: Supply-side measures to promote provision of broadband networks and services

Table 5A: Demand-side measures

Figures

Figure 1: Backhaul technologies used for connecting rural and remote areas

Figure 2: Access technologies used for connecting rural and remote areas

Figure 3: Strategic recommendations to implement national telehealth service for rural areas

Figure 5: Policies for infrastructure sharing, especially for the rural and remote areas

Figure 1A: Shifting focus on different aspects of the digital divide with the internet adoption curve

Figure 2A: Drivers and determinants of broadband take-up

Figure 3A: Commercial viability of broadband coverage

Figure 4A: Broadband across Latvia, 2015

Figure 5A: Household broadband access in Europe, 2015

Figure 6A: Internet penetration in the United States, by County, 2013

Figure 7A: Status of backbone connectivity, 2013

Figure 8A: Evolution in technical factors for video

Figure 9A: The concept of app coverage

1 CHAPTER 1 – Introduction

ITU’s Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU–D) Study Group 1 Question 5/1 and its issues for study were agreed by the 2014 World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-14). The Question has been studied in former ITU-D Study Group 2 for several terms, and during the periods the situation of telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas[1] has changed. Recently, mobile broadband technologies are getting increasingly wide spread, and terminal equipment and network facilities are getting cheaper due to standardized production. In this regard, considering economical merits, technologies adapted for rural and remote areas may need to be common to these technologies utilized widely all over the world. It is necessary to study the situation in this field and comparing with the past periods. In addition to technologies, public policies, regulatory measures, and business models have become important for the development of telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas.

WTDC-14 decided to continue the study Question stating the situation of problem as follows:

– The rapid migration of the populations of developing countries to urban areas may have an adverse effect on poverty alleviation, unless measures are taken to improve the environment and life in rural and remote areas, possibly by deploying telecommunications/ICTs for these areas.

– The installation of cost-effective and sustainable basic telecommunication infrastructure in rural and remote areas is an important aspect calling for further studies, and specific outcomes need to be available for the vendor community to develop a suitable solution to meet the challenges in the rural and remote areas.

– Most of the time, existing network systems are primarily designed for urban areas, where the necessary support infrastructure (adequate power, building/shelter, accessibility, skilled manpower to operate, etc.) for setting up a telecommunication network is assumed to exist. Hence, current systems need to be more adequately adapted to specific rural requirements in order to be widely deployed.

As for the issues for study in Question 5/1, the public policies and regulatory measures, and business models are added from the previous study period.

To study the issues of the Question, contributions and case studies were submitted by Member States, Sector Members, Academia and other members to the Study Group 1 meetings and Rapporteur’s Group meetings during the study period, as shown in Annex 1 to the report and in the ITU‎-D Case Study Library. In addition, a Questionnaire for a global survey on telecommunications/ICT for rural and remote areas was sent to the ITU Membership and the replies to the survey were analysed as shown in Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2 to the report.

2 CHAPTER 2 – Background

2.1 Summary of the previous study cycles on this Question

ITU-D study groups have been working on the questions related to telecommunications for rural and remote areas for several study periods. The study Question goes back to WTDC–94 (Buenos Aires, Argentina) when it was agreed in the Buenos Action Plan (BAP–94) to study these themes as Study Group 2, Question 4/2 “Communications for rural and remote areas”. The title was slightly modified since then with the addition of “ICTs”. In this study period 2014-2017, it continues as Study Group 1 Question 5/1, “Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas”.[2]

Study period 2002-2006 (Question 10-1/2)

The Rapporteur’s Group on Question 10-1/2 decided to collect case studies from the five regions of the world and to develop guidelines for successful practices for the countries to address rural communications development. 19 case studies were collected that the Rapporteur’s Group analyzed. State of the art technologies are deployed by most of the case studies which are made viable to the environment and conditions of the project site. The choice of technologies suited for rural connectivity depends on the projects. There are wireless technologies such as VSAT and terrestrial wireless (Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), Wireless Local Loop (WLL) and Wi-Fi) for trunk line and local loop are deployed in many cases because of faster roll-out time, cost effectiveness and scalability and advantage for maintenance and operation. Many case studies indicated the importance of solutions for energy supply in rural areas. Training for computer skills for all generations from children to elderly people is stressed in many cases.[3]

Study period 2006-2010 (Question 10-2/2)

The Rapporteur’s Group on Question 10-2/2 collected 20 case studies for the study period 2006-2010. The following conclusions were derived from the analysis of case studies and the contributions submitted by the Members. Public-private partnership scheme is the new methodology for raising funds for rural projects that has often been considered. Solutions for power supply for ICT facilities and infrastructure in rural and remote areas constitute a critical issue.[4]

Study period 2010-2014 (Question 10-3/2)

The Rapporteur’s Group on Question 10-3/2 collected case studies from the contributions received during this study period. The Rapporteur’s Group studied the Question by contribution, inputs of case study and questionnaire replies from the membership. Two major technologies observed in the case studies are the terrestrial wireless technology such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) and the satellite technology such as VSAT coupled with geostationary satellite (GEO) observed in collected case studies. The definition of broadband was also discussed about the minimum requirement of data speed. The Broadband Commission report concluded that broadband is an always on service and high capacity: able to carry lots of data per second, rather than a particular speed. Several countries responded to BDT questionnaires about the various data speed of broadband services. However, some countries indicated that the download data speed of 2Mbps is defined in their national policy, or higher speeds in other countries over their optical fiber networks.[5]

2.2 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

In December of 2003, the world came together in Geneva at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to declare a “common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society”, and thereby ushered in an era of harnessing the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The resulting Geneva Plan of Action established targets and the eleven action lines, which guide development in specific areas. The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) recognized the achievements of the Geneva phase in its resolution.

The second phase of WSIS, conducted in Tunis in 2005, built upon the achievements of the Geneva Plan, with the resulting Tunis Agenda addressing additional issues, such as financing and internet governance. It also requested the Secretary-General, in consultation with the Chief Executive Board for Coordination (CEB) to establish within the CEB, a United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS), consisting of the relevant UN organizations with the mandate to facilitate the implementation of the WSIS outcomes.

The General Assembly adopted the outcome document of the high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the overall review of the implementation of the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society at its seventieth session:

“We further express concern that digital divides remain between developed and developing countries, and that many developing countries lack affordable access to ICTs. By 2015, only 34 per cent of households in developing countries have internet access, with significant variations by country, compared with more than 80 per cent in developed countries. This means that two-thirds of the population residing in developing countries remains offline.

We moreover call for a significant increase in access to ICTs and encourage all stakeholders to strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet for all. We welcome the efforts of all stakeholders in pursuit of these goals, including efforts being undertaken in the Connect 2020 Agenda adopted at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in 2014”.[6]

International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the sole facilitator of the WSIS Action Line C2: Information and Communications Infrastructure and the leading International Organization in the field of ICT/telecommunications, has been studying broadband infrastructure from many perspectives. Since 1994, ITU-D Study Groups have been studying Questions on telecommunications for rural and remote areas, and have collected many practical and valuable case studies on the development of broadband communication.

2.3 Broadband Commission

The Broadband Commission for Digital Development was launched in May 2010 by ITU and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Commission states that it aims to boost the importance of broadband on the international policy agenda and that expanding broadband access in every country is the key to accelerating progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the target date of 2015.

Every year, the UN Broadband Commission publishes its annual “State of Broadband” report to take the pulse of the global broadband industry and to explore progress in connecting everyone on the planet via broadband. Its report of 2015 finds that although strong growth rates continue for mobile broadband and Facebook usage, and mobile cellular subscriptions exceeded 7 billion for the first time during 2015, growth in global mobile cellular subscriptions and growth in Internet usage have slowed sharply. Thus a transition point in the growth of the Internet has been reached.

The UN Broadband Commission’s targets or best estimate projections made in 2011 have not been achieved by 2015 (the target date) and most seem likely only to be achieved by 2020 at the earliest. The milestone of 4 billion Internet users is unlikely to be achieved before 2020. Future Internet users are likely to come from less well-educated, less urban backgrounds and from a base in other languages and dialects. Growth in the languages available online for some of the main web-based services is not keeping pace with growth in overall Internet usage. To overcome this transition point and to achieve universally available and more affordable Internet access for all requires huge efforts, better coordination and more effective use of existing resources by all stakeholders.[7]

2.4 ITU strategic plan

The ITU 19th Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-14) was held in Busan in October-November 2014 and approved ITU’s Strategic Plan and Financial Plan for 2016–2019, as well as the Connect 2020 Agenda, which sets out a clear vision and shared objectives for the future of Telecommunications/ICT sector.

Resolution 71 (Rev. Busan, 2014), underlines the importance of linking strategic, financial and operational plans as a way of measuring progress in achieving ITU’s objectives and goals.

Resolution 200 describes “Connect 2020 Agenda for Global Telecommunications/ICT Development”. The annex to the Resolution lists four goals and 17 targets. Among these targets, the followings are related to Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas.

– Target 1.1: Worldwide, 55 per cent of households should have access to the Internet by 2020.

– Target 2.1.A: In the developing world, 50 per cent of households should have access to the Internet by 2020.

– Target 2.1.B: In the Least Developed Countries (LDCs), 15 per cent of households should have access to the Internet by 2020.

– Target 2.4: Worldwide, 90 per cent of the rural population should be covered by broadband services by 2020.

Through the Connect 2020 Agenda, ITU Member States committed to work towards the shared vision of “an information society, empowered by the interconnected world, where telecommunications/ICT enables and accelerates socially, economically and environmentally sustainable growth and development for everyone”, and invited all stakeholders to contribute with their initiatives and their experience, qualifications and expertise to the successful implementation of the Connect 2020 Agenda.

The PP-14 also approved Resolution 139 (Rev. Busan, 2014), which seeks policies to promote public and private investments to bridge the digital divide using available technologies such as radio communication systems. Titled “Use of telecommunications/information and communication technologies to bridge the digital divide and build an inclusive information society”, the resolution also highlights the importance of strengthening cooperation with the relevant international and regional organizations.[8]

2.5 WTDC 2014 output

The sixth ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) was held in Dubai in March-April 2014. WTDC-14 approved the programmes as a concrete framework for the fulfillment of the five objectives and fifteen associated outputs (products and services) set for ITU–D to fast-track global connectivity over the next four years.

This aim of the programme on Telecommunication/ICT networks, including conformance and interoperability and bridging the standardization gap, is to assist ITU Member States and ITU–D Sector Members and Associates in maximizing the use of appropriate new technologies for the development of their information and communication infrastructure and services. Some specific areas of work include: Spectrum management and radio monitoring, broadcasting, next-generation networks, broadband networks (wired and wireless technologies, including IMT), conformance and interoperability (C&I), and rural communications.

In terms of rural communications, it is noted that rural areas remain sparsely covered, and telecommunication operators do not consider rural coverage a viable business case. Recent growth of teledensity in urban areas, fueled by mobile technology, has widened the digital gap between rural and urban areas. Setting up backhaul connectivity remains a high-cost exercise. Erratic power supply or complete lack of energy sources is a major barrier, although photovoltaic power is increasingly becoming a viable alternative.

Thus, BDT’s focus will be to provide information on suitable technologies for access, backhaul and source of power supply to bring telecommunications to rural, unserved and underserved areas; implement projects on public/community broadband access points; and disseminate information and analyses of the latest technologies (including satellite) and best practices.[9]

WTDC-14 further agreed to maintain the two ITU-D study groups and decided on their terms of reference. It also agreed on new and revised questions for the 2014-2017 study period. It was decided that the Question of “Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas” was to be studied under ITU-D Study Group 1.

2.6 Importance of study on rural and remote areas

According to the statistics of United Nation’s Population Division (2014), it is estimated that almost half of the global population is in the rural areas, and many of them are shifting from rural to urban area. Migration of population from rural to urban areas is predicted to progress year by year. This may be because of the difficult life and economic conditions in the rural communities.

Development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas of developing countries is slow unless special policy, initiatives and government subsidy are implemented in those countries. Provision of telecommunications/ICTs services such as basic voice, short message, video-conference and internet services is not lucrative in general in sparsely populated rural areas of developing countries.

As a result, according to the report by the BDT Director on “Measuring the Information Society (2014)”,[10] it is said that the urban-rural digital divide prevails in many developing countries. There is a strong gap observed in the levels of individuals’/households’ ICT access, ICT skills and fixed/mobile telecommunication infrastructure in urban and rural communities.

Throughout previous studies, it has been clear from the experience of many countries that technologies and strategies of implementing telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas are various and diversified from country to country. Also, social, economic, and technological situation in rural and remote areas is changing rapidly. Therefore, it is important to continue the study of telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas.

3 CHAPTER 3 – Challenges for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

3.1 Challenges discussed in the previous study cycles on this Question

Rural and remote areas under the study of ITU‎-D Question 10‎-3/2 are defined as areas that are away from large cities or towns and mostly not heavily populated in comparison with urban and suburban areas. In some countries, such areas are defined as areas which have population of less than 2,500 inhabitants. Rural and remote areas depend significantly on agricultural activity, etc., and may be characterized by the following:

1) Geographic access problems due to distance, terrain, poor quality of road/transport network and remoteness of some rural communities;

2) Lack of or inadequate basic enabling infrastructure such as regular electricity supply;

3) Absence of adequate telecommunications infrastructure;

4) Cost of physical access and equipment installation due to any combination of the above geographically related issues;

5) Low geographic density of target population (i.e. small village populations, in sparsely populated communities that are geographically separated from one another);

6) Low income, lack of disposable income and relative poverty of rural population;

7) High degrees of illiteracy in some rural areas;

8) Low levels of awareness (if any) of the benefits of modern telecommunications leading to low current demand in some areas;

9) Overall lack of funding (both public and private); and

10) Others.

These challenges have been presented from the following seven perspectives in entire telecommunications/ICTs/broadband ecosystem: from the perspectives of policy makers and regulators, the operators, consumers, vendors, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) manufacturers, content developers, international organizations and bilateral and multilateral donor agencies.[11]

3.2 Challenges discussed in the contributions in this study period

In contributions submitted to Q5/1 rapporteur group meetings, challenges for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas in several countries are introduced.

Sri Lanka described challenges for the development of telecommunication/ICTs in rural and remote areas in its contribution as follows:[12]

a) High installation and operation cost

Most of the rural and remote deployments are done in areas which are not highly developed, lack proper infrastructure to support deployments which increase the cost of deployment as well as operations costs attached to the same. Main challenges to such deployments are attached to transportation, power related investments, constructions-related investment etc. Availability of electricity, proper road infrastructure increase costs attached to operations by usage of generators to supplement lack of electricity and specialized methods of transportation to overcome lack of proper road infrastructure.

b) Small population and low potential Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

Most of the rural and remote areas, lack of population density and low ARPU are driven by the social and economic reasons attached to such areas. ARPU and Number of people who serves act as direct drivers of revenue and density of population acts as a direct driver for operations costs attached to the same. Further, low population density required more investment to accommodate the telecommunication deployment. This is a severe bottleneck for deployment of broadband developments as, technologies attached deployments will be having a lower coverage compared to their predecessors.

c) Shortage of power supply

Shortage of power supply is a major characteristic of a rural or a remote community. The said, directs to increase the required investment with relations to battery banks and Generators. Further, usage of Generators increase the costs associated with operations as usage of such is expensive compared to costs associated with National Power Supply. There were many instances, where operators opted to focus on alternative investments in areas such as solar, wind, etc. which requires a higher investment to accommodate such deployments.

d) Lack of technical personnel

As explained above, low population density, coupled with low social and economic conditions which exist in remote and rural areas, create an environment where there is a lack of technical personal. Although, the deployment of many of telecommunication related investments is driven by a central authority, the deployment and operations are handled a distributed network of people which needs to have a higher level of technical competency to run the said.

e) Handset ecosystem

Handset ecosystems facilitate the deployment of telecommunication technologies as the said incentives operators deploy such deployment. Support of different IMT technologies in different band is a critical factor as this will provide the necessary demand factors to facilitate the deployment.

f) Geography

Geographic conditions mainly affect the deployment of wired telecommunication deployment which creates a changing terrain conditions for deployment. However, wireless deployment may get affected as the requirement for number of base stations increase to overcome the terrain challenges.

g) ICT literacy

ICT literacy and a cultural attribute of digital savviness attributes in many ways for successful penetration of telecommunication related products. Compared to developed countries, developing countries lack ICT literacy which creates bottlenecks in successful penetration of internet services.

In the People’s Republic of China, the biggest challenge for rural broadband development is high-network construction and maintenance cost. Although there are broadband subsidies in some special-use/earmark funds from the central government and local governments, almost every kind of broadband subsidy is for demonstration project and requiring self-counterpart money. Most earmarked funds for broadband construction is arranged year by year and there is a lack of systematic consideration for long term development.[13]

Rural broadband faces many challenges:

– Rural all-optical access is a great construction.

– Rural broadband faces larger investment and lower income, a company is weak.

– Rural broadband lacks sustainable business applications.[14]

In Haiti, the fundamental difficulties that characterize rural and remote areas tend to discourage investment. These difficulties are compounded by a lack of local maintenance technicians who could respond rapidly to requests for equipment maintenance and repair.[15]

In Guinea, the problem of poor or non-existent telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services in rural and isolated areas is due to the unprofitability for telecommunication operators of setting up in such areas.[16]

Côte d’Ivoire pointed out the need to develop a method of estimating license costs. As a result of the renewal of 2G mobile telephony licenses and the granting of new licenses (3G, 4G, general license) to telecommunication operators in many countries, in particular in a number of African countries, the issue of estimating license costs, and by extension the costs of using the required frequencies, needs to be considered as a matter of urgency.[17]

Rural and isolated areas in the Democratic Republic of the Congo face the following difficulties:

– The rural exodus resulting from the absence of basic infrastructure in rural and isolated areas.

– More than 75 per cent of the population live in rural and isolated areas and have no access to ICT applications owing to the high cost of telephones with ICT access capabilities.

– The poverty of the great majority of the people, who are excluded by poverty from access to telecommunication/ICT applications.[18]

Intel Corporation (United States of America) noted that the lack of electricity is a serious problem especially in rural areas and there is a need to consider for the provision of ICT in Education. Solar power, wind power or other alternatives could be a solution.[19]

3.3 Challenges in the questionnaire replies for the global survey

At the September 2015 meetings of ITU‐D Study Group 1, it was agreed to issue a circular to the Membership of ITU requesting input on specific aspects of access and connectivity in rural and remote areas. The Questionnaire was sent to Administrations of ITU Member States and Observer (Resolution 99), ITU-D Sector Members, Associates and Academia, Management Teams for ITU-D Study Groups 1 and 2, and Observers (Regional and International Organizations). A total of 46 entries from 45 countries were received.[20]

All inputs and contributions received through this survey were compiled as Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2 of this report to assist countries in strengthening their capacity to address challenges related to access for people living in rural and remote areas. Concerning challenges for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas, one question is asked as below:

7.5 What are the problems or challenges encountered in the deployment of telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas?

– There were 37 replies for this question (82.22%);

– In the replies, many countries pointed out geographic access problems due to distance, terrain, and poor quality of transport network. Costa Rica, Panama, Sudan, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Brazil, etc. answered these problems.

Several countries mentioned the lack of electricity supply. Panama, Uganda, Nepal, Kenya, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Venezuela, among other countries experience these challenges.

Absence of adequate telecommunications infrastructure due to high cost for installation and operation is a problem. Pakistan, Uganda, Nepal, Cameroon, Paraguay, Turkey, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Rep., Switzerland, Brazil, and others shared this problem.

Several countries raised the difficulty of small market caused by low density of population and low income. Israel, Nepal, Spain, Mexico, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Paraguay, Poland, Cuba, Peru, Australia, Denmark, and others showed this difficulty.

Some replies to the survey mentioned regulatory matters including frequency allocation. State of Palestine, Sri Lanka, Costa Rica are among them.

Final challenge is concerning education such as literacy. Nepal and the Central African Republic raised the issue.

3.4 Methods to overcome the challenges

As we have seen above, there are several types of challenges for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas. The digital divide is defined as “inequality in deployment, access to, and use of, ICTs”, but there are many different aspects to this term. The urban-rural digital divide is the main digital divide most commonly referred to (besides the international digital divide). It is now a major issue in many countries and regions around the world. There is by now a considerable body of literature describing the urban/rural digital divide. Annex 3.1 and Annex 3.2 of this report provide an overview of the various measurement methods to date, with some examples of what has been measured to date.[21],[22] Because of the above-mentioned challenges, urban-rural digital divide is still wide.

In order to overcome these challenges, methods from various aspects are needed. For example, disadvantage of location should be made up by policy and regulation, such as broadband policy, plan, and universal service fund. High cost for installation and operation of telecommunications infrastructure could be taken care of by new technology. Challenges caused by small market should be discussed as business models. Education in rural and remote areas is important and ICT services and applications could be effective to solve this problem.

4 CHAPTER 4 – Technologies for connecting rural and remote areas

4.1 Telecommunications for rural and remote areas

Network normally is configured in two parts: backhaul and access parts. Sometimes it is divided into three parts: core, backhaul and access, where the backhaul is routing traffic from cells sites (or points of presence) into the core network. Since these classification is sometimes not clear due to the complexity of modern telecommunications configuration, in order to make arguments simple, core or backhaul section is called simply “backhaul” in this study.

Backhaul has higher speed to transfer large information sent from various terminal equipments. Backhaul parts as well as access parts can be made via wired or wireless solutions. The following sections include overviews of solutions via fibre cable, terrestrial wireless, and satellite.

Both wireless and wired technologies are used in backhaul and access parts. These two technologies have been competitive and sometimes complementary each other for long-time. After the invention of optical cable, its use for backhaul has become the standard design pattern for national network. On the other hand, dispersed area of access network makes wireless equally effective as wired. This is specifically the case for rural and remote areas, where pulling the cable is a difficult task.[23]

4.2 Network configurations patterns

Table 1 shows the technologies used for the access part and the backhaul part of the network. Classification and corresponding technical description below are for those transmission methods suitable for wide band connection. Some historical technologies are mentioned for comparison purpose, although many of them are still in use.

With the needs of rural ICT development, characteristic of wireless network structure and the benefit of shared construction are considered based on the leverage of the legacy network resources. For example the People’s Republic of China, in its document, puts forward the idea of the hierarchical structure of wireless broadband network in rural areas.[24]

Table 1: Technologies used for rural connections

Technologies

Terminal Mobility

Access

Backhaul

Wireline

Optical cable

—

Fibre to the home

Optical fibre including OPGW

Copper cable

—

Copper cable, pair cable to home

Coaxial cables, including submarine cable

Wireless

Terrestrial

Mobile

Mobile network, such as Wi-Fi, WiMax, 2G, 3G, LTE

—

Fixed

Fixed wireless access

Terrestrial microwave

Via satellite

Mobile

Satellite network

—

Fixed

Satellite link/ V-AT

Satellite/V-SAT

Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) describes a set of technologies and techniques which use radio-enabled, location-aware devices and online databases to enable opportunistic transmission using available, unused radio spectrum on an unlicensed or license-exempt basis. It was discussed during previous study period and applicable for rural telecommunications. More information is described in the final report for Resolution 9 “Participation of countries, particularly developing countries, in spectrum management”.

4.3 Backhaul technologies

4.3.1 General survey result

According to the result of global survey for ITU-D Study Group 1 Question 5/1 for consideration by the Rapporteur Group, backhaul technologies used for connecting rural and remote areas are as follows:

Figure 1: Backhaul technologies used for connecting rural and remote areas

4.3.2 Optical networks

Optical fibre will in most cases remain the idea medium for backhauling between the periphery and the network core. Owing to the marked growth in volumes of data exchanges between users, backhaul has to cope with an ever-growing demand for higher data speeds for things such as triple play, video on demand, HDTV, IPTV, videoconferencing, interactive video and video games, cloud computing and data transfer.

To connect islands to the continent or to the main island, submarine cables are used. They have been used mainly as international telecommunication links. Optical submarine cable is a cable with special armoured cable covers. Some island countries have laid non-repeater optical fibre submarine cables to connect outer islands with distance of several hundred kilometers.

4.3.3 Microwave link

A number of network topologies can be used to connect the point of presence to the core network:

– Point to point (PtP): this is what traditionally has been used, with narrow pencil like beams connecting two end points

– Point to Multi-Point (PtMP): in this approach at one end a broader beam is used so that it covers a relatively wide area within which there could be several other endpoints

– Multi-point to multi-point or mesh: here multiple end points communicate to potentially other multi points with traffic routed between them.

Wireless backhaul can operate in Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) mode with a pair of frequencies, one for each direction, or Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode, sharing capacity between uplink/downlink directions.

Alcatel-Lucent indicates that: Packet Radio microwave links in a daisy chain scheme, connected to the closest IMT Macro Network Base Stations, aiming as a max. 3 to 4 hops between the rural area and the base station. The main benefit of this approach is the low cost associated to microwave radios nowadays and the low latency for IMT connections using such a backhaul scheme.

4.3.4 Satellite link

Terrestrial infrastructure is often concentrated in urban centres, with limited coverage for rural and remote areas, preventing segments of the population from benefiting from the information society. Ongoing advancements in satellite networks, ground equipment and applications have made satellite technologies an increasingly cost effective solution – and a critical component of telecommunications and broadband access strategies and national broadband plans, particularly to ensure coverage in remote and rural areas.

Satellite-based GSM/3G backhaul has played an increasingly important role in extending the reach and coverage of mobile telephony and mobile broadband networks, particularly in developing countries. As governments seek to ensure mobile connectivity for all citizens, satellite backhaul will continue to play a role in providing connectivity to regions where terrestrial-based technologies alone are not an economically viable solution nor geographically reachable.

The use of satellite backhaul also provides redundancy of connectivity. Damage to the fibre backbone network could lead to terrestrial base stations being cut off from core networks, while the extra diversity that satellite backhaul provides will ensure that connectivity remains un-interrupted, even if there is serious damage to terrestrial infrastructure.

In Argentina, a plan to bring Internet connectivity to rural and border area schools using satellite antennas was launched with the framework of the National Telecommunication Plan entitled “Argentina Conectada” (Argentina connected). The aim is to provide schools with an Internet connection via satellite antennas using VSAT satellite.

This initiative complements the deployment of federal fibre network across the Argentine territory, with free installation in nearly 2,500 schools in rural and border areas of fixed antenna to access the Internet connection service via VSAT satellite. Students can pursue their learning through the access to information and communication technologies.

Alcatel-Lucent International (France) indicates that satellite connections can provide a good option to offer backhaul for small cells for broadband deployments in rural areas. Latency is still the main challenge associated to this approach, yet some service providers in Latin America performed tests with IMT Small Cells Outdoor with a backhaul satellite connection in the Ka band, with excellent results.[25] [26]

KDDI Corporation (Japan) outlines some examples of mobile base stations with satellite backhauls, such as dispatching vehicle-mounted base station, restoring macro base station with satellite backhaul and femtocell with satellite backhaul. It depicts a network configuration in using femtocell with the satellite backhaul which is similar to that of the macro base station. Since the femtocell employs the Ethernet interface, IP-based satellite systems have high affinity with the femtocell. The femtocell enables an effective use of the satellite bandwidth because the bandwidth can be shared among multiple femtocells, and in an idle state the femtocell does not waste the bandwidth, i.e. only transmits/receives small-size “keep-alive” packets. The femtocell employs unique ToS (Type of Service) values for voice and data communication in IP headers. VSAT should be capable of prioritizing the voice packets to keep voice quality with its Quality of Service (QoS) function.[27]

4.4 Access technologies

4.4.1 General survey result

According to the result of global survey for ITU-D Study Group 1 Question 5/1 for consideration by the Rapporteur Group, access technologies used for connecting rural and remote areas are as follows:

Figure 2: Access technologies used for connecting rural and remote areas

4.4.2 Fibre to premises

Optical fibre is capable of delivering high bandwidth, which carries integrated voice, data and video signal in the access network. The distance is more than 20 kilometers without repeaters.

A fibre optic wireline network can have several configurations, depending on the terminating point of the fibre: Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH), Fibre-to-the-Building (FTTB), Fibre-to-the-Curb (FTTC) and Fibre-to-the-Node (FTTN). In each case the optical network is terminated at an Optical Network Unit (ONU).

The versions of FTTx are differentiated by the location of the ONU. For FTTH, the ONU is located on the subscriber’s premises and serves as the demarcation between the operator’s and customer’s facilities. For FTTB and FTTC, the ONU serves as a common interface for several subscribers (e.g., the basement of an apartment building or a telephone pole), with the service delivered over the customers’ existing TWP (twisted pair) drop cables. xDSL over TWP (will be discussed in the next section) is often used to provide service from the ONU in FTTB and FTTC configurations. For FTTN, the ONU is located in an active network node serving dozens to hundreds of subscribers from which service is delivered by existing TWP local loops.

There are two common architectures for FTTx: “Point-to-Point” (PtP) and the Passive optical network (PON). In a PtP configuration, a dedicated optical fibre (one or two fibres) connects the ONU directly with the telephone exchange. In a PON network, several ONU – typically up to 32 – share a single fibre connection to the network. Signal is split for each ONU at a passive network node.

In the People’s Republic of China, China Telecom developed “Broadband Villages” project in Sichuan Province, it created “Rural Broadband” innovation mode, creating a new era of optical network in rural areas. In view of the special situation in rural areas, it used a variety new materials and techniques of Optical Distribution Network (ODN), reduced the engineering cost and improved the efficiency of the project. Now Sichuan Province has achieved more than 3,100 towns and 2.1 thousand administrative villages of all fibre access, and become China’s first all optical Province. By National and local support, introducing cooperation, planning guides, technology management innovation, Internet+ IPTV entrance innovation, China telecom created an excellent “broadband rural” construction model.[28]

4.4.3 xDSL (twisted pair cable to premises)

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) was the first attempt at a completely digital telephone/telecommunications network (as opposed to using modems over switched analogue circuits). ISDN provides one or two 64 kb/s digital service channels and a 16 kb/s digital signal channel to each subscriber. It was designed to carry voice, data, images, and video, in digital format, with a standard network and device interface over the legacy PSTN, using TWP local loop cable. It did not establish itself as a popular broadband access technology. However, the speed of 128kbps, namely two times 64kbps was recognized as the speed of digital “broadband” connections when it was introduced.

ISDN was not adopted widely as digital services and replaced by Digital Subscriber Line (DSL – originally “Digital Subscriber Loop”) as a broadband wireline technology.

DSL carries digital signals on the PSTN using higher frequencies than those used for voice traffic. Thus, customer can use the telephone and computer at the same time, so that computer internet connection is “always on”. There are several varieties of DSL: Asymmetric DSL (ADSL), with higher speed of upload than download, Symmetric DSL (SDSL) with the same upload and download speeds, Symmetric-High Speed DSL (SHDSL) and Very High-Speed DSL (VDSL).

The performance differences are accomplished by changing the power levels and spectrum characteristics, modulation techniques, channel bonding and noise management. Advanced versions of ADSL and VDSL such as ADSL2, VDSL2 and ADSL2+ are also available.

DSL is easy to deploy because it uses the legacy PSTN physical plant. However, the existing local loop physical characteristics define a certain limitation on the transmission quality. Transmission speed reduces as the distance from the network operator’s DSL modem (DSLAM, DSL Access Multiplexer) to the subscriber’s DSL modem increases.

4.4.4 CATV (cable to premises)

In some countries Cable Television (CATV) network is common to satisfy the demand for video services. Since CATV typically employs coaxial cables with capability of sending video signal, CATV access network is fit to the broadband services to compete with the exiting telecom carriers. The Data over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) was published in 1997. It defines the addition of high-speed data communications to an existing CATV system. Using DOCSIS, CATV operators offered competing data communications on their video networks, and with the development of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) offered POTS-like service. The latest version of the standard, DOCSIS 3.0, bonds up to 8 channels from the network to the terminal, to deliver up to 343 Mbit/s to the optical node. CATV operators offer subscriber access speeds as high as 100 Mbit/s using this technology.

4.4.5 Mobile network (3G/4G)

The usage area covered by wireless communications is wide. Distinction is made from many perspectives: by fixed vs. nomadic/mobile, but licensed vs. unlicensed as well as point-to-point vs. point-to-multi-point.

Responding to these requirements of user usage pattern, spectrum regulation and technical network pattern, the ITU has made a large Recommendation ITU-R M.1801, which contains “Radio interface standards for broadband wireless access systems, including mobile and nomadic applications, in the mobile service operating below 6 GHz”.

These standards support a wide range of applications in urban, suburban and rural areas for both generic broadband internet data and real-time data, including applications such as voice and videoconferencing.

Recommendation ITU-R M.2012 contains detailed specifications of the terrestrial radio interfaces of IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced). It includes the two IMT-Advanced radio interfaces:

– The LTE-Advanced radio interface technology.

– The Wireless MAN-Advanced radio interface technology.

In parallel with these ITU-R recommendations, the 3GPP family of standards provides wide choices of modern wireless mobile networks.

In Burundi, in cooperation with ITU, it implements a wide band wireless connectivity and ICT applications to provide free or low cost digital access for schools and hospitals as well as a goal to access underserved populations in rural and remote areas of Burundi. Cooperating with ONATEL, the government of Burundi will provide the delivery of all required approvals for the project, exempt project equipment of all fees (customs, various taxes), and assign a bandwidth of 36 MHz for the radio network (2.5-2.7 GHz), while ITU will provide necessary human resources for project management (identification, implementation, supervision, monitoring and evaluation). The project will setup wireless broadband infrastructure and build human capacity building to ensure the sustainability of the network.[29]

In Brazil, the main technologies used to provide broadband access are xDSL (digital subscriber line) and cable modems. Nevertheless, mobile technologies such as 3G systems or GSM systems are used to serve remote areas. The country has also established a regulatory framework designed to encourage investment in the ICT sector.[30]

4.4.6 Wi-Fi

Broadband RLANs, commonly called Wi-Fi such as those based on the IEEE 802.11 standard, allow for high-speed access to the Internet at short distances. RLANs, coupled with mesh network architecture provide the extended coverage from hot spots. This Wi-Fi plus mesh is a convenient way to provide local access network without licenses.

Recommendation ITU-R M.1450 contains “Characteristics of broadband radio local area networks” and includes technical parameters, and information on RLAN standards and operational characteristics. The Recommendation contains each broadband RLAN standard and information in the annexes can be used for general information on RLANs, including characteristics.

Typical applications are public and private wireless access offered in homes, SOHOs, schools, hospitals, hotels, conference centres, airports, shopping centres, etc. Today, broadband RLANs are widely used for semi-fixed (transportable) and portable computer equipment such as laptops and smartphones that can be used for a variety of broadband applications. The key feature is portability. Wi-Fi provides high data rates and system throughput but the geographic coverage is limited to about 100 m.

In rural Shiojiri City in Nagano prefecture, Japan, as indicated by the national seismic survey, an earthquake with a magnitude of around 8.0 will occur at a probability of 14 per cent in the region within the next 30 years, and the city is located in a region with a harsh natural environment that requires a disaster prevention function.[31]

Regarding such circumstances, and by receiving from Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications as one of the FY2012 “Project to Promote ICT Town Development” project, the city created an ad hoc wireless communication network connecting various sensors, with the aim of mitigating disasters, building an enhanced risk management system, and actualizing a safe and secure town to stabilize local infrastructure while locally manufacturing these sensors to contribute to the industrial development of the region.

The system works together with existing FTTH network of Shiojiri, and collects data from the sensors of debris flow detectors, water level detectors, animal infestation detectors, intra-city loop bus tracking detectors, and children and elderly positioning detectors via the ad hoc wireless communications network, and accumulates the collected information in a private cloud environment. Also, the project provides mobile terminals and the accumulated data is presented through the Internet, an expanded Wi-Fi network, and area one-segment broadcasting.

The system is useful not only in case of emergency or disaster but in people’s daily lives. The Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile DTV stations is serving as an information point where people can gather information and meet each other.

4.4.7 Satellite broadband access

Frequency bands used in satellite communications define the size of the dish required and their capabilities:

– L-band (1.5/1.6 GHz) is used by Non-Geostationary Earth Orbits (NGEO) and Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) systems. For GEO systems large antennas (e.g. 10-20 m diameter) are used on the satellite platform to provide large number of small spot beams on the Earth surface. Due to the limited spectrum available in this range, data rates are limited (currently around 500 kbit/s). L-band frequencies are virtually unaffected by propagation impairments.

– C-band (4/6 GHz) transmissions require larger dishes compared with Ku-band and Ka-band described below. Transmissions in the C-band are less affected by rain fade and other weather conditions compared with higher frequencies.

– Ku-band (11-12/14 GHz) has a shorter wavelength allowing for smaller dishes than C-band. However, the higher frequencies make Ku-band more susceptible to atmospheric conditions like rain fade. Applications include VSAT, rural telephony and broadband, satellite news gathering, backhaul links, videoconferencing and multi-media.

– Ka-band (20/30 GHz) has even shorter wavelengths than Ku-band, allowing for even smaller dish size; however transmissions are also even more susceptible to poor weather conditions. High-bandwidth interactive services are possible including high-speed Internet, videoconferencing, and multi-media applications.

Given their unique regional and global coverage capabilities, satellites are able to deliver immediate internet and broadband connectivity even to remote areas using existing satellite resources.

A Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellite communication system can provide broadband services to fixed or mobile user terminals. With the use of large satellite antenna(s), broadband services can be provided to small user terminals taking advantage of the large satellite antenna gain. A GEO satellite system with multi-beam antennas has a larger capacity than a system with a single global beam over the same service area.

Satellite systems that use Non-Geostationary Earth Orbits (NGEO) usually have a lower orbital altitude than Geostationary Earth Orbit satellites (GEO), which operate at approximately 36,000 km altitude. One type of NGEO satellite system uses a Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO), which follows circular orbits around the Equator. Other NGEO satellite system operate in Low-Earth Orbits (LEOs), sometimes in circular but inclined orbits that provide better coverage to higher latitudes, such as the Scandinavian countries. While still other MEO systems employ highly elliptical orbits that are closer to the earth at one point in their orbit and farther at the opposite point. A MEO satellite system has various advantages over GEO: affordable cost, high throughput, shorter delay, but requires more satellites to cover the same geographic area.

Countries throughout the developing world are experiencing tremendous growth in VSAT deployments, as e-Governance initiatives, corporate networks, rural demand for broadband, video conference, mobile phone and mobile broadband services increase.

In Burkina Faso, SES Broadband Services provided satellite broadband services for the parliamentary and municipal elections. In this case, satellite technology was seen as a viable way to ensure connectivity for the remote sites with the advantage of quick deployment and immediate coverage and availability. Importantly, the deployed infrastructure will be available after the electoral process to provide Internet access to the Burkina Government aiming at delivering digital services to schools, public offices and remote villages.

Advances in satellite broadband technology, including the introduction of High-Throughput Satellites (HTS), have improved the performance and capacity of satellite services and reduced their costs such that satellite broadband now is a viable alternative for fixed broadband worldwide. Satellite is not just the right technology for rural and remote areas, it is also essential for providing connectivity in environments where terrestrial solutions (both wired and wireless) often cannot perform effectively. Additionally, satellites are particularly useful in challenging geographies. This can include mountainous regions where line-of-sight communication in difficult, and harsh environments, such as areas subject to adverse weather, dust, wind, smog, extreme cold or hot temperatures, or other factors rendering terrestrial broadband solutions inoperable or unreliable.

Investment in satellite services contributes to development beyond fixed last-mile access and backhaul solutions. By leveraging mobile connectivity technologies, satellite services can meet many governmental objectives and create platforms for sustainable development in diverse industrial sectors. Satellite communications also support e-Learning and eHealth initiatives by connecting remote communities to critical resources and to the rest of the world. Finally, mobile and portable satellite communications often are the only connectivity options available immediately after a major disaster, when relief workers, public safety, and military personnel rely upon satellite communications to save lives and re-establish order.

Satellite connectivity also is effective to industrial and commercial applications, particularly in rural and remote areas. Reliable satellite networks are sometimes the only solution for Machine-to-Machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity. Finally, satellite connectivity gives isolated communities access to banking and financial services they might otherwise lack, promoting an economically sustainable and connected community.[32]

4.5 Selection of technologies

Wireless and wired technologies for broadband networks were described in the previous section. Although many technologies for telecommunications are available, we could list some basic selection criteria which guide to a right mix of technologies. Wireless and wired technologies have advanced in competition or in collaboration with each other; consequently the relative construction cost and bandwidth have been fairly stable in qualitative terms. Therefore, such a relative design rule would continue to be applicable in the foreseeable future.

– Wired technologies offer greater bandwidth but require high construction cost.

– Low frequency wireless technologies provides less expensive but lower capacity network than the one with high frequency wireless technologies.

Mobile broadband is a fast approach to address broadband demand in rural and remote area. On the other hand wired (or fixed) technologies respond better for the demand of high density urban areas.

Based on the criteria as above, the following table summarizes an optimized mix of the wired and wireless technologies for use in urban and remote areas. Please note that particular name of standards were mentioned as examples to show a current mix of wired and wireless systems. Unlicensed Wi-Fi supplements and extends the access connection in urban and rural areas, as well as extreme rural regions.

Table 2: Selection of wired and wireless technologies

Access Technologies

Urban-suburban

Rural-remote

Extreme rural

Wired

FTTx, xDSL, GPON, etc.

xDSL

-

Wireless

HSPA, LTE, EVDO, WIMAX

Cellular at low frequency, e.g. HSPA, LTE, EVDO

Satellite

4.6 Work of ITU-T and ITU-R for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and ITU-Radio communications sector (ITU-R) are the organizations especially for the development of international standards for Telecommunications. For telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas, ITU-T and ITU-R develop a set of standards. Table 3[33] lists the ITU recommendations for FTTx configurations.

During the ITU-T 2013-2016 study cycle Question 14/5 of ITU-T has prepared Recommendation L.1700[34] and Supplements for rural communications in developing countries. The objective of this Recommendation is to identity general requirements and framework for low cost sustainable telecommunications infrastructure with a special focus on rural communications in developing countries. Topics for the Supplements include: cellular radio technologies, mill metric radio, fibre optic technologies, wired systems, satellite systems, cellular radio systems, and repeaters for cellular radio systems.[35]

ITU-T Q14/5 completed the work on the following items:[36]

– Recommendation ITU-T L.1700 “Requirements and framework for low-cost sustainable telecommunications infrastructure for rural communications in developing countries”;[37]

– L.Suppl.22 to ITU-T L.1700 – Supplement on Low-cost sustainable telecommunication for rural communications in developing countries using fibre optic cable;[38]

– L.Suppl.23 to ITU-T L.1700 – Supplement on low-cost sustainable telecommunications for rural communications in developing countries using microwave and millimetre radio links;[39]

– L.Suppl.29 to ITU-T L.1700 – Supplement on low-cost sustainable telecommunication for rural communications in developing countries using Cellular Radio Technologies;[40]

– L.Suppl.30 to ITU-T L.1700 – Supplement on setting up a low-cost sustainable telecommunications network for rural communications in developing countries using cellular network with capacity transfer;[41]

– L.Suppl.31 to ITU-T L.1700 – Supplement on setting up a low-cost sustainable telecommunications network for rural communications in developing countries using satellite systems.[42]

Table 3: Summary of ITU-T FTTx wireline broadband standards

ITU-T FTTx wireline broadband standards

ITU-T G.982

Optical access networks to support services up to the ISDN primary rate or equivalent bit rates

ITU-T G.983.x

Broadband optical access systems based on Passive optical network(PON)

ITU-T G.984.x

Gigabit-capable passive optical network(GPON)

ITU-T G.985

100 Mbit/s point- to- point Ethernet-based optical access systems

ITU-T G.986

1 Gbit/s point- to- point Ethernet-based optical access systems

ITU-T G.987.x

10-Gigabit-capable passive optical network (XG-PON) systems

ITU-T G.988

ONU management and control interface specification (OMCL)

Responding to the requirements of user usage pattern, spectrum regulation and technical network pattern, the ITU has made a large Recommendation ITU-R M.1801, which contains “Radio interface standards for broadband wireless access systems, including mobile and nomadic applications, in the mobile service operating below 6 GHz. These standards support a wide range of applications in urban, suburban and rural areas for both generic broadband internet data and real-time data, including applications such as voice and videoconferencing. The following standards are included in Recommendation ITU-R M.1801:

– ARIB HiSWANa

– ETSI BRAN HiperLAN 2

– IEEE 802.11-2012 Subclause 17 (Formerly 802.11a)

– IEEE 802.11-2012 Subclause 18 (Formerly 802.11b)

– IEEE 802.11-2012 Subclause 19 (Formerly 802.11g)

– IEEE 802.11-2012 As amended by IEEE 802.11n (Subclause 20)

– IMT-2000 CDMA Direct Spread

– IMT-2000 CDMA Multi-Carrier

– IMT-2000 CDMA TDD

– IMT-2000 FDMA/TDMA

– IMT-2000 OFDMA TDD WMAN

– IMT-2000 TDMA Single-Carrier

– LTE-Advanced

– IEEE 802.16 WirelessMAN/ETSI HiperMAN

– ATIS-0700004.2005 High Capacity-Spatial Division Multiple Access (HC-SDMA)

– eXtended Global Platform: XGP

– IEEE 802.20

– YD/T 1956-2009 Air interface of SCDMA broadband wireless access system standard.

Recommendation ITU-R M.1450 contains “Characteristics of broadband radio local area networks” and includes technical parameters, and information on RLAN standards and operational characteristics.

Recommendation ITU-R M.1457 contains overviews and detailed specifications of each of the IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecommunications) radio interfaces:

– IMT-2000 CDMA Direct Spread

– IMT-2000 CDMA Multi-Carrier

– IMT-2000 CDMA TDD

– IMT-2000 TDMA Single-Carrier

– IMT-2000 FDMA/TDMA

– IMT-2000 OFDMA TDD WMAN

Recommendation ITU-R M.2012 contains detailed specifications of the terrestrial radio interfaces of IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced). It includes the two IMT-Advanced radio interfaces:

– Specification of the LTE-Advanced radio interface technology.

– Specification of the WirelessMAN-Advanced radio interface technology.

5 CHAPTER 5 – Services and applications adapted to the needs of users in rural and remote areas

It is not sufficient to build ICTs networks and connect rural/remote areas. We also need to ensure rural people are effectively using ICT technologies, services and getting maximum benefit.

Different ICT applications and services can be offered for rural population to increase their economy, life quality, and to decrease inequality. Such as; telephony based voice and SMS services, internet services, eHealth, e-Agriculture, e-Finance, e-Commerce, e-Banking, e-Learning, e-Government, e-Inclusion, teleworking, IoT/M2M services.

People living in rural area need relevant content on agriculture, health, education, financing, commerce, tourism, public services, climate, disaster preparedness, proper interfaces, multilingual adaptive, natural language interaction etc. They also need content in their local languages.

5.1 Telephone (fixed and mobile)

ITU estimates that, in 2015, over 95 per cent of the world’s population resides within the coverage area of a 2G mobile-cellular network (and 69 per cent under a 3G network). In general telephone services, especially mobile telephone service is available to most of the population in the world. The number of cellular subscribers has reached to 7.2 billion by the end of 2015.

In addition to voice based information services, different countries are using 2G cellular networks for SMS based information services in rural areas; such as agriculture, health, education, weather, finance/commerce and banking.

5.2 Internet/ Broadband access (Services and applications adapted to the needs of users in rural and remote areas)

Each country needs to develop a plan/strategy to increase the usage of broadband services by rural population. Digital literacy and skills, affordability, relevant content, content in local language and power supply are common challenges in the rural areas. ICT in education and usage of schools as community access center help to digital literacy and skills problem. Deployment of digital literacy and skill development programs are also necessary to increase the usage of broadband services in rural areas.

People living in rural also need internet devices (computers) for access to internet. Many countries are deploying affordable computer and internet programs for households, SMEs or individuals living in rural areas.

Telecentre application provides opportunity for the rural people to access the internet and benefit. These telecentres enable personal and social development through the provision of crucial services, skills and opportunities to people living in rural and remote locations around the world. Telecentre.org Foundation’s mission is to increase the social and economic impact of ICTs around the world by leading the global telecentre movement towards innovation, relevance and sustainability; serving as a hub for knowledge sharing and collaboration among telecentres and ICT4D stakeholders while creating opportunities for individuals and communities through relevant training, content, linkages and services. The Foundation promotes the establishment and sustainability of grassroots level telecentres which are public places of access to the Internet and other digital technologies.[43]

Rural areas without sufficient telecommunication infrastructure have similar situation as disaster cases. The Internet and mobile Internet may not be used as well as telephone services in the event of disaster. In such a case, the ICT resource unit can promptly deliver basic ICT services within the local area. It must be beneficial for creating a new ICT service-delivery environment anytime, anywhere irrespective of the situation of the existing network infrastructure. From 2014 till 2016, ITU has successfully conducted the feasibility study on restoring connectivity through the use of ICT resource unit, called the Movable and Deployable Resource Unit (MDRU), in Cebu Islands in cooperation of both Japan and Philippines.[44]

At the time of ordinary period which is not in emergency, ICT resource units can be utilized for local connection services. For example, ICT resource units can be the temporary access points at the venue in huge events such as sport and music events. With this in mind, ICT resource units can also be beneficial for rural areas where any telecommunication infrastructure is not available. If network facilities associated with the Internet access are not available, the ICT resource unit is expected to offer alternative Internet access by providing temporary communication channels (e.g., via satellite). If the temporary channel is limited or impossible, it is also expected that the ICT resource unit should work as an independent local data center and provide Internet-type services by itself to local users. This means that ICT resource units have possibility to overcome the problem of “digital divide.”[45]

IoT/M2M applications and services is another opportunity for the rural area people. Such as, smart agriculture, smart water management and biosensors to monitor water quality, smart electrical power, smart learning, smart health and other applications.

5.3 e-Applications and services

There are different e-services and rural area population needs to benefit from all of them equally with urban areas but some of them are much more important for the rural areas. These are explained below.

5.3.1 e-Finance/e-Commerce

Mobiles can also be used to expand financial inclusion. Studies show that broader participation in the financial system can reduce income inequality, boost job creation and directly help people better manage risks and absorb financial shocks. Mobile financial services can also empower marginalized groups such as rural women by providing the confidentiality and convenience they require.

Mobile banking is a popular method in some developing countries. For example, M-Pesa in Kenya bringing Kenyans into the formal banked economy has multiple spin-off benefits. One study of rural Kenyan households found that incomes were substantially higher for households that use M-Pesa.[46]

In Paraguay, electronic means of payment services are important to society, especially people financially excluded in terms of banking, particularly in rural areas. Initially, these services were developed without any regulatory framework, but following their expansion and in the interest of ensuring legal stability and allowing their growth, both the Central Bank and the Telecommunication Regulatory Body (CONATEL) issued regulations providing guarantees to users, the providers of electronic means of payment services and telecommunication service providers. Electronic means of payment offer a simple but appropriate way in rural areas to promote access for financially excluded people to higher levels of formal financial services and use thereof.[47]

Internet is a very powerful tool for the e-Finance and e-Commerce services in rural areas. Many countries are effectively using them. Estonia’s Rural Development Plan and program on ICT based services in rural areas is a good example.[48]

5.3.2 eHhealth

eHealth provides ability to deliver basic and enhanced health services to rural and remote communities.[49] Health workforce shortages primarily affect rural and remote areas and communities due to the concentration of many highly trained professionals in urban and metropolitan areas. Enabling individuals to access health services remotely through electronic means will partly address challenges of health workforce shortages. Telehealth services for electronic consultations support delivery of quality care to individuals living in areas affected by workforce shortages. Delivering health services to rural and remote communities will require high-speed data connectivity, technically able to support telemedicine applications, for communities and urban health facilities. The delivery of telemedicine applications will require that urban facilities and rural and remote communities have access to the appropriate computing infrastructure, networked with a high-speed data connection and with appropriate software and peripherals (such as video camera). Improve the ability of consumers located in rural and remote locations to access primary care services, and reduce the need to travel long distances to access care. SMS based eHealth services. Telemedicine education and awareness programmes should be delivered to rural and remote communities. Figure 3 shows strategic recommendations to implement national telehealth service for rural areas.

Figure 3: Strategic recommendations to implement national telehealth service for rural areas

5.3.3 e-Agriculture

E-Agriculture is one of the action lines identified in the Declaration and Plan of Action of the WSIS. An emerging field focusing on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, e-Agriculture involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use ICT in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture.

E-Agriculture is necessary to ensure farmers access to reliable and modern agriculture information and also weather information.

While the need for e-Agriculture strategies is acknowledged by many stakeholders, most countries are yet to adopt a strategic approach in making the best use of ICT developments in agriculture. E-Agriculture strategies will help to rationalize resources (financial and human) and address holistically, the ICT opportunities and challenges for the agricultural sector in a more efficient manner while generating new revenue streams and improve the livelihoods of the rural community as well as ensure the goals of the national agriculture master plan to be achieved. The existence of e-Agriculture strategy and its alignment with other government plans will prevent e-Agriculture projects and services from being implemented in isolation.

Government of Rwanda set forth to develop a national ICT strategy for Rwandan Agriculture (ICT4RAg) that recognizes the achievements, challenges, and opportunities present in mainstreaming ICT in agriculture. It focuses on the enhancement of agricultural and rural development through improved information and communication processes. More specifically, ICT4RAg involves the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of innovative ways to use ICT in the rural domain, with a primary focus on agriculture. On this basis, new projects are expected to create home-grown solutions to improve agriculture.[50]

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with their domain knowledge in agriculture and in the use of emerging technologies for food security, agriculture, and rural development and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) the lead UN specialized agency on ICTs with support from partners including the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) have come together to develop an E-agriculture Strategy Guide and also to assist countries to develop their National E-Agriculture Strategy/Masterplan based on the guide.[51]

5.3.4 e-Government

There should be a national e-Government strategy including rural population. E-Government must address the urban rural divide and rural population should be able to benefit from the advantages of e-Government services. Therefore, it is important to develop program/solution for the people to access to e-Government services in rural areas. Such as, the government of Portugal has a program to bring e-Government services to rural areas.[52] India’s “National e-governance Plan” is a good reference and includes projects for rural areas.[53]

Alias et al (2011)[54] found that easy to use, secure, cost and language constraint act as significant barriers to adoption of e-Government in rural areas. Organizational hindrance significantly influences the adoption of local e-Government initiatives such as local telecentres.

5.4 Proposals

People living in rural areas should able to benefit from ICT for education, agriculture, food quality and safety, health, e-Government, e-Tourism, e-Finance, e-Commerce and other broadband services and this requires a very good planning. This will help to increase their life quality and economy. SMEs will able to increase their productivity and to reach everywhere. These services will also help to reduce geographical distance and isolation problems.

– Develop a plan/strategy/projects for the adoption of ICT services in rural and remote areas (with measurable goals, such as each community or household has access to internet and actively using ICT services).

– Provide financial resources, subsidies for the provision and adoption of internet devices and services (prioritize in the annual government budgets, Universal Service Fund etc.).

– Educate local administration and get their leadership role.

– Develop services and content in respect to real local need of rural region. For example for an agricultural rural area, it will be more useful to develop content on agriculture for the farmers and an application to sell their products on the internet.

– Develop applications services to empower women/girls, Small and Medium-sized Enterprise (SMEs) and “Persons with Disabilities and Persons with Specific Needs”.

– Build community access centers (telecentres, free Wi-Fi zones etc.).

– Integrate ICT in education and provide effective usage of schools as community access centers.

– Support the deployment of IoT/M2M applications, services.

– Develop public-private partnership, collaboration.

– Educate local population and deploy digital literacy and skill development programs.

– Deploy awareness program.

6 CHAPTER 6 – ICT in education in rural areas

ICT is a great tool to enhance education in rural areas and provide equal education opportunity at national level. Broadband technologies offer the potential to overcome many unique challenges and traditional limitations that characterize the rural economy, particularly those associated with distance and access. Citizens of rural and remote areas have similar needs to those of urban areas, but are disadvantaged in a number of ways. ICT in Education could play an important role for the human resource development in rural area for education, health, agriculture, commerce and other areas. Many countries have rural development programs including the ICT in Education for students, farmers, young people, women-girls, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), etc. Distance education and ICT improves access, equity and the life quality in rural areas. Different countries are using distance education and ICT as strategies for achieving development goals.

ICT in education can also help individuals to compete in a global economy by creating a 21st century skills. ICT in Education has also a role by reaching students with poor or no access in rural and remote regions by minimizing costs associated with the delivery of traditional instruction. Lack of teachers in rural area is a serious problem in many developing countries. Distance learning also provides a good opportunity for the teacher problem in rural areas. Distance learning can also be used effectively for the remote training of teachers.

Information and communication technologies impacts socioeconomic development in developing countries. Usage of ICT in education and training provide more opportunity for women, girls and disabled people in rural areas. Educated and digitally literate women will able to benefit from micro financial products, services and increase women entrepreneurs in rural areas. Rural girls are less likely to achieve the same level of basic education as boys. ICT in education also provides an opportunity for girls. ICT can also be used to educate small SMEs, farmers in rural area on financing and entrance to market by using the ICT technology. ICT is also playing an important role to educate the people for the usage of modern technologies in agriculture and to educate people on health.

The effects of digital skill and e-Education in ICTs for rural and remote areas[55]

Success and deploying the national development plans lies with the homogenous development in the entire of the countries, including rural and remote areas that are usually the last part to be developed. This may be subject to the digital skills of users in this part of the countries. The digital skills of user which originated from digital literacy can be improved by modern education system called e-education. So, both topics reproduce each other’s.

Digital skill is an important pillar of any development in the field of ICT. It should be considered as priority in the national development strategies and executive programs. It will be more important in rural area since low level of illiteracy acts as a great inhibitor to internet usage and e-services in rural communities. On the other hand, ICT is an effective facilitator in education that can improve the digital literacy. So, increasing the digital skills in rural and remote area and using ICT for education (e-education) are two different matters that should be considered in developing rural area.

Digital skill can be categorized to technical and cognitive skills. These skills can be developed and/or trained in different levels including for usage, supporting and exerting goals by using the scientific practical and theoretical training.

6.1 Broadband technologies

Various broadband technologies exist and may or may not be available throughout the country[56]. The different technologies may have different costs. For example, satellite broadband technology has a different cost profile than terrestrial mobile broadband. In rural areas, networks may generally be available, but additional costs may be incurred to bring connectivity to the school. The availability of technologies, along with their speed and accessibility, must be balanced with costs, all of which bear upon the sustainability of the project. Appropriate speeds need to be identified along with the selection of high-speed technology. However, alternatives to high-speed connectivity cannot be ignored, because they still can be useful in integrating ICT in education, particularly where broadband connectivity is still a challenge. Generally fixed broadband access networks are not available in rural areas for ICT in Education, broadband connectivity to schools etc. Different wireless broadband technologies provide solution. Satellite technology generally used to provide Internet access to rural schools.

6.2 Challenges

Lack of electricity is a serious problem especially in rural areas and need to consider for the provision of ICT in Education. Solar power, wind power or other alternatives could be a solution.

People living in rural area should also be educated on IoT/M2M applications and services. IoT (smart water management, smart electricity, smart agriculture, smart health etc.) is a top priority subject in many countries and people living in rural area need to benefit from this opportunity.

Digital literacy programs are also necessary for people living in rural area. Developing countries should develop digital literacy education programs to increase broadband adoption and positive impact in rural areas.

Community ICT Centres (Telecentres) can also play an important role for ICT based training programs in rural areas.

The most important challenges regarding the improving digital skills in rural and remote area are listed:

– Lack of skillful expert in information technology in rural and remote areas;

– Unfamiliarity with second language and/or lack of domestic content for training ICT skills;

– Lack of Integrating ICT within lifestyles and cultures;

– Limited depth of training programs and Standardizations of training; and

– Lack of modern access technologies are used for connecting rural and remote areas.

6.3 Affordability and funding

Rural people also need affordable broadband and internet devices for the access to ICT based education. Governments in many countries are helping to people for affordable broadband and devices through different mechanisms (long term affordable bank loans, tax exempt policies, subsidies, etc.).

Schools often cannot afford Internet access, particularly in rural and remote areas. Given the importance of the integration of ICT in education, governments have increasingly assumed the responsibility of providing solutions that reduce these costs or subsidize the existing cost. Different financing mechanisms can be used for ICT based education in rural areas: Government fund, Universal Service Fund, tax exemptions, subsidies and other mechanisms. Many countries are using Universal Service Fund for ICT in education programs, including rural areas.

6.4 Global survey for Question 5/1

This section provides an analysis of the questionnaire replies for the global survey for ITU-D Study Group 1 Question 5/1. In order to complete successfully the work of the Question for the 2014‐2017 period, further input was deemed necessary from the ITU membership. The survey also includes ICT in education and following question: Do you have a national policy for ICT in education for rural and remote areas? Detailed analysis of the input received to the survey can be found in Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2 to this report.

It is important to note the following information from Brazil to connect all public schools in rural areas; “Through Notice bidding of 450 MHz of radio frequency subband, ANATEL forced the winning providers of the event for the years 2014 and 2015 to connect all public schools located in rural areas, up to 30 km radius of the seats municipal, with internet service, free of charge, in accordance with item 5 of Annex IIB of the notice”.

6.5 Proposals

– Provide coordination between Ministries, especially Ministries of ICT and Education;

– Prioritize ICT usage for rural area and education in National Plans and country vision;

– Connect all schools with broadband in rural areas and provide effective ICT usage in education;

– Benefit from the advantage of lower IMT frequencies for economical broadband coverage in rural areas. For example, WRC-15 identified 694-894 MHz frequency band for global usage. Consider coverage obligation at lower frequencies (license winner must first roll out mobile broadband to rural areas – as an example Germany deployed at 800 MHz for 4G auction);

– Develop funding mechanism for ICT in education in rural areas such as Universal Service Fund. Develop affordable “computer+broadband” programs (tax exemption, subsidies, USF support, long-term bank loans, etc.);

– Develop digital literacy programs for people living in rural areas;

– Develop ICT programs for Women and Girls living in rural areas;

– Benefit from schools, telecentres to educate people on eHealth, e-Agriculture, e-Commerce etc. (75 per cent of the world’s poor live in rural areas and work mainly in farming – FAO);

– Develop educational content for the people living in rural area;

– Provide electricity for the ICT based education in schools, telecentres, and homes;

– Country examples of ICT in education from Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burundi, People’s Republic of China, Colombia, Guinea, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe can be seen in Annex 4 of this report.

7 CHAPTER 7 – Public policies, regulatory measures, funding for development, maintenance and operation of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

7.1 Situation of rural and remote areas in developing countries

Although mobile cellular coverage for rural population has reached almost 90 per cent of the world’s rural inhabitants by 2013, they are mostly covered by the 2G/2.5G mobile services including SMS. 3G mobile service coverage which enables the use of smartphone or tablet terminal sets is comparatively low for rural population.[57]

In contributions submitted to the Question 5/1 Rapporteur Group meetings, situation of rural and remote area in several countries is introduced. Also, in the global survey, several questions are asked concerning coverage ratios, answers of which are shown in Annex 2.

The Interactive Transmission Maps are an ICT-data mapping platform to take stock of national backbone connectivity (optical fibres, microwaves and satellite Earth stations) as well as of other key metrics of the ICT sector.[58] These maps show the uneven distribution of telecommunications infrastructure.[59]

The challenge of universal access stems from steep increases in marginal costs of network deployments for less densely populated or more remote areas, jeopardizing the viability of service provision on a commercial basis.[60] Considering the situation above, Government intervention for implementing telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas is, thus, needed.

In the global survey, concerning national strategies for telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas, one question is asked as below:

3.1 In order to achieve the targets for rural and remote areas, what strategies are adopted?

There were 39 replies for this question (86.67%).

7.2 Broadband policy and Broadband plan

In recent years, many countries have formulated national broadband plans; these plans outline both coverage, target values of service and policies for implementing the plan. Some of them have the purpose of achieving universal broadband service.[61]

Research conducted for the Broadband Commission (2013) suggested that the introduction or adoption of a broadband plan is associated with 2.5 per cent higher fixed broadband penetration, and 7.4 per cent higher mobile broadband penetration on average.[62]

In the global survey, concerning broadband policy for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas, one question is asked as below:

2.1 Is there any national telecommunications/ICTs/broadband Plan targeted for the development of rural and remote areas?

There were 42 replies for this question (93.33%).

67 per cent of the replies answered “yes” to this question and 33 per cent answered “no”.

In contributions submitted to Q5/1 rapporteur group meetings, Broadband Policies and Broadband plans in several countries are introduced as follows:

In the People’s Republic of China, the China State Council issued a “Broadband China’s Strategy and Implementation Plan” in 2013. In the Plan, the broadband network is positioned as the strategic public infrastructure, and an important driver to address the imbalance between different regions and between urban and rural areas. Governments at all levels are required to take broadband network into its local social and economic development plan.

To accomplish the periodic goals, a “Broadband Village” project and a “broadband applications in rural schools” demonstration project are included in the Plan. Moreover, applications for “Broadband Network Optimization” project and “Broadband application demonstration” project are given priority if they are rural-oriented.[63]

To implement the “Twelfth Five Year National Development Programme for Strategic Emerging Industries” and the “Notice on Printing and Issuing the “Broadband China” Strategy and Implementation Plan,” and to accelerate the development of broadband infrastructure in rural areas, the National Reform and Development Commission, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China in 2014 jointly launched the pilot “Broadband Village” project (phase one). The provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan were the first ones covered by this project and the Sichuan Branch of China Telecom was charged with the pilot in Sichuan province.[64]

In Guinea, in order to achieve its goals of ending the isolation of rural and remote areas, the Government has implemented a number of framework projects and undertaken activities to promote the development of infrastructure and diversification of telecommunication/ICT services accessible to all. These include:

– The adoption in 2010 of its national policy and strategy document for the development of information and communication technologies (DPSNTIC).

– Formalization and adoption of the WARCIP Guinea/World Bank Programme.[65]

In Viet Nam, Ministry of Information and Communications of Vietnam is in the progress of developing the program on provision of public utility telecommunication service by 2020. Basing on the practices and experiences from the first Program mentioned above, the Program is expected to focus on developing the telecommunication infrastructure nationwide, giving priorities for the remote, border and island areas, universalizing telecommunication services, ensuring the right to have an equal, reasonable access to telecommunication service for all people, especially the poor households in Vietnam. The Program is expected as follows:

– Beneficiaries: Citizens and poor households nationwide.

– Budget: From the contribution of telecommunication carriers and other sources.

– Component programs: Broadband Connect, Emergency Connect, Community Connect, Office Connect, Broadcasting Connect, and Safe Connect.[66]

Viet Nam has a policy of universalizing telecommunications and the Internet services since 2005, and by 2010, it has seen the remarkable results. Since 2015, the Government of Viet Nam continues to implement the Program of providing public-utility telecommunications services by 2020. The objective of the Program is to bring greater benefits to communities through the new policies for supporting broadband infrastructure development in rural and remote areas with special difficulties; and for providing universal telecommunication services and mandatory for the poor households; for provision of public services and in particular the policies to support TV digitalization for households in the remote areas with special difficulties. Although Vietnam has made quite a full policy on rural and remote telecommunication/ICT development, but developing countries like Vietnam, the developing and least developed countries will also face many difficulties, especially financial resources and qualified human resources, and propose continuous support from the ITU and developed countries.[67]

In Burundi, the Government has put in place a national ICT development policy and two years ago inaugurated public information sessions on that policy.[68]

Rwanda has registered a number of milestones that has significantly transformed the way the Rwandan business and society use technology. Under the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) framework, the Government of Rwanda deployed a national high-speed fibre-optic backbone that spans all thirty districts and connects eleven border posts. This initiative aimed to boost access to various broadband services, including applications such as e-Governance, e-Banking, e-Learning and eHealth, to become a key enabler of the set target to ensure Rwanda achieves middle-income status by 2017.[69]

In Japan, The Digital Divide Elimination Strategy (2008) aimed to eliminate “broadband zero” area which cannot be covered by only private sector investment and enable 90 per cent of households to use ultra-high-speed broadband by FY 2010, and achieved it. The government has been currently promoting initiatives under the Declaration of the Creation of the Most Advanced IT Nation in the World (2013) aimed to develop and ensure local ICT infrastructures (ultra-high-speed broadband and mobile communications) in isolated islands and other unprofitable areas, taking into account the specific attributes of each area, in order to ensure that an environment conducive to ICT utilization is available to all citizens.[70]

International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (ITSO), Intelsat and the European Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT IGO) suggested in their contribution that taking into consideration the role that satellite can play in bridging the digital divide, it is essential that governments include satellite technology as part of the solution when creating national broadband plans or other initiatives, such as eHealth, e-Government or e-Education.[71]

One advantage of setting national targets for coverage and broadband speed is that targets can provide clear signals by Governments (and regulators) of their commitment to establishing advanced and modern infrastructure. National targets may also include a type of Universal Service Obligation (USO), embodying social and public policy objectives within commercial and competitive markets.[72]

Although there has been good growth in the number of countries with National Broadband Plans, a substantial number of these Plans are reaching the end of their term, and the succession strategy for many of these Plans is unclear (i.e. whether countries will maintain the recently elapsed Plan, revise it, seek feedback on its achievements and/or introduce a new Plan)[73]. Thus, it is important for the Government to maintain and/or revise National Broadband Plan regularly and adequately.

7.3 Universal Service Fund (USF)

The Universal Service Fund (USF) and similar subsidy programmes can help improve the availability and affordability of broadband for unserved areas. Historically focused on basic telephony services in remote areas, USFs are today being adapted to promote the adoption of broadband, by subsidizing content, devices, services, and digital training, as well as infrastructure. In many cases, USFs can kick-start the market and encourage operators to expand their reach, and provide connectivity to unserved areas.[74]

USFs are typically funded via some form of contribution mechanism from telecommunication service providers/operators. In the majority of cases, the operator contributions are in the form of a levy based on a percentage of annual operating revenues. In some countries, the USF fee is not a separate fee, but rather, a portion of an overall annual regulatory fee. In addition to operator levies, there are frequently other sources of funds including, but not limited to, licensing fees, full or partial proceeds from spectrum auctions, direct contributions from government budgets, contributions from international agencies such as the World Bank, regional development banks, etc.[75]

In the global survey, concerning universal service fund, several questions are asked as below:

3.1 c) Please specify the source of the USF?

There were 29 replies for this question (64.44%)

Table 4: Sources of USF

Sources

Rate

Collected from telecom service charge

44%

License Fees

9%

Royalty Fee

9%

Spectrum Fee

3%

Value Added Tax (VAT), Import tax on telecom equipment

0%

Others

35%

For the replies concerning the management of USF, please refer to Annex 2.

In contributions submitted to Q5/1 rapporteur group meetings, situation of Universal Service Fund in several countries is introduced as follows:

In the People’s Republic of China, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is the main driving force. MIIT assigns tasks of delivering universal telecommunication service to basic telecomm carriers according to administrative geographic divisions. The carriers raise fund on their own to fulfil universal service obligation in prescribed areas by completing the assigned tasks. Usually MIIT seeks support of local governments, asking local authorities and grassroots organizations to provide preferential policies and favourable conditions to keep the project cost low and ensure smooth implementation.[76]

In Guinea, the Government has implemented a number of framework projects and undertaken activities to promote the development of infrastructure and diversification of telecommunication/ICT services accessible to all. These include setting up the Universal Service Fund Management Committee.[77]

In Zimbabwe, the Universal Services Fund was created by the Postal and Telecommunications Act, in 2001, as a way of providing Government with a means to ensure universal access to telecommunication/ICT services by rural and disadvantaged communities and as a way to promote national development. The objects of the Fund are expected to be carried out in accordance with an annual implementation plan prepared by the USF in consultation with, postal and telecommunication licensees. These objects are now being expanded to embrace broadband access to technologies; broadband enables services and ICT applications, to ensure that ICTs are used for the development of all Zimbabwean communities. The monies of the Fund comprise money contributed by operators, any money appropriated to the Fund by Parliament, any surplus of income over expenditure at the end of the Authority’s financial year appropriated to the Universal Service Fund.[78]

In Saudi Arabia, the Universal Service Fund was established in 2007. The fund develops and implements the strategic plans and operational plans, through projects bidding between providers of ICT services in the Kingdom to provide voice services and Internet services to remote areas, and evaluation of proposals, and then the award of the project and the signing of Fund Services Agreement with the winning bidder. USF and projects implemented by the providers of ICT services to provide the required services to remote areas been financed fully by the Government of Saudi Arabia. The strategic plan specifies the objectives that guide the USF operations through the identification of programs and projects for the provision of voice services and broadband internet to remote areas. This is followed by the preparation of annual operating plans for the fund, which includes the main objectives of the Fund listed in the Strategic Plan, and its programs and projects in addition to identifying the scope of the projects, and the estimated costs to execute them.[79]

The government of Rwanda implemented the following initiatives through Universal Access Fund to promote the penetration of telecommunications/ICT and its usage in rural and remote areas:

– Subsidizing Internet bandwidth to rural communities for accessing the education, health and public services in rural and remote areas of Rwanda.

– Subsidizing broadband connectivity to 30 community ICT Telecentres in rural and remote areas of the country.

– Subsidizing Internet bandwidth connectivity to all Universities (Public and Private) using Rwanda Education Network (RwEdNet).

– Connecting all technical secondary and college schools in remote and rural areas on VSAT Internet connectivity.

– Subsidizing Internet bandwidth to all sites of Rwanda National Police in rural and remote areas.

– Subsidizing Internet bandwidth to private institutions operating in rural and remote areas of Rwanda.[80]

In Iran, the Commission of Communications Regulatory is the supreme entity for policy-making, determining quantitative and qualitative objectives, technical and administrative criteria to establish USO projects. The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) of Iran has been set as the full executive operator of the governance duties, regulatory and executive by Ministry of ICT. The executive instruction of USO services in Iran has been scheduled for ten years and the following terms have been obligated for USO operators in USO services:

– Providing home phone coverage in rural areas with mobile phone coverage in villages with more than 20 families, Internet access and the use of fax services.

– Providing a public communication in the villages with at least 20 households.

– Deploying the Rural ICT Offices in rural area with more than 70 families.

– Extending mobile communication and internet access coverage in rural roads.

– Providing payphones in urban public places.

– Providing internet in public places.[81]

In Kenya, the Kenya Information Communications Amendment Act 2009 (KICA 2009) and the Kenya Information and Communications Regulations 2010 (KICR US&A 2010), established the USF to complement private sector initiatives towards meeting universal access objectives. The Fund is primarily financed by mandatory contributions from licensed operators which provide services in the various communications market segments, with provisions for complementary financing from other sources. The USF currently has US$ 29 million available finance and this will grow by a further US$ 8-9 million this year (2016).[82]

Universal service is an economic, legal and business term used mostly in regulated industries, referring to the practice of providing a baseline level of services to every resident of a country. The formation of Universal Services Funds by many states arose from the need to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban communities as well as the rich and the poor, which has been created through the use of private capital to fund telecommunication/ICT projects.[83]

It found that, of the 69 USFs studied, 38 per cent were highly active (with over 15 applications of the USF in progress or completed), 14 per cent of Funds had a moderate activity level (between 6-15 projects), while 22 per cent had a low activity level (with <5 projects implemented or disbursements made). A quarter (or 26 per cent) was inactive. Of these 69 USFs, 27 included broadband or community telecentres.[84]

Thus, it is important for the Government to improve the management of USF and to ensure that its programmes are effective, and suit the objectives of providing access to rural and remote areas.

7.4 Frequency assignment and license conditions

Spectrum policy, allocation, and management are major part of Governments’ overall broadband policy portfolio. Wireless broadband is the primary platform for reaching underserved rural areas as well as for giving ample coverage in developing countries. Therefore, national spectrum plans is a focused area on broadband policies. Major discussions in the plans tend to deal with the reassignment of frequency bands which became available for such purposes from the digitalization of TV broadcasting.[85]

Countries can ensure that spectrum policies and practices are in line with Universal Access Service (UAS) goals, and assigned in a technology- and service-neutral manner, while striving to realize economies of scale and benefit consumers with their spectrum arrangements. Spectrum resources for broadband networks need to be harmonized on the global and regional levels. Policymakers should carefully evaluate the needs and conditions in their country and enact policy frameworks that both encourage innovation and investment and enable efficient spectrum usage through a range of different mechanisms. Spectrum bands between 40–1000 MHz can be suitable spectrum for mobile broadband in rural and remote areas, as well as for deep indoor coverage in urban areas.[86]

In Mexico, Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) published the initial version of the Annual Plan for Use of Frequency Bands in the National Radio Spectrum (PABF) for 2015, according to which:

… for the first time, specific bands are determined for services of social use in the telecommunications sector. For that purpose, it is envisaged that concessions will be issued for various portions of the spectrum that are available within the segment known as the cellular band and situated between 824 and 849 MHz and between 869 and 894 MHz. For the purposes of exploitation it is proposed that those portions of the spectrum should be licensed for the purpose of providing rural connectivity services that would meet the immediate needs for basic telephone services in regions not served by current licence holders”.[87]

Japan performs a review of the allocation of the frequencies regularly to promote the introduction of new services using frequencies more efficiently. A comparison examination method is adopted for deciding a licensed person on the occasion of the frequency assignment with evaluating business plans of applicants, and it has shown that it was effective for introducing new high-level service widely in short term. Japan imposes the burden as the fee for common service of the use of radio wave on the direct beneficiary of the radio station and utilize the provided income for the monitoring of the radio wave, the development of the technology to use frequency effectively, the discharge of the standard radio wave etc.[88]

Myanmar believes that CDMA 450 technology is the most suitable technology to provide telecommunication services in the remote areas. It has already been used by MPT to provide in the remote area since 2007. The bigger coverage area can be achieved by using this technology. Even though it is used to provide only the voice services, data services can also be provided with the advanced technology of LTE 450 MHz. The success case can be seen in some country such as Brazil. TV white space can be one of solutions to provide better telecommunications services in rural areas. Myanmar seeks the practices of other countries on using CDMA 450 technology and TV white space to provide telecommunication services in the remote areas.[89]

Brazil provided information that they use 450 MHz cellular phone technology.[90]

New spectrum licenses can be designed to increase the availability of broadband networks and services in rural and remote areas. One measure is license fee. Spectrum license fee could be reduced, or even eliminated, in rural and remote areas to lower cost-barriers to UAS providers.[91] Cote d’Ivoire suggested that in many countries, in particular in a number of African countries, the issue of estimating license costs, and by extension the costs of using the required frequencies, needs to be considered.[92]

Another option is to allocate this spectrum under UAS obligations. This measurer is to include coverage obligations in licenses for spectrum in low-frequency bands, to extend broadband coverage to areas where it is not economically viable for operators and monitor it.

7.5 Multi-stakeholder partnership

The World Bank calls for the private sector to take the lead in providing Internet infrastructure and services where the business case is compelling, but notes that “public investment or intervention is sometimes justified where the private sector is unable to provide affordable access”. One factor contributing to the slowing of Internet growth is that the business case is less compelling for the areas in which the remaining 57 per cent of unconnected people live, and innovative business models may be needed to achieve universal coverage of broadband.[93]

In the People’s Republic of China, the part of the “Broadband Village” project under the responsibility of China Telecom covers 20 counties (cities and districts) in Sichuan province. The project started in 2014 and is expected to be completed in 2016, with a total investment of 695 million RMB, of which 100 million RMB is provided by the State each year; the rest of the investment will be made by the operator in charge of the project and government authorities at three different levels – county, city and district.[94]

Government guide and private capital cooperation achieve a win-win situation. Faced 40,000 villages, capital is the biggest problem. Sichuan Telecom seizes the opportunity to become the Chinese pilot provinces, and get hundreds of million yuan of funds. They also get the local governments support. At the same time, with the national private capital opening policy, Sichuan Telecom actively attracts social capital investment. One year, they have gotten hundreds of million yuan on public funding, and thousands of villages on the investment. Through cooperation with Sichuan Changhong and Jinzhou Company, they had promoted the development of local industry chain. In Sichuan “Rural Broadband”, the pre-marketing experience, earnings estimates, the county-wide view of planning, technical and management innovation, are all good ways.

– Governments and enterprises are both essential

– Combine government’s support and private capital cooperation, we can develop and promote rural areas in common.[95]

In Rwanda, the Ministry of Youth and ICT (MYICT) together with Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), Telecom Operators, ISPs, Manufacturers and Importers co-created a project known as “Viziyo”, as a vehicle for increasing the penetration of affordable end-user Smart devices to low income citizens with ultimate goal to dramatically increase countrywide broadband penetration.[96]

In Madagascar, the Telecommunications/ICT Development Fund (FDTIC) and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) provide most of the funding for development of ICTs. In its regulatory initiatives, the Regulatory Authority for Communication Technologies (ARTEC) acts within an overall framework of greater liberalization of the ICT sector and encouragement of infrastructure sharing in order to promote telecommunications/ICTs.[97]

In order to provide available and affordable universal service in rural and remote areas, partnership cooperation and good coordination between governments, national regulators, operators and other various stakeholders are important. Multi-Stakeholder Partnership could be an effective tool to reduce costs and risks for economically disadvantaged areas, using various funds as investment through multi-stakeholder partnership.

7.6 Support for infrastructure

In contributions submitted to Q5/1 rapporteur group meetings, examples of government supports for infrastructure (telecentre, backbone, electric power, etc.) are introduced as follows:

In Guinea, in order to achieve its goals of ending the isolation of rural and remote areas, the Government has implemented a number of framework projects and undertaken activities to promote the development of infrastructure and diversification of telecommunication/ICT services accessible to all. As part of the effort to spread ICTs in local communities, the Ministry, in collaboration with Global Voice Guinée (GVG), has set up neighbourhood cybercafés in the capital’s five districts, with Internet connection rooms and training rooms equipped with computers and other office equipment.[98]

Sichuan bold decided to build the all-optical rural broadband and break through the bandwidth bottleneck fundamentally. In order to avoid blind construction and reduce investment pressure, Sichuan Telecom and Sichuan Design have the idea of planning guide, zoning and in batches for construction. They found the “rural broadband county-wide full view of planning” method. For the Chinese broadband strategy, experiences and achievements in Sichuan have considerable reference value.[99]

In Burundi, the ministry responsible for ICTs has already launched a project to set up multipurpose community telecentres, as well as another project aimed at setting up and strengthening ICT clubs in rural secondary schools. This enables pupils to become familiar with ICTs.[100] The fibre-optic communications network (Burundi Backbone System (BBS)) is already in operation in all the country’s provinces. The population of Burundi is now benefiting from this connection, especially in the use of social networks via their portable phones, and above all WhatsApp.[101] In order to take full advantage of the national fibre-optic backbone, the Government of Burundi, through the ICT ministry, has launched projects that will enable rural populations to continue to become familiar with ICTs. These include multipurpose community telecentres and ICT clubs in secondary schools.[102]

The government of Rwanda has constructed a national data centre with the capability to leverage the capacity of cloud computing. Rwanda also has access to a more than 3.5 Gbps international capacity through various international submarine cables. The Government of Rwanda, through Universal Access Fund (UAF), subsidizes broadband connectivity to 30 community ICT Telecentres in rural and remote areas of the country. Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), in collaboration with other institutions, has also developed and implemented the Provision of bandwidth subsidies to rural communities. A total of 193 sites from public and private institutions in rural areas of Rwanda are connected to Internet by this initiative with the shared of 110 Mbps through VSAT connectivity.[103]

In 2003, during the first phase of the WSIS, the Heads of State of Mali, Mozambique and Senegal, accompanied by the Director-General of UNESCO, launched the Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) Scale-up Project. A CMC is a community radio station and a community cyberspace (Internet access) located within the same premises. In Senegal, 40 CMCs will be installed and operational by the end of 2016.[104]

In Kazakhstan, the Ministry of Investment and Development is working to develop a project to construct broadband access infrastructure for rural population centres based on Kazakhtelekom. In order to provide the rural population with faster broadband Internet access services, preparatory work started in 2016 on the project for “Coverage of rural population centres in Kazakhstan with fibre-optic communication links”. The aim of the project is to increase penetration of modern communication services in rural population centres based on broadband Internet access.[105]

In Afghanistan, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology initiated Distract Communication Network (DCN), Satellite based network. This project is mobilized with improved and modern technology that provides (fax, telephone and internet) services. The project was launched in 2005 with the total fund of USD 14 million aided by USAID. Afghan Telecom offers VCN Terminals and DCN Terminals to cover up those remote districts and villages which are not covered by any other telecom operators or cover up those areas where microwave based backbone/infrastructure is not commercially feasible due to rough geographical area and mountainous country. While selling VCN Terminals to provide Telecommunication/ICT Services in rural and remote areas, Telecommunications Development Fund (TDF) subsidizes it so that extending services to uncovered areas.[106]

In Brazil, since 2014, some State governments have been creating their own public policy to increase mobile telecommunication towers beyond the central city to serve rural areas, using free taxes policy.[107]

The Gambia Government joined the Africa Coast to Europe optical fibre initiative (ACE) consortium and also improved the national backbone transmission network to have high capacity internet connectivity. In order to maximize the gains in the ACE submarine cable and the new national fibre backbone network, government undertook some policy and regulatory changes.[108]

The government of Japan maintained fair and transparency competition legal frame work to stimulate investments for infrastructures and introductions of new services in the telecommunications sector. In principle, private sectors play the leading role in development of ICT infrastructures. On the other hand, to promote ultra-high-speed broadband infrastructure indispensable to regional revitalization, the government of Japan has been subsidizing installation costs of optical fiber lines in areas under disadvantageous conditions, such as rural areas and remote islands, if such optical fiber lines are installed by local governments.[109]

In order to reduce infrastructure cost in rural and remote areas of developing countries, sharing of telecom infrastructure and non-telecoms infrastructure could be effective. Several examples are introduced in contributions submitted to Q5/1 rapporteur group meetings as follows:

The Brazilian regulatory authorities of telecommunications (ANATEL), electricity (ANEEL) and oil (ANP) jointly approved Resolution ANEEL/ANATEL/ANP nº 1/1999 with a Regulation for Infrastructure sharing among the sectors of Energy, Telecommunications and Oil in 1999. The Regulation sets guidelines for infrastructure sharing among companies of electricity, telecommunications and oil sectors assuring to companies operating utilities services in these sectors the right to acquire shared infrastructure from companies of the other two sectors, on non-discriminatory basis and with fair and reasonable prices and conditions.

The telecommunications providers make it clear that the infrastructure sharing agreement brought the optimization of resources and reduced operational costs. Besides bringing electricity to remote areas with low economic viability, the project will bring many benefits to the region, since it will also open the possibility of providing broadband, fixed and mobile telephony in remote areas of the country. The biggest benefit is the stability of services, network reliability, increased traffic capacity of voice and data, higher optical transmission speed to support the growing demand.[110]

In the global survey, concerning infrastructure sharing, several questions are asked as below:

3.1 Do you have any specific policy for infrastructure sharing, especially for the rural and remote areas?

There were 28 replies for this question (62.22%).

Figure 5: Policies for infrastructure sharing, especially for the rural and remote areas

For the replies concerning regulatory framework, please refer to Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2.

In Burundi, a mobile phone company is becoming established and, instead of using generators to power antennas, has signed an agreement with the company REGIDESO, which will provide electrical power lines; these will also benefit the local population. In other words the company has connected the rural populations not only to the mobile network but also to the mains electricity network. The work will be completed in 2016.[111]

In Argentina, the National Plan for the Development of Competitiveness and Quality Conditions of Mobile Communication Services is based on national regulations which provide that telecommunication and ICTs service providers may, and in some cases have to, share network infrastructure, buildings (terraces, roofs, towers, lots and/or structures), facilities, and associated resources, to achieve greater efficiency.[112]

Policymakers may wish to consider infrastructure-sharing and open access approaches for publicly funded infrastructure. Although various strategies for open access exist, it is vital that policymakers ensure that access to new facilities is provided on fair, reasonable and equivalent terms. This may include both price factors (such as the wholesale price of access to infrastructure) and non-price factors (such as product specifications and service level agreements).[113]

It is important for the government to support infrastructure including infrastructure sharing in rural and remote areas of developing countries, where the business case is not compelling and private sector is unable to provide by themselves.

7.7 Support for applications and content

Analysing the previous three study periods, projects have been categorized by the implemented applications in the following six classes: telephony, e-business, e-administration, education, eHealth and ICT training. Among them, three major killer applications for the rural and remote areas are said to be education, eHealthcare, and e-Administration services. In addition e-banking or money transfer service is popular service required for the workers in the foreign countries to remit the earnings back to their homes and families. E-Agriculture is the important application for rural community in some countries where applicable to increase productivity of per square meter or mile to attain the self-food supply as much as possible. E-bulletin board is useful means for the rural villagers where no newspapers or TV or other broadcasting services is not available.[114]

In the global survey, concerning applications in rural and remote areas, one question is asked as below:

6.2 Do you have national policies for other e-applications in rural and remote areas?

There were 22 replies for this question (48.89%).

42% of the replies answered “yes” to this question and 58% answered “no”.

In contributions submitted to Q5/1 rapporteur group meetings, examples of government supports for applications and contents are introduced as follows:

In China, Sichuan Telecom, broadcasting, Internet companies and intelligent industries build development alliance. Based on fibre-optic network and IPTV, they integrate a variety of information technology applications and create a multi-party cooperation and benefit mode. The 4K television has covered the remote areas to enrich the cultural life of farmers and herdsmen. IPTV in Sichuan has been provided a good example of the urban and rural integration “Internet +”. IPTV is the intelligent entrance to “Internet +”.It can both give people benefits and promote sustainable innovation and development of information industry chain.[115]

Project of Xueliang (Shiny) provides public security video information to the digital TV terminals and smart phones in rural households. The provincial government of Sichuan issued Guidance and supports the project.[116]

In Burundi, certain applications such as cash transfers by mobile phone have significantly changed the lives of rural people. Connectivity in rural areas has made it possible to set up bank branches in the remotest areas, so that people have opened accounts and abandoned hoarding. When their products are sold and distributed, payment is made by bank transfer at least for members of cooperatives.[117]

The Government of Rwanda implemented initiatives through Universal Access Fund to support for applications and contents, subsidizing Internet bandwidth to rural communities for accessing the education, health and public services in rural and remote areas.[118]

In Iran, to provide ICT services in rural areas, a rural ICT project has been started in 2006. It has been funded by I.R. Iran government to support and expand ICT and telecommunications services in deprived areas through rural ICT offices. The rural ICT services can be summarized as follows:

– Post services to perform all Postal Affairs (postal services, tracking postal letters and etc.);

– Post bank to perform e-banking service;

– Telephony services in types of fixed and mobile cases;

– Internet that supports services such as Electronic market services, Public services, Banking services, and Special services (Electronic mail, FTP managing).[119]

Various policy measures enable the development of local applications and content. Stimulation of local content can boost local job creation and entrepreneurship, with important spin-off benefits. Language barriers are real and preventing people around the world from connecting and participating in the knowledge economy, especially in emerging markets.[120]

It is important, therefore, for the government to incorporate the development of applications and contents as well as infrastructure.

7.8 Capacity building

Supply side measures are necessary, but not sufficient. Stimulating demand must be accompanied by education in the use of ICTs both inside and outside schools, as well as skills training, to enhance access to all available opportunities. Training in digital skills must take priority in education systems, planning and policies, along with teacher training and development. Examples of demand side measures include:

– Engage in ICT literacy campaigns and digital skills courses to boost user capacities, awareness and interest.

– Promote effective ICT skills through training and education at all levels, formal and informal, with a special focus on girls and women.[121]

In the global survey, concerning ICT in education in rural and remote areas, one question is asked as below:

6.1 Do you have national policies for ICT for education in rural and remote areas?

There were 33 replies for this question (73.33%).

42% of the replies answered “yes” to this question and 58% answered “no”.

Schools often cannot afford Internet access, particularly in rural and remote areas. Given the importance of the integration of ICT in education, governments have increasingly assumed the responsibility of providing solutions that reduce these costs or subsidize the existing cost. Different financing mechanisms can be used for ICT based education in rural areas; Government fund, Universal Service Fund, tax exemptions, subsidies and other mechanisms.[122]

The Government of Rwanda implemented initiatives through Universal Access Fund to support for education, subsidizing Internet bandwidth to Universities (public and private) using RwEdNet, subsidizing Internet bandwidth to technical secondary and college schools in remote and rural areas on VSAT Internet connectivity, supporting ICT literacy in rural and remote areas of Rwanda. This project plays a vital role in the citizens of Rwanda by establishing e-Learning and e-Service centres in rural and underserved areas as a means to providing access to affordable ICT services to rural communities. The project stakeholders are Ministry of Education and Ministry of Local Governance.[123]

In addition to providing basic telecommunication infrastructure and services, it is recommended to take into account the need for sustainability. Sustainability will be maintained by targeted and comprehensive capacity building designed to ensure self-sufficiency in rural and remote areas, and to facilitate the use of telecommunication technologies by people who previously had little or no access to telecommunications of any kind.

7.9 Importance of policy, regulation and funding

In the global survey, concerning policy and regulation for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas, several questions are asked as below:

– 7.4 a) Has your government and/or regulator put in place any other specific policy or regulatory intervention for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas?

– b) How successful has the other specific policy or regulatory intervention referred to in question above made by your government been in fostering the development of telecommunications or ICTs in rural and remote areas?

7.6 What are the guidelines that can be proposed to best deploy telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas?

There are many interesting replies, which can be referred in Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2.

ITU has found that growth in services has happened most rapidly where regulatory enablers (e.g. industry consultations, infrastructure-sharing) have been put in place to leverage the latest technologies and innovations. Consistent, forward-looking, updated and well-enforced regulation generally provides for a vibrant market and benefits both service providers and consumers. Policymakers must regularly review and revise regulatory frameworks to encourage the development of broadband and ICTs.[124]

As for USFs, the underlying legal and regulatory frameworks needs to be structured so as to ensure that policies and parameters can be modified quickly and effectively to accommodate the need for a new USF vision and respond to rapidly changing and evolving priorities. It is essential for policymakers and regulators to be able to change the scope and/or direction of the USF legal or regulatory framework.[125]

In this chapter, it has been clear from the experience of many developing countries that strategies of implementing telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas in developing countries are not based exclusively on private investment by individual operators. The most widely used approaches are the mixture of public policies, regulatory measures, and public and private investment. Infrastructure sharing and multi-stakeholder partnerships are widespread practices. It is important for developing countries to be able to refer public policies, regulatory measures which are best adapted to the requirement of rural and remote areas. ICT Regulation Toolkit[126] by ITU and infoDev (Information for Development program) could be a good example, as well as the ITU-D Study Group Case Study Libraries[127], and Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2 of this report.

8 CHAPTER 8 – Business models and incentives of the operators

8.1 Introduction

The use of telecommunications and ICTs in rural and remote areas is a key factor for development. According to a study carried out by Alain François Loukou for the administrative region of north-east Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire and confirmed by the study carried out by Mr Edva Altemar for the Commune of Carrefour in the south of Port-au-Prince, the use of telecommunications and ICTs in marginalized areas have made a major contribution to integrating those areas into the national territories of their respective countries, having a large extent been instrumental in bringing people closer together and into contact with the wider population. The leap that such localities have taken has largely been thanks to the emergence of informal telecommunication and ICT activities. While the informal sector is an economic feature of low-income countries, there can be no denying that where telecommunications and ICTs are concerned it enables people to have easier access to information and hence make a better living. It is therefore necessary to take account of business models in the field of telecommunications and ICTs and identify how best to encourage operators to provide services to such areas.[128]

8.2 Business models

Among the case studies submitted by contributors, examples of business models that could be suitable for rural and isolated areas are: postal services to improve sending and delivery of mail; banking services to improve the e-banking service; fixed and mobile telephone services; Internet to support other services including electronics market services, normal public services (insurance, transport tickets, registrations, priority payments, tax declarations, and so on), banking services, other specialized services (e-mail, FTP managing). The most relevant business models are: telecentres, mobile banking and e-insurance. The information, telecommunication and data services provided by telecentres will facilitate sociocultural, economic and political development. Mobile banking will offer business opportunities for isolated areas with access to networks. Introduce or enhance insurance penetration in rural and isolated areas will improve collaboration with international organizations by harnessing common goals.

When discussion business models during the 19-23 September 2016 ITU-D Study Group 1 meeting, participants noted the following:

– The business models should focus more on the sources of revenue, operational cost and capital cost (Nepal).

– The term “Public Private Partnership (PPP)” should be replaced by “Public Private Population Partnership (PPPP)” (Cameroon).

– The term “multi-stakeholder partnerships” is useful because it covers all aspects (Nepal).

Viet Nam is implementing the Universal Service Program toward 2020 (USP 2020). The main income sources for the program come from telecommunication service revenue (1.5 per cent), previous Universal Programme, aid and financial supports from organizations and individual abroad and other legal incomes. These incomes allocated to the Viet Nam Public-utility Telecommunications Services Fund manages to perform support activities to provide public-utility telecommunications services to develop nationwide broadband telecommunications infrastructure, focus on remote and rural areas; to provide public telecommunications services for all people, give priority to the poor, the near poor, fishermen; to ensure communications services for search and rescue, prevention and recovery from natural disasters, emergency calls; to ensure Internet broadband accessibility for schools, hospitals, administration councils nationwide; and to support Digital Dividend to 2020 Programme. 70 per cent of the total income will be allocated to ssupport the Infrastructure development.[129]

In October 2015 the Chinese Government took the decision to improve the broadband telecommunication universal service compensation mechanism in rural and remote areas in China, bridge the urban-rural digital divide and mobilize multi-stakeholders in order to jointly promote broadband development in rural areas. This mechanism is operated through market-oriented approaches, such as competitive bidding, to encourage basic telecommunication providers, broadcasting companies and private enterprises to participate fairly in the construction, operation and maintenance of rural broadband infrastructures to allow rural and remote areas to also benefit from ICT developments.[130]

Myanmar categorized the country according to the level of services provided by operators. Category I is the economically viable area, Category II is long duration of return on investment area and Category III is no profit area. Areas under Category I are already covered with telecommunication services. Areas under Category II can be covered by reducing their investment cost by cost sharing or infrastructure sharing. The regulator plans to use USF to provide the telecommunications services in the area under Category III.[131]

In Brazil, the CELCOM (Cellular Community) project aims at developing new technologies and deploying communication networks for poor people in areas such as the Amazon region. The funding for the pilots was obtained from the Federal University of Pará (UFPa), Pará Department of Science, Technology and Technical Education (SECTET), Company of Information Technology and Communications of Pará (PRODEPA). CELCOM uses the Special License for Scientific and Experimental Purposes (SEFCE) provided by ANATEL, which also supports the project with respect to legislation issues. The 3 pilots exclusively rely on Software Defined Radio (SDR) platforms.[132]

8.3 Incentives of the operators

During the 19-23 September 2016 ITU-D Study Group 1 meeting, participants discussed incentives of the operators and noted the following:

It has been established fact that Government and regulatory intervention is needed to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural areas in developed or developing countries. Further, it is difficult to enforce service providers to do business when there is no business viability (Nepal).

The Universal Service Fund (USF), or universal service provision fund, is becoming the most widely accepted mechanism for mobilising private sector investment into challenging rural areas, within a liberalising environment.

USF can be utilised to encourage rich and non-rich operators to serve rural and underserved areas by providing subsidies to serve in rural and underserved areas (Nigeria).

Penetration levels could be increased by device subsidy, infrastructure subsidy given by the regulatory authority for the operators investing in rural or remote areas. Further, reduction of license fees for serving rural areas and Government intervention through investment in backbone infrastructure is also other ways in developing ICT services in rural and remote areas.[133]

Subsidies for service providers can be divided into two arms. The service players can obtain subsidies for rural communication development from the USF as handset subsidy, infrastructure subsidy etc. while the incentive regulation could be handled by the regulator in terms of incentives of reduced license fees, initial license fees, reduced spectrum fees etc. (Tanzania)

For rural area coverage, there is also an opportunity to include coverage area obligations in lower frequency licenses like 800MHz band and 700MHz band. Germany has successfully deployed this strategy in 800MHz band. The coverage obligations are to start from rural areas and once they covered the rural areas they could start servicing urban areas (Intel Corporation, United States of America).

On the other hand, developed countries like Germany and France will pay billions of money for digital divide and the operators are wealthy. Hence, we have to re-think of the necessary to exempt them from license fees, spectrum fees and to give them subsidy for infrastructure for rural development. Even it is true and important that the rural development should be advanced by the government but we have to be careful before asking the developing world to assist the rich operators for rural development. In Africa now there are tenders for rural and it is written that the cellular operators have to pay for spectrum (ATDI, France).

Mexico has adopted the measures with significant results in terms of ensuring provision of mobile telephone connectivity and services for marginalized and highly marginalized rural communities of between 200 and 5 000 inhabitants, under a sustainable scheme that receives no government subsidy and enables such communities to enjoy telephone services for an average monthly cost of USD 2.00 for calls within the network and USD 0.04 per minute for outgoing calls. The civil association Redes por la Diversidad, Equidad y Sustentabilidad, A. C. (Networks for Diversity, Fairness and Sustainability), in conjunction with a number of universities and other organizations, launched an experimental pilot scheme, for providing a community cellular telephone service for indigenous communities that were previously without such a service because it was not profitable for existing operators and licence holders. The experiment involved operating low-cost cellular telephone base stations in order to analyse how they worked, using a hybrid network scheme comprising one private network (owned by the community) using the cellular band, connecting to the Internet via an ISP that provides Wi-Fi links using VolP via a licensed provider.[134]

To bridge the access gaps in the country, the Communications Authority of Kenya has designed a 2G Telecommunication Voice Infrastructure project to be funded through subsidies from the Universal Service Fund (USF). The operators awarded these USF contracts are exempted from paying spectrum fees for five years. This exemption is estimated to cost the regulator an estimated revenue loss of US$ 50 million. Some of the conditions placed on service providers are that, all BTS sites constructed for provision of the subsidized services shall be available for leasing of tower and site space after one year of operations on commercial terms and non-discriminatory first-come, first served basis, and each BTS tower shall be designed with the mechanical strength and other passive infrastructure facilities (building space and power supply) to accommodate at least one other operator.[135]

9 CHAPTER 9 – Conclusions and Guidelines

The Rapporteur’s Group studied Question 5/1 by contribution, inputs of case studies, and questionnaire replies from membership. To summarize the study:

The Rapporteur Group started the study under the background described in Chapter 1 (Introduction) and Chapter 2 (Background). The question goes back to WTDC-94, when it was agreed as Question 4/2, “Communications for rural and remote areas”. In this study period, it continues as Question 5/1, “Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas”. This study item has been discussed outside the ITU-D, such as WSIS, Broadband Commission, and ITU strategic plan. There are also UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) concerning our Question, such as; Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation, and Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries.

In order to meet the objectives set by these organizations, it is necessary to cope with the challenge of infrastructure development in the rural and remote areas. Throughout the study, it has been clear from the experience of many countries that technologies and strategies of implementing telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas are various and diversified from country to country. Also, social, economic, and technological situation in rural and remote areas is changing rapidly.

Many challenges need to be overcome in order to extend telecommunications/ICTs to rural and remote areas, which are described in Chapter 3 (Challenges). In order to overcome these challenges, methods from various aspects are needed. For example, disadvantage of location should be made up by policy and regulation, such as broadband policy, plan, and universal service fund. High cost for installation and operation of telecommunications infrastructure could be taken care of by new technology. Challenges caused by small market should be discussed as business models. Education in rural and remote areas is important and ICT services and applications could be effective to solve this problem.

There are emerging technologies, some of which are applicable to the rural and remote areas under harsh environment as mentioned above. Wireless and wired technologies are described in Chapter 4 (Technologies). These technologies have advanced in competition or in collaboration with each other; consequently the relative construction cost and bandwidth have been fairly stable in qualitative terms. Generally, mobile broadband is a fast approach to address broadband demand in rural and remote area.

Provision of telecommunications/ICTs services such as basic voice, short message, video-conference and internet services in rural and remote areas of developing countries is important but not lucrative in general. Examples of installation of these services and applications are described in Chapter 5 (Services and applications).

Urban-rural digital divide prevails in many developing countries. There is a strong gap observed in the levels of individuals/households ICT skills, and ICT is very effective in education, which is described in Chapter 6 (ICT in education). ICT provides equal education opportunity at national level. Broadband technologies offer the potential to overcome many challenges and traditional limitations that characterize the rural economy, particularly those associated with distance and access. ICT in Education could play an important role for the human resource development in rural area for education, health, agriculture, commerce and other areas. Governments in many countries are helping to people for affordable broadband and devices through different mechanisms.

Some developing countries have succeeded in installing telecommunications/ICTs to rural and remote areas using public policies and regulatory measures, which are described in Chapter 7 (Public policies and regulatory measures). ITU has found that growth in services has happened most rapidly where regulatory enablers have been put in place to leverage the latest technologies and innovations. Consistent, forward-looking, updated and well-enforced regulation provides for a vibrant market and benefits both service providers and consumers. Policymakers must regularly review and revise regulatory frameworks to encourage the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas.

It is important to maintain ICT in rural and remote areas sustainable. In order to do that, business models and incentive to operators are essential, which is described in Chapter 8 (Business models and incentive to operators).

The following conclusions are derived from the contributions submitted by the Member States, Sector Members, Associates and Academia, and the analysis of global survey (Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2) conducted this study period. They contain general recommendations which could be useful for developing countries on how to achieve the implementation of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas.

– Developing countries face numerous challenges, lack of local demand and available revenue streams, which could delay the commercial deployment of telecommunications /ICTs in rural and remote areas. Research conducted for the Broadband Commission suggested that the introduction of a broadband plan is associated with higher broadband penetration. In fact, most countries have national telecommunications/ICTs/Broadband plans targeted for the development of rural and remote areas, as can be seen in Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2. It is recommended that overall National Plan that includes short-term and long-term goals and measurements to take should be created and reviewed. And also, based on this Plan, partnership cooperation between governments, regulators, operators, and other stakeholders in the implementation of telecommunications/ICTs to all layers of the population in their countries is required.

– As for the telecommunications technologies, there is no definite measure for the choice of technologies, and we should compare various technologies that could be best suited for each location of rural and remote areas. Consideration of technical, economic and geographical aspects of the project is essential. Here, technological neutrality should be taken into account. For the access technology, wireless such as 2G, 3G, LTE, Wi-Fi, and WiMax is used most widely (Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2), and in general, a fast approach to meet the demand in rural and remote areas.

– It is necessary for developing countries to encourage the construction of infrastructure in rural and remote areas, where financial returns are low. Developing countries are invited to implement incentive policies that stimulate the development of telecommunications networks, public access points such as telecentres, etc. Infrastructure sharing could be implemented to avoid investment duplication in rural and remote areas in developing countries. As can be seen in many contributions by members, power supply is one of the most critical issues. In rural and remote areas, where commercial power supply is not so stable, combination with other energy source such as solar cell and wind power should be considered.

– It is important to increase e-applications in such areas as agriculture, education, health, governance etc., and promote the adoption of measures to facilitate the creation and development of appropriate services at the local level. Also, ICT is a great tool to enhance education in rural and remote areas. Training for computer skills for all generations from children to elderly people is stressed in many cases, which will help the rural people and will consequently stop the mobility of population from rural to urban. As can be seen in Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2, many countries have national policies in education for rural and remote areas, and here, coordination between Ministries, especially Ministers of ICT and Education is important.

– Strategies of implementing telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas in developing countries are not based exclusively on private investment by individual operators. In the global survey for strategies adopted to achieve the targets for rural and remote areas, two major tools are Universal Service Fund (USF) and license conditions (Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2). Regulatory frameworks associated with USF and frequency license should be prepared to adapt to the rapidly changing environment relating to new technologies and new services in rural and remote areas. In developing countries, in order to consider the use of low frequency spectrum, which is suitable for rural and remote areas, obligations in license conditions to provide service in rural and remote areas could be implemented.

– According to the global survey for business models in rural and remote areas, three major tools are open competition, Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs), and subsidy (Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2). In developing countries, where high financial returns are not expected, open competition alone is not sufficient and sustainable business plan is necessary. PPPs can help drive infrastructure investments and stimulate competition in rural and remote areas. Subsidies for ICT infrastructure are effective in developing countries, where such infrastructure is most lacking. It is important to bring stakeholders together in a collaborative process.

– Due to the lack of the know-how on best practices, many developing countries could not come up with an effective policy for rural and remote areas. The ITU-D Study Group Case Study Libraries are summarizing the features of cases and useful to provide the successful practices for the planners of rural projects. And replies of the global survey in Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2 would be a good tool for understanding the situation. It is important for developing countries to be able to refer public policies, regulatory measures which are best adapted to the requirement of rural and remote areas. ICT Regulation Toolkit by ITU and infoDev (Information for Development program) could be a good example, as well as the ITU-D Study Group Case Study Libraries,[136] and Annex 2.1 and Annex 2.2 of this report.

This report provides the case studies of project planning, implementation, operation and maintenance of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas. There are different ways with different factors, depending on country circumstances, but conclusions and recommendations above could be a guideline for developing countries. In this way, it is our hope that this report is used as a worthy contribution to discuss on how to establish telecommunication/ICTs in rural and remote areas.

[1] The definition of rural and remote areas is found in Section 3.1.

[2] Document SG1RGQ/107, “Broadband Situations in Rural and Remote Areas”, BDT Focal Point Question 5/1.

[3] Question 10-1/2 Communications for rural and remote areas, Final Report.

[4] Question 10-2/2 Telecommunications for rural and remote areas, Final Report.

[5] Question 10-3/2 Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas, Final Report.

[6] Outcome Document of the High-Level Meeting of the General Assembly on the Overall Review of the Implementation of WSIS Outcomes.

[7] The State of Broadband 2015, the Broadband Commission.

[8] Final Acts of the Plenipotentiary Conference (Busan, 2014).

[9] ITU News No.3 (2014) “Special Report from Dubai”.

[10] Measuring the Information Society Report (2014) at https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/publications/mis2014.aspx.

[11] Q10-3/2 Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas, Final Report.

[12] Document 1/265, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

[13] Document 1/46, “Rural broadband in China and proposals for Question 5/1 study”, People’s Republic of China.

[14] Document 1/206, “‘Rural Broadband’ innovation mode, creating a new era of optical network in rural areas”, People’s Republic of China.

[15] Document 1/140, “Business model and operator encouragement”, Republic of Haiti.

[16] Document 1/144, “Situation regarding access to telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services in rural and isolated areas in the Republic of Guinea”, Republic of Guinea.

[17] Document 1/164, “The need to develop a method of estimating license costs”, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.

[18] Document 1/427, “ICTs for rural areas: The case of DRC”, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

[19] Document 1/181, “ICT in Education - Rural and Remote Areas”, Intel Corporation (United States of America).

[20] Document SG1RGQ/214, “Analysis of questionnaire replies for the global survey for Question 5/1”, Vice-Rapporteur for Question 5/1.

[21] Document SG1RGQ/226, “Measuring the urban-rural digital divide”, General Secretariat.

[22] Document 1/347, “Measuring the Urban-Rural Digital Divide (URDD)”, General Secretariat.

[23] Document SG1RGQ/107, “Summary of the study ‘Broadband situations in rural and remote areas’”, BDT Focal Point Question 5/1.

[24] Document 1/282, “Discussion on the structure of wireless broadband network for better ICT development in rural areas”, People’s Republic of China.

[25] Document SG1RGQ/161 (Rev.1), Alcatel-Lucent International (France), Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. (United States of America).

[26] Since the IuH Radio Interface over the IpSEC tunnel was perfectly established through the satellite connection, voice calls were also established and a downlink throughput of 18Mbps was experienced in several data applications under a delay of ~680 ms and a jitter of ~15 ms on the transport layer.

[27] Document SG1RGQ/94, “Example of mobile base stations with satellite backhauls”, KDDI Corporation (Japan).

[28] Document 1/206, “‘Rural Broadband’ innovation mode, creating a new era of optical network in rural areas”, People’s Republic of China.

[29] Document RGQ10-3/2/5, “Project of terrestrial wireless broadband connectivity”, Republic of Burundi.

[30] Contribution by Question 7-2/1 “Regulatory policy on universal access to broadband services”.

[31] Telecommunications/ICT development by ad-hoc communications network for rural Shiojiri City in Nagano prefecture, Japan (Link to Case Study Library).

[32] Document 1/385, “Satellite broadband applications in support of development”, Inmarsat Plc.

[33] Document SG1RGQ/107, BDT Focal Point Question 5/1 and “Broadband Situations in Rural and Remote Areas”.

[34] Recommendation L.1700 entitled “Requirements and framework for low cost sustainable telecommunications infrastructure for rural communications in developing countries”, available at https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.1700-201606-I.

[35] Document 1/251, “Liaison statement from ITU-T Study Group 5 to ITU-D Study 1 and 2 on updates on ITU-T SG 5 activities relevant to ITU-D study groups”, ITU-T Study Group 5 (Environment and climate change).

[36] Document SG1RGQ/269, “Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG5 to ITU-D SG1 Question 5/1 on Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas”, ITU-T Study Group 5 (Environment and climate change).

[37] Recommendation L.1700 entitled “Requirements and framework for low cost sustainable telecommunications infrastructure for rural communications in developing countries”, available at https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.1700-201606-I.

[38] Supplement 22 to Recommendation L.1700, available at https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.Sup22/.

[39] Supplement 23 to Recommendation L.1700, available at https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.Sup23/.

[40] Supplement 29 to Recommendation L.1700, available at https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.Sup29/.

[41] Supplement 30 to Recommendation L.1700, available at https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.Sup30/.

[42] Supplement 31 to Recommendation L.1700, available at https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-L.Sup31/.

[43] More information on the Telecentre.org Foundation is available at: http://www.telecentre.org.

[44] Document SG2RGQ/138, “Proposal for adding the results of MDRU experiences into document for ICT experiences in disaster relief”, Japan; http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Pages/TouchingLives.aspx?ItemID=12.

[45] Document 1/316, “Proposals for revised texts related to ICT unit in the report of ICT experiences in disaster relief”, NTT Advanced Technology Corporation (Japan).

[46] http://www.broadbandcommission.org/Documents/reports/bb-annualreport2015.pdf.

[47] Document 1/404, “Mobile money in rural areas of Paraguay”, Paraguay (Republic of).

[48] Details on Estonia’s Rural Development Plan and program on ICT based services in rural areas can be found at: http://enrd.ec.europa.eu/enrd-static/fms/pdf/47E4F7BF-9483-405B-54E2-7A64D914332E.pdf.

[49] https://www.isfteh.org/files/media/WHO-ITU_National_eHealth_Strategy_Toolkit.pdf.

[50] Document SG1RGQ/286, “Use of ICTs for agricultural development in Rwanda”, Rwanda (Republic of).

[51] Details on FAO’s “E-agriculture Strategy Guide” can be found at: http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5564e.pdf.

[52] Details on Portugal’s program to bring e-Government services to rural areas can be found at: https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/epractice/news/portugal-brings-egovernment-services-rural-areas.

[53] Details on India’s National e-Governance Plan can be found at: https://india.gov.in/e-governance/national-e-governance-plan and https://india.gov.in/e-governance/mission-mode-projects.

[54] http://www.ejisdc.org/ojs2/index.php/ejisdc/article/view/1579/612.

[55] Document 1/382, “The effects of Digital skill and e-Education in ICTs for Rural and Remote Area”, Iran University of Science and Technology, and associated organizations (Islamic Republic of Iran).

[56] http://connectaschool.org/itu-module/21/544/en/schools/connectivity/reg/3.3.5.1.

[57] Document SG1RGQ/107, “Summary of the study ‘Broadband situations in rural and remote areas’”, BDT Focal Point Question 5/1.

[58] Document 1/353, “Information on the ITU Interactive Transmission Maps”, BDT Focal Point for Q1/1.

[59] http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Technology/Pages/InteractiveTransmissionMaps.aspx.

[60] The State of Broadband 2015, The Broadband Commission.

[61] Document SG1RGQ/107, “Summary of the study ‘Broadband situations in rural and remote areas’”, BDT Focal Point Question 5/1.

[62] The State of Broadband 2015, The Broadband Commission.

[63] Document 1/46, “Rural broadband in China and proposals for Question 5/1 study”, People’s Republic of China.

[64] Document 1/158, “The experience of China Telecom in developing ‘Broadband Villages’”, People’s Republic of China.

[65] Document 1/144, “Situation regarding access to telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services in rural and isolated areas in the Republic of Guinea”, Republic of Guinea.

[66] Document SG1RGQ/2, “Information on the development of provision of public utility telecommunication services in Viet Nam”, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

[67] Document SG1RGQ/256, “Program on universalization of public-utility telecommunication services in rural and remote areas”, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

[68] Document SG1RGQ/32, “Rural connectivity and its impact on socio-economic development for the rural population in Burundi”, Republic of Burundi.

[69] Document SG1RGQ/99, “Telecommunication and ICT initiatives in Rwanda”, Republic of Rwanda.

[70] Document SG1RGQ/292, “Japan’s case for strategic plans”, Japan.

[71] Document 1/329, “The critical role of satellite in connecting the unconnected”, ITSO, INTELSAT and EUTELSAT IGO.

[72] The State of Broadband 2013, The Broadband Commission.

[73] The State of Broadband 2015, The Broadband Commission.

[74] The State of Broadband 2013, The Broadband Commission.

[75] Universal Service Funds and Digital Inclusion for All, 2013, ITU.

[76] Document 1/46, “Rural broadband in China and proposals for Question 5/1 study”, People’s Republic of China.

[77] Document 1/144, “Situation regarding access to telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services in rural and isolated areas in the Republic of Guinea”, Republic of Guinea.

[78] Document 1/194, “The universal services fund as a driver of telecommunication/ICT development in rural and remote areas”, Republic of Zimbabwe.

[79] Document 1/217, “The Universal Service Fund”, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

[80] Document SG1RGQ/99, “Telecommunication and ICT initiatives in Rwanda”, Republic of Rwanda.

[81] Document SG1RGQ/233, “ICT development policies for the remote and rural areas in Iran”, Iran University of Science and Technology (Islamic Republic of Iran) and associated organizations.

[82] Document 1/291, “Use of the Universal Services Fund for extension of ICT Services in rural and remote areas in Kenya”, Republic of Kenya.

[83] Document 1/194, “The Universal Services Fund as a driver of telecommunication/ICT development in rural and remote areas”, Republic of Zimbabwe.

[84] The State of Broadband 2015, The Broadband Commission.

[85] Document SG1RGQ/107, “Summary of the study ‘Broadband situations in rural and remote areas’”, BDT Focal Point Question 5/1.

[86] The State of Broadband 2013, The Broadband Commission.

[87] Document SG1RGQ/265, “Implementation of Recommendation ITU-D 19 in Mexico”, Mexico.

[88] Document SG1RGQ/292, “Japan’s case for strategic plans”, Japan.

[89] Document SG1RGQ/296, “Information access for remote areas in Myanmar”, Union of Myanmar.

[90] Document SG1RGQ/297, “Cellular Community Networks in isolated areas: Brazilian Amazon as a case study”, Federative Republic of Brazil.

[91] The State of Broadband 2013, The Broadband Commission.

[92] Document 1/164, “The need to develop a method of estimating licence costs”, Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.

[93] The State of Broadband 2015, The Broadband Commission.

[94] Document 1/158, “The experience of China Telecom in developing ‘Broadband Villages’”, People’s Republic of China.

[95] Document 1/206, “Rural Broadband’ innovation mode, creating a new era of optical network in rural areas”, People’s Republic of China.

[96] Document SG1RGQ/99, “Telecommunication and ICT initiatives in Rwanda; Republic of Rwanda.

[97] Document 1/270, “Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas”, Republic of Madagascar.

[98] Document 1/144, “Situation regarding access to telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services in rural and isolated areas in the Republic of Guinea”, Republic of Guinea.

[99] Document 1/206, “‘Rural Broadband’ innovation mode, creating a new era of optical network in rural areas”, People’s Republic of China.

[100] Document SG1RGQ/32, “Rural connectivity and its impact on socio-economic development for the rural population in Burundi”, Republic of Burundi.

[101] Document 1/254, “Impact of the national fibre-optic backbone in connecting rural areas in Burundi”, Republic of Burundi.

[102] Document 1/406, “Impact of the national fibre-optic backbone in connecting rural areas in Burundi”, Republic of Burundi.

[103] Document SG1RGQ/99, “Telecommunication and ICT initiatives in Rwanda”, Republic of Rwanda.

[104] Document 1/312, “Widespread implementation of community multimedia centres (CMCs) in Senegal”, Republic of Senegal.

[105] Document SG1RGQ/152, Kazakhstan.

[106] Document SG1RGQ/169, “Recent achievements and initiatives in the area of telecommunications/ICTs with particular attention to rural and remote areas”, Afghanistan.

[107] Document 1/334, “State governments’ policy to increase mobile access in rural area”, Federative Republic of Brazil.

[108] Document 1/344, “Moving from 2G to Broadband, The Gambian Experience”, Republic of the Gambia.

[109] Document SG1RGQ/292, “Japan’s case for strategic plans”, Japan.

[110] Document SG1RGQ/87, “Providing optical fibre backbone to remote areas through infrastructure sharing between the telecommunications and electricity sectors”, Federative Republic of Brazil.

[111] Document SG1RGQ/32, “Rural connectivity and its impact on socio-economic development for the rural population in Burundi”, Republic of Burundi.

[112] Document 1/468, “National Plan for the Development of Competitiveness and Quality Conditions of Mobile Communication Services”, Argentine Republic.

[113] The State of Broadband 2015, The Broadband Commission.

[114] Document SG1RGQ/107, “Summary of the study ‘Broadband situations in rural and remote areas’”, BDT Focal Point for Question 5/1.

[115] Document 1/206, “‘Rural Broadband’ innovation mode, creating a new era of optical network in rural areas”, People’s Republic of China.

[116] Document 1/428, “Project ‘Xueliang’ (Shiny) aimed at the realization of smart communities in rural and remote areas”, People’s Republic of China.

[117] Document SG1RGQ/32, “Rural connectivity and its impact on socio-economic development for the rural population in Burundi”, Republic of Burundi.

[118] Document SG1RGQ/99, “Telecommunication and ICT initiatives in Rwanda”, Republic of Rwanda.

[119] Document SG1RGQ/234, “e-Insurance for rural area in Iran: A public ICT-based service”, Information Technology Organization of Iran, (Islamic Republic of Iran).

[120] The State of Broadband 2015, The Broadband Commission.

[121] The State of Broadband 2015, The Broadband Commission.

[122] Document 1/181, “ICT in Education – Rural and Remote Areas”, Intel Corporation (United States of America).

[123] Document SG1RGQ/99, “Telecommunication and ICT initiatives in Rwanda”, Republic of Rwanda.

[124] The State of Broadband 2015, The Broadband Commission.

[125] Universal Service Funds and Digital Inclusion for All, 2013, ITU.

[126] http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/index.

[127] http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Study-Groups/Pages/case-study-library.aspx.

[128] Document 1/288, Republic of Haiti.

[129] Document SG1RGQ/256, “Program on universalization of public-utility telecommunication services in rural and remote areas”, Socialist Republic of Viet Nam.

[130] Document SG1RGQ/295, “China’s Rural Broadband Development and Measures”, People’s Republic of China.

[131] Document SG1RGQ/296, “Information access for remote areas in Myanmar”, Union of Myanmar.

[132] Document SG1RGQ/297, “Cellular Community Networks in isolated areas: Brazilian Amazon as a case study”, Federative Republic of Brazil.

[133] Document 1/265, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

[134] Document SG1RGQ/265, “Implementation of Recommendation ITU-D 19 in Mexico”, Mexico.

[135] Document SG1RGQ/290, “Rural connectivity through subsides and spectrum fees waiver: The Kenyan experience”, Republic of Kenya.

[136] Link to Case Study Library.

Acknowledgement

The Rapporteur, Mr Shuichi Nishimoto, KDDI Corporation (Japan), appreciates the Vice-Rapporteurs, volunteers, BDT Focal Points for Question 5/1, and ITU staff for their collaboration to complete this final report. The Rapporteur also appreciates Member States, Sector Members, Associates, Academia who submitted input contributions and their participation for the work of the Rapporteur’s Group for Question 5/1 during this study period.

Vice-Rapporteurs who have drafted the final report are as follows:

Name

Country

Part of the final report

Ms Zhang Li

China (P.R. of)

Chapter 4

Mr Edva Altemar

Haiti

Chapter 8

Ms Tharalika Livera

Sri Lanka

Chapter 8, part of Chapter 3

Mr Christopher G. Banda

Malawi

Annex 2

Additional volunteers and ITU staff who drafted the final report are as follows:

Name

Country

Part of the final report

Mr Turhan Muluk

Intel Corporation (United States of America)

Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Annex 4

Ms Christine Sund

Coordinator, ITU-D Study Groups

Annex 1, part of Annex 2

Ms Phillippa Biggs

ITU General Secretariat

Annex 3

Abbreviations and acronyms

Various abbreviations and acronyms are used through the document, they are provided here.

Abbreviation/acronym

Description

ACE

Africa Coast to Europe optical fibre initiative

ADSL

Asymmetric DSL

ALD

Assistive Listening Devices

ANATEL

Brazilian Telecommunications Agency (Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações) (Federative Republic of Brazil)

ANEEL

Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (Agência Nacional de Energia Elétrica) (Federative Republic of Brazil)

ANP

Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis) (Federative Republic of Brazil)

ANT

Access Network Transport

APT

Asia-Pacific Telecommunity

ARIB

Association of Radio Industries and Businesses (Japan)

ARPU

Average Revenue Per User

ARTEC

Regulatory Authority for Communication Technologies (Republic of Madagascar)

ASEP

National Authority of Public Services (Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos) (Republic of Panama)

ASTAP

APT Standardization Program Forum

ATRA

Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (Afghanistan)

BAP

Buenos Action Plan

BBS

Burundi Backbone System

BDT

Telecommunication Development Bureau

BRAN

Broadband Radio Access Network (ETSI)

CA

Communications Authority (Republic of Kenya)

Capex

Capital expenditure

CATV

Cable Television

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access

CEB

Chief Executive Board for Coordination

CELCOM

Cellular Community

CITC

Communications and Information Technology Commission (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)

CITTC

China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation (People’s Republic of China)

CMC

Community Multimedia Centre

CONATEL

Central Bank and the Telecommunication Regulatory Body

CPE

Customer Premises Equipment

CRA

Communications Regulatory Authority (Islamic Republic of Iran)

CTA

Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation

DCN

Distract Communication Network

DOCSIS

Data over Cable Service Interface Specification

DPSNTIC

National Policy and Strategy for the Development of. Information and Communication. Technologies (Republic of Guinea)

DrukREN

National Research and Education Network (Kingdom of Bhutan)

DSA

Dynamic Spectrum Access

DSL

Digital Subscriber Lines (originally “Digital Subscriber Loop”)

DSLAM

Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer

DTV

Digital Television

ETSI

European Telecommunications Standards Institute

EUTESALAT IGO

Intelsat and European Telecommunications Satellite Organization

EVDO

Evolution-Data Optimized

FAO

Food and Agriculture Organization

FDD

Frequency Division Duplex

FDMA

Frequency Division Multiple Access

FDTIC

Telecommunications/ICT Development Fund (Republic of Madagascar)

FITEL

Telecommunications Investment Fund (Fondo de Inversión en Telecomunicaciones)

FG DFS

ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Financial Services

FG SSC

ITU-T Focus Group on Smart Sustainable Cities

FTP

File Transfer Protocol

FTTB

Fibre-to-the-Building

FTTC

Fibre-to-the-Curb

FTTH

Fibre-to-the-Home

FTTN

Fibre-to-the-Node

FTTx

Fibre to the x, where “x” indicates the final location on the user side of any one of a variety of optical fibre architectures, e.g., FTTB, FTTC, FTTH, FTTP.

FWA

Fixed Wireless Access

GEO

Geostationary Earth Orbit

GHz

Gigahertz

GPON

Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network

GSM

Global System for Mobile Communications

GSR

Global Symposium of Regulators

GVG

Global Voice Guinée (Republic of Guinea)

HC-SDMA

High Capacity-Spatial Division Multiple Access

HDTV

High-Definition Television

HiSWANa

High Speed Wireless Access Network – Type A

HNC

Home Network Transport

HSPA

Higher Order Satellite Path Adaptation

HTS

High-Throughput Satellites

ICE

Costa Rica Institute of Electricity (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) (Costa Rica)

ICT

Information and Communication Technology

ICT4D

Information and Communication Technologies for Development

ICT4Rag

ICT strategy for Rwandan Agriculture

ICTA

Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka)

IEEE

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

IFT

Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones) (Mexico)

IMT

International Mobile Telecommunications

IMT-2020

Those systems that conform to the corresponding series of ITU Recommendations and Radio Regulations.

INDER

National Institute of Rural Development (Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Rural) (Costa Rica)

IOM

International Organization for Migration (People’s Republic of Bangladesh)

IoT

Internet of Things

IpSEC

IP Security Protocol

IPTV

Internet Protocol Television

ISDN

Integrated Services Digital Network

ISP

Internet Service Provider

ITSO

International Telecommunications Satellite Organization

ITU

International Telecommunication Union

ITU-D

ITU Telecommunication Development Sector

ITU-R

ITU Radiocommunication Sector

ITU-T

ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector

JCA-AHF

Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human Factors

KICA 2009

Kenya Information Communications Amendment Act 2009 (Republic of Kenya)

KICR US&A 2010

Kenya Information and Communications Regulations 2010 (Republic of Kenya)

KPI

Key Performance Indicator

KVD

Kioscos Vive Digital (Colombia)

KW

kilowatt

LDCs

Least Developed Countries

LEO

Low-Earth Orbit

LTE

Long-Term Evolution

M2M

Machine to Machine

MACRA

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority

MDGs

Millennium Development Goals

MHz

Megahertz

MIIT

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

MDRU

Movable and Deployable Resource Unit

MEO

Medium-Earth Orbit

MHz

Megahertz

MPT

Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (Union of Myanmar)

MSIP

Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (Republic of Korea)

MTP

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (P.D.R Lao)

MYICT

Ministry of Youth and ICT (Republic of Rwanda)

MW

Megawatt

NGEO

Non-Geostationary Earth Orbit

NICI

National Information and Communication Infrastructure (Republic of Rwanda)

NPV

Net Present Value

NSO

National Statistical Offices

NTA

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (Republic of Nepal)

ODN

Optical Distribution Network

OFCOM

Office Fédéral de la Communication (OFCOM) (Confedeartion of Switzerland)

OFDMA

Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access

ONU

Optical Network Unit

OPGW

Optical Ground Wire

PABF

Plan for Use of Frequency Bands in the National Radio Spectrum (Programa Annual de Bandas de Frecuencias de radio) (Mexico)

PGMU

General Plan on Universal Service

PON

Passive Optical Network

PP

Plenipotentiary Conference

PPP

Public Private Partnership

PPPP

Public Private Population Partnership

PRODEPA

Company of Information Technology and Communications (Empresa de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação do Estado do Pará) (Pará, Federative Republic of Brazil)

PSTN

Public Switched Telephone Network

PtMP

Point to Multi-Point

PtP

Point to Point

QoE

Quality of Experience

QoS

Quality of Service

QoSTP

Quality of Service Training Programme

RA

Radiocommunication Assembly

RBS

Radio Base Stations

RDC

Rural District Council (Republic of Zimbabwe)

RLAN

Radio Local Area Network

RURA

Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (Republic of Rwanda)

RwEdNet

Rwanda Education Network

SCDMA

Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access

SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals

SDR

Software Defined Radio

SDSL

Symmetric DSL

SECTET

Department of Science, Technology and Technical Education (Secretaria de Estado de Ciência, Tecnologia e Educação Profissional e Tecnológica) (Pará, Federative Republic of Brazil)

SEFCE

Special License for Scientific and Experimental Purposes

SHDSL

Symmetric-High Speed DSL

SMEs

Small and Medium-sized Entreprises

SMS

Short Message Service

SOHO

Small Office Home Office

STFC

Fixed Switched Telephone Service

TATT

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago)

TDCF

Telecommunication Development Charge Fund

TDD

Time Division Duplex

TDF

Telecommunications Development Fund

TDMA

Time Division Multiple Access

ToS

Type of Service

TRCLS

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka)

TSAG

Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group

TUP

Public Use Telephone

TWP

Twisted Pair

UAF

Universal Access Fund

UAS

Universal Access Service

UFPa

Federal University of Pará (Universidade Federal do Pará) (Federative Republic of Brazil)

UMTS

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

UN

United Nations

UNESCO

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNGA

United Nations General Assembly

UNGIS

United Nations Group on the Information Society

UNSD

UN Statistics Division

URDD

Urban-Rural Digital Divide

USAID

United States Agency for International Development (United States of America)

USF

Universal Service Fund

USO

Universal Service Obligation

USP 2020

Universal Service Program toward 2020

VAT

Value Added Tax

VCN

Virtual Channel Number

VDSL

Very High-Speed DSL

VoIP

Voice over Internet Protocol

VSAT

Very Small Aperture Terminal

WARCIP

West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Project (Republic of Guinea/World Bank Programme)

WIMAX

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

WMAN

Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

WP

Working Parties

WSIS

World Summit on the Information Society

WLL

Wireless Local Loop

WRC

World Radiocommunication Conference

WTDC

World Telecommunication Development Conference

xDSL

Various types of Digital Subscriber Lines

XGP

eXtended Global Platform

Annexes

Annex 1: All documents received for Question 5/1

Reports

Web

Received

Source

Title

1/REP/35

2017-03-01

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report of the Rapporteur Group meeting on Question 5/1 (Geneva, Tuesday, 28 March 2017, 09:30 -12:30 hours)

RGQ/REP/23

2017-01-13

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report for the Rapporteur Group meeting on Question 5/1 (Geneva, Tuesday, 10 January 2017, 09:30 - 12:30 and 14:30 - 17:30 hours)

1/REP/25
(Rev.1)

2016-09-19

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report of the Rapporteur Group meeting on Question 5/1 (Geneva, Tuesday, 20 September 2016, 09:30 -12:30 hours)

RGQ/REP/14

2016-04-24

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report of the Rapporteur Group meeting on Question 5/1 (Geneva, Friday, 15 April 2016, 09:00 -12:00 and 14:30 - 17:30 hours)

1/REP/15

2015-09-15

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report of the Rapporteur Group Meeting on Question 5/1 (Geneva, Tuesday 15 September 2015, 09:30 - 12:30 hours)

RGQ/REP/5

2015-04-24

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report of the Rapporteur Group Meeting on Question 5/1 (Geneva, Friday, 24 April 2015, 09:30 -12:30 and 14:30 - 17:30 hours)

1/REP/5

2014-09-17

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report of the Rapporteur Group Meeting on Question 5/1 (Geneva, Wednesday 17 September 2014, 09:30 - 12:30 hours)

Question 5/1 contributions for Rapporteur Group and Study Group meetings

Web

Received

Source

Title

1/468

2017-01-17

Argentine Republic

National Plan for the Development of Competitiveness and Quality Conditions of Mobile Communication Services

1/467

2017-01-17

Argentine Republic

Argentina reconverts the “Enabling environment for the development of telecommunications/ICTs”

1/441

2017-01-10

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report of the Rapporteur Group meeting on Question 5/1, Geneva, 10 January 2017

1/428

2017-02-14

China (People’s Republic of)

Project “Xueliang” (Shiny) aimed at the realization of smart communities in rural and remote areas

1/427

2017-02-14

Democratic Republic of the Congo

TIC pour les zones rurales cas de la RDC

1/425

2017-02-14

China (People’s Republic of)

Discussion on the architecture of smart mobile wireless broadband networks for rural informatization

1/423

2017-02-14

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Discussion on the future of Question 5/1

1/416
[OR]

2017-02-10

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Final Report for Question 5/1

1/407

2017-02-08

Bhutan (Kingdom of)

National research & education network in Bhutan

1/406

2017-02-01

Burundi (Republic of)

Impact of the national fibre-optic backbone in connecting rural areas in Burundi

1/404

2017-02-01

Paraguay (Republic of)

El dinero móvil en áreas rurales del Paraguay

RGQ/315

2016-12-29

Sri Lanka

Girls in ICT

RGQ/301

2016-12-02

Senegal (Republic of)

The C, Ku and Ka bands as alternative solutions for an effective universal service and other vital uses in developing countries

RGQ/299

2016-11-28

Senegal (Republic of)

Overview of the Digital Senegal 2025 (Sénégal Numérique 2025) Strategy validated and adopted in 2016

RGQ/297

2016-11-25

Brazil (Federative Republic of)

Cellular Community Networks in isolated areas: Brazilian Amazon as a case study

RGQ/296

2016-11-25

Myanmar (Union of)

Information access for remote areas in Myanmar

RGQ/295

2016-11-25

China (People’s Republic of)

China’s Rural Broadband Development and Measures

RGQ/292

2016-11-25

Japan

Japan’s case for strategic plans

RGQ/290

2016-11-24

Kenya (Republic of)

Rural connectivity through subsides and spectrum fees waiver: The Kenyan experience

RGQ/286

2016-11-24

Rwanda (Republic of)

Use of ICTs for agricultural development in Rwanda

RGQ/284

[OR]

2016-11-23

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Draft Final Report for Question 5/1

RGQ/265

2016-10-31

Mexico

Implementación de la Recomendación UIT-D 19 en México

RGQ/256

2016-10-31

Viet Nam (Socialist Republic of)

Program on universalization of public-utility telecommunication services in rural and remote areas

1/385

2016-09-07

Inmarsat plc.

Satellite broadband applications in support of development

1/382

2016-09-07

Iran University of Science and Technology

The effects of Digital skill and e-Education in ICTs for Rural and Remote Area

1/381

2016-09-09

Iran University of Science and Technology

ICT Status in Rural Area in Iran

1/376

2016-09-07

Qualcomm, Inc.

Wireless Heart Health: China Case Study

1/375

2016-09-07

Qualcomm, Inc.

Fishing with mobile nets: Colombia case study

1/374

2016-09-07

Qualcomm, Inc.

India - Stove Trace Case Study

1/368
+Ann.1

2016-09-07

Korea (Republic of)

ICT improvement initiatives in remote and isolated areas: GiGA Island Project in Bangladesh

1/353
+Ann.1

2016-09-07

BDT Focal Point for Q1/1

Information on the ITU Interactive Transmission Maps

1/347

2016-08-15

General Secretariat

Proposed text for Chapter 4 on Measuring the Urban-Rural Digital Divide (URDD)

1/346

2016-08-09

China (People’s Republic of)

Discussion on the structure of wireless broadband network for rural informatization

1/344

2016-08-09

Gambia (Republic of the)

Moving from 2G to Broadband, The Gambian Experience

1/334

2016-08-05

Brazil (Federative Republic of)

State governments’ policy to increase mobile access in rural area

1/329

2016-08-05

International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, EUTELSAT, INTELSAT

The Critical Role of Satellite in Connecting the Unconnected

1/318

[OR]

2016-08-05

Rapporteurs for Question 5/1

Draft Report of Question 5/1

1/317

2016-08-05

Intel Corporation

Proposed text for Chapter 6 of the Q5/1 Report

1/316

2016-08-05

Japan

Proposals for revised texts related to ICT unit in the report of ICT experiences in disaster relief

1/313

2016-08-04

Senegal (Republic of)

Consideration of the satellite option as a development alternative for the universal service and other development-oriented services

1/312

2016-08-04

Senegal (Republic of)

Widespread implementation of Community Multimedia Centres (CMCs) in Senegal

1/308
+Ann.1

2016-08-04

BDT Focal Point for Question 6/1

GSR 2016 Discussion Papers and Best Practice Guidelines

1/302

2016-08-04

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Revised work plan for Question 5/1

1/301

2016-08-04

Madagascar (Republic of)

Enabling environment for the development of ICTs

1/291

2016-08-02

Kenya (Republic of)

Use of the Universal Services Fund for extension of ICT Services in rural and remote areas in Kenya

1/288

2016-07-29

Haiti (Republic of)

Proposal for the draft report on Question 5/1, Chapter 9

1/283

2016-07-28

China (People’s Republic of)

Reduce costs, improve efficiency, increase conversion rate to promote FTTH deployment

1/282

2016-07-28

China (People’s Republic of)

Discussion on the structure of wireless broadband network for better ICT development in rural areas

1/270

2016-07-22

Madagascar (Republic of)

Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas

1/265

2016-07-12

Sri Lanka (Democratic Socialist Republic of)

Proposed text for Chapters 3 and 8 of the Q5/1 report

1/254

2016-06-28

Burundi (Republic of)

Impact of the national fibre-optic backbone in connecting rural areas in Burundi

1/245

2016-04-15

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report of the Rapporteur Group Meeting on Question 5/1, Geneva, 15 April 2016

RGQ/234

2016-03-22

Iran University of Science and Technology

E-insurance for rural area in Iran: A Public ICT-Based service

RGQ/233

2016-03-22

Iran University of Science and Technology, Iran

ICT Development policies for the remote and rural areas in Iran

RGQ/226

+Ann.1

2016-03-22

General Secretariat

Measuring the urban-rural digital divide

RGQ/225

+Ann.1

2016-03-22

Telecommunication Development Bureau

Overview of input received through the ITU-D Study Group 1 Question 5/1 Global survey on telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas

RGQ/214

2016-03-22

Vice-Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Analysis of questionnaire replies for the global survey for Question 5/1

RGQ/197

2016-03-13

Intel Corporation

Draft Chapter on “ICT in Education” for the final report

RGQ/196

2016-03-17

China (People’s Republic of)

Draft text of Chapter 4 for the final report

RGQ/176

(Rev.1)

2016-03-05

Sri Lanka (Democratic Socialist Republic of)

Closing the Gap of Digital Divide

RGQ/169

2016-03-01

Afghanistan

Recent achievements and initiatives in the area of telecommunications/ICTs with particular attention to rural and remote areas

RGQ/161
(Rev.1)

2016-02-22

Alcatel-Lucent France, Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc.

Proposed initial text for clause 2.2 of the Q2/1 report

RGQ/155

2016-02-19

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Draft text of Chapter 7 and tentative outline of Chapter 9 for the final report

RGQ/151

2016-02-17

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Revised work plan for Question 5/1

RGQ/147

2016-02-17

Rwanda (Republic of)

ICT in education sector of Rwanda

1/217

2015-08-30

Saudi Arabia (Kingdom of)

The Universal Service Fund

1/206

2015-08-26

China (People’s Republic of)

"Rural Broadband" innovation mode, creating a new era of optical network in rural areas

1/194

2015-08-19

Zimbabwe (Republic of)

The universal services fund as a driver of telecommunication/ICT development in rural and remote areas

1/191

2015-08-19

China (People’s Republic of)

The discussion of optimizing basic network structure of wireless broadband in rural areas

1/189

2015-08-12

Telefon AB - LM Ericsson

Evolution in mobile broadband networks, for its consideration in the reports

1/182

2015-08-06

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Draft text of Chapter 1 for the final report

1/181

2015-08-06

Intel Corporation

ICT in Education - Rural and Remote Areas

1/164

2015-07-31

Côte d'Ivoire (Republic of)

The need to develop a method of estimating licence costs

1/158

2015-08-17

China (People’s Republic of)

The experience of China Telecom in developing “Broadband Villages”

1/156

2015-07-31

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Revised table of contents and division of work for the Final Report of Question 5/1

1/144

2015-07-24

Guinea (Republic of)

Situation regarding access to telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services in rural and isolated areas in the Republic of Guinea

1/140

2015-07-23

Haiti (Republic of)

Business model and operator encouragement

1/105

2015-05-07

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Report of the Rapporteur Group Meeting on Question 5/1, Geneva, 24 April 2015

RGQ/108

2015-04-01

Intel Corporation

Reflection of “ICT in education” chapters in the reports

RGQ/107

2015-03-31

BDT Focal Point for Question 5/1

Summary of the study “Broadband situations in rural and remote areas”

RGQ/99

2015-03-31

Rwanda (Republic of)

Telecommunication and ICT initiatives in Rwanda

RGQ/94
+Ann.1

2015-03-27

KDDI Corporation

Example of mobile base stations with satellite backhauls

RGQ/87

2015-03-19

Brazil (Federative Republic of)

Providing optical fibre backbone to remote areas through infrastructure sharing between the telecommunications and electricity sectors

RGQ/41

2015-02-26

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Draft Questionnaire for the global survey

RGQ/40

2015-02-26

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Draft Table of Contents of the final report of Question 5/1: “Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas”

RGQ/32

2015-02-24

Burundi (Republic of)

Rural connectivity and its impact on socio-economic development for the rural population in Burundi

RGQ/11

2014-12-15

Rapporteur for Question 5/1

Draft work plan for Question 5/1

RGQ/2

2014-09-08

Viet Nam (Socialist Republic of)

Information on the development of provision of public utility telecommunication services in Viet Nam

1/61
+Ann.1

2014-09-02

Japan

Report of analysis of case studies on the new ITU-D case study library

1/59
+Ann.1

2014-08-29

BDT Focal Point for Question 5/1

Background document for Study Group 1 on Question 5/1

1/47

2014-08-21

KDDI Corporation

Draft work plan for Question 5/1

1/46

2014-08-19

China (People’s Republic of)

Rural broadband in China and proposals for Question 5/1 study

1/45

2014-08-14

Madagascar (Republic of)

Accès aux TIC dans les zones rurales et enclavées

Contributions for QAll for Rapporteur Group and Study Group meetings

Web

Received

Source

Title

1/458
+Ann.1

2017-03-17

Telecommunication Development Bureau

Feedback received through the survey on ITU-D Study Group Questions, Procedures, and Proposals on Future Activities

1/457

2017-03-17

Telecommunication Development Bureau

Innovation activities in ITU-D

1/454

2017-03-15

Russian Federation

Proposals for the revision and rearrangement of ITU-D Study Groups 1 and 2 Study Questions

1/447
+Ann.1-2

2017-03-09

Rapporteur for Question 9/2

Analysis of feedback received through the global survey on the work of ITU-D study groups

1/434

2017-02-22

Vice-Chairman, ITU-D Study Group 2 , and Co-Rapporteur for Question 8/2

Study Groups, study Questions, and working method for WTDC-17

1/432
+Ann.1

2017-02-17

Côte d’Ivoire (Republic of)

Draft texts for the revision of the study Questions and new Questions for the period 2018-2021

1/431

2017-02-17

Côte d’Ivoire (Republic of)

Proposal for new Question on Internet of Things for the study period 2018-2021

1/396

2017-01-30

Chairman, ITU-D Study Group 1, Vice-Chairman, ITU-D Study Group 1

Survey on ITU-D Study Group Questions, Procedures, and Proposals on Future Activities

1/371

2016-09-07

Telecommunication Development Bureau

Update on innovation activities to ITU-D Study Groups

1/332

2016-08-05

General Secretariat

WSIS Stocktaking 2014-2016 Regional Reports of ICT Projects and Activities

1/331

2016-08-05

General Secretariat

WSIS Prizes 2016-2017

1/330

2016-08-05

General Secretariat

WSIS Stocktaking 2016-2017

1/310

2016-08-04

General Secretariat

WSIS Action Line Roadmaps C2, C5 and C6

1/309

2016-08-04

General Secretariat

ITU’s Contribution to the Implementation of the WSIS Outcomes 2016

1/307

2016-08-04

General Secretariat

WSIS Forum 2016 and SDG Matrix

1/306

2016-08-04

General Secretariat

WSIS Action Lines Supporting Implementation of the SDGs

1/305

2016-08-04

General Secretariat

WSIS Forum 2016: High Level Track Outcomes and Executive Brief

1/304

2016-08-04

General Secretariat

WSIS Forum 2016 Outcome Document - Forum Track

1/303
(Rev.1)

2016-08-04

General Secretariat

WSIS Forum 2017 - Open Consultation Process

1/253
(Rev.1)
+Ann.1

2016-05-31

Chairman, ITU-D Study Group 1

Compendium of Draft Outlines for expected outputs to be produced by ITU-D Study Group 1 Questions and Resolution 9 (September 2016)

RGQ/204

2016-03-18

BDT Focal Point for Question 8/1 and Resolution 9

Outcomes of RA-15,WRC-15 and CPM19-1 related to ITU-D

RGQ/152

2016-02-18

Kazakhstan (Republic of)

Contribution from Kazakhstan to Questions 1/1, 2/1, 3/1, 4/1, 5/1, 6/1, 7/1, 8/1 and 5/2

1/232
+Ann.1

2015-09-13

Chairman, ITU-D Study Group 1

Work plan for ITU-D Study Group 1 (September 2015)

1/231
(Rev.1)

2015-09-04

Chairman, ITU-D Study Group 1

Compendium of Draft Outlines for Expected Outputs to be Produced by ITU-D Study Group 1 Questions and Resolution 9 (September 2015)

1/229
(Rev.1)

2015-09-02

Argentine Republic

Draft new Resolution: “Telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities and persons with specific needs”

1/228
(Rev.1)

2015-09-02

Argentine Republic

Modification of the Resolution ITU-R 61 “Contribution in implementing the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society”

1/200

2015-08-25

Telecommunication Development Bureau

ITU-D Study Groups Innovation Update

1/183

2015-08-07

Telecommunication Development Bureau

1st ITU-D Academia Network Meeting

1/145

2015-07-24

General Secretariat

WSIS Forum 2015: High level policy statements, Outcome document, Reports on WSIS Stocktaking

1/126

2015-07-06

Uganda (Republic of)

Increasing women’s participation in ITU Study Groups’ work

1/125

2015-06-29

BDT Focal Point for Question 1/1

ITU GSR15 discussion papers and best practice guidelines

1/70

2014-09-18

Chairman, ITU-D Study Group 1

Appointed Rapporteurs and Vice-Rapporteurs of ITU-D Study Group 1 Questions for the 2014-2018 period

1/66

2014-09-04

Telecommunication Development Bureau

List of information documents

1/65

2014-09-03

Australia, Samoa (Independent State of), United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Vanuatu (Republic of)

Numbering misappropriation

1/64

2014-09-03

Intel Corporation

New question for ITU-D Study Group 1 (2014-2018): Assistance to developing countries for the implementation of ICT programs in education

1/50

2014-08-28

United States of America

Selected recent developments in U.S. spectrum management

1/48

2014-08-23

Nepal (Republic of)

Need for developing detailed table of contents for each Question under both the ITU-D Study Groups at the beginning

1/38
+Ann.1

2014-08-04

Telecommunication Development Bureau

Quality of Service Training Programme (QoSTP)

1/22

2014-06-27

BDT Focal Point for Question 1/1

Status report on Regulatory and Market Environment

1/5
(Rev.1-2)

2014-09-08

Telecommunication Development Bureau

Candidates for Rapporteurs and Vice-Rapporteurs of ITU-D Study Group 1 and 2 study Questions for the 2014-2018 period

1/4

2014-09-01

Telecommunication Development Bureau

List of WTDC Resolutions and ITU-D Recommendations relevant to the work of the ITU-D Study Groups

1/3

2014-08-20

Telecommunication Development Bureau

Resolution 9 (Rev. Dubai, 2014): Participation of countries, particularly developing countries, in spectrum management

1/2
+Ann.1

2014-08-20

Telecommunication Development Bureau

Resolution 2 (Rev. Dubai, 2014): Establishment of study groups + Full text of all ITU-D Study Group 1 Questions in Annex 1

1/1

2014-06-11

Telecommunication Development Bureau

Resolution 1 (Rev. Dubai, 2014): Rules of procedure of the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector

Information Documents

Web

Received

Source

Title

1/INF/2

2014-09-02

Rwanda (Republic of)

Telecommunication and ICT initiatives in Rwanda

Liaison Statements

Web

Received

Source

Title

RGQ/269

2016-10-31

ITU-T Study Group 5

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG5 to ITU-D SG1 Question 5/1 on Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas

1/251

2016-05-18

ITU-T Study Group 5

Liaison statement from ITU-T Study Group 5 to ITU-D Study 1 and 2 on updates on ITU-T SG 5 activities relevant to ITU-D study groups

1/127

2015-07-04

ITU-T Study Group 15

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG15 to ITU-D SGs on ITU-T SG15 OTNT standardization work plan

Liaison Statements for QAll

Web

Received

Source

Title

1/460

2017-03-17

ITU-T JCA-AHF

Liaison Statement from ITU-T JCA-AHF to ITU-D SG1 on recent meeting reports of Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human Factors (JCA-AHF)

1/456

2017-03-17

ITU-T JCA-AHF

Liaison Statement from ITU-T JCA-AHF to ITU-D SG1 on Call for voluntary contributions to the ITU Accessibility Fund

1/398

2017-01-31

ITU-T Study Group 12

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG12 to ITU-D SG1 and SG2 on operational plan for implementation of WTSA-16 Resolution 95 (Hammamet, 2016)

RGQ/260

2016-10-31

ITU-T Study Group 15

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG15 to ITU-D Study Groups 1 and 2 on the latest version of the Access Network Transport (ANT), Smart Grid and Home Network Transport (HNT) Standards Overviews and Work Plans

1/287

2016-07-29

TSAG

Liaison Statement from TSAG to ITU-D Study Groups on ITU inter-sector coordination

1/286

2016-07-29

ITU-T JCA-AHF

Liaison statement from ITU-T JCA-AHF Chairman to ITU-D SG1 on JCA-AHF recent meeting report

1/257

2016-06-28

ITU-T Study Group 12

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG12 to ITU-D SG1 and SG2 on revised definition of Quality of Experience (QoE) and new terms in Rec. P.10/G.100

1/256

2016-06-28

ITU-T Study Group 12

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG12 to ITU-D SG1 and SG2 on ITU inter-Sector coordination (reply to TSAG LS17)

RGQ/204

2016-03-18

BDT Focal Point for Question 8/1 and Resolution 9

Outcomes of RA-15, WRC-15 and CPM19-1 related to ITU-D

RGQ/186

2016-03-09

ITU-R Study Groups -Working Party 5D (IMT System)

Liaison statement from ITU-R WP 5D to ITU-D SG1 on Working document towards a preliminary draft new report ITU-R SM.(innovative regulatory tools)

RGQ/181

2016-03-07

ITU-T Study Group 15

Liaison statement from ITU-T SG15 to ITU-D SG1 and 2 on the latest version of the Access Network Transport (ANT), Smart Grid and Home Network Transport (HNT) Standards Overviews and Work Plans

RGQ/172

2016-03-03

ITU-D Study Group 15

Liaison statement from ITU-T Study Group 15 to ITU-D SG 1 and 2 on ITU-T SG15 OTNT standardization work plan

RGQ/171

2016-03-03

ITU-T Study Group 15

Liaison statement from ITU-T Study Group 15 to ITU-D SG 1 and 2 on new technical classification and numbering of ITU-T L-Series Recommendations

RGQ/139

2016-02-08

TSAG

Liaison statement from TSAG to ITU-D study groups 1 and 2 on ITU inter-Sector coordination

RGQ/124

2015-11-18

ITU-R Study Group Department

Liaison statement from ITU-R Study Group Department to ITU-D SG 1 and 2 on Resolutions approved at the Radiocommunication Assembly (RA-15)

RGQ/118

2015-09-29

Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT)

Liaison statement from the APT Standardization Program Forum (ASTAP) to ITU-D Study Group 1 and 2 on NGN activities

1/202

2015-08-24

ITU-T JCA-AHF

Liaison Statement from ITU-T JCA-AHF, Chairman to ITU-D SGs on Draft meeting report of Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human Factors (JCA-AHF) in Geneva on 17 June 2015

1/128

2015-07-10

ITU-T Study Group 15

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG15 to ITU-D SGs on the latest versions of the Access Network Transport (ANT), Smart Grid and Home Network Transport (HNT) Standards Overviews and Work Plans

1/127

2015-07-04

ITU-T Study Group 15

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG15 to ITU-D SGs on ITU-T SG15 OTNT standardization work plan

1/124

2015-07-12

TSAG

Liaison Statement from TSAG to ITU-D Study Groups on ITU inter-sector coordination

1/120

2015-06-23

ITU-R Study Groups -Working Party 1B

Liaison Statement from ITU-R WP1B to ITU-D Study Group 1 on Working document towards a preliminary draft new report ITU-R SM on Innovative regulatory tools

1/116

2015-05-19

ITU-T Focus Group on SSC

Liaison Statement from ITU-T FGSSC to ITU-D SGs on Final deliverables of the Focus Group on Smart Sustainable Cities (FG SSC) and proposal of a new Study Group

1/113

2015-05-12

ITU-T Study Group 13

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG13 to ITU-D SGs on Development of the Roadmap on IMT

1/100

2015-04-30

ITU-T Study Group 11

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG11 to ITU-D Study Groups on the progress on standardization work to combat Counterfeit ICT devices

1/99

2015-04-29

ITU-T Study Group 16

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG16 to ITU-D SGs on ITU-D SG1 and SG2 Questions of interest to ITU-T Study Groups

1/98

2015-04-29

ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Financial Services

Liaison Statement from ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Financial Services (DFS) to ITU-D Study Groups on BDT’s work on ITU m-Powering Development

1/97

2015-04-29

ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Financial Services

Liaison Statement from ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Financial Services (DFS) to ITU-D Study Groups concerning its work

RGQ/68

2015-03-03

ITU-T Study Group 16

Liaison Statement from ITU-T SG16 to ITU-D SGs on ITU-D SG1 and SG2 Questions of interest to ITU-T Study Groups

RGQ/28

2015-02-10

ITU-R Study Groups -Working Party 5D

Liaison Statement from ITU Radiocommunication Study Groups WP5D to ITU-D Study Groups concerning the Handbook on “Global Trends in IMT”

RGQ/27

2015-02-10

ITU-R Study Groups – Working Party 5D

Liaison Statement from ITU Radiocommunication Study Groups WP5D to ITU-D Study Groups concerning the Handbook on “Global Trends in IMT”

RGQ/21

2015-01-23

ITU-T FG DFS

Liaison Statement from ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Financial Services (DFS) to ITU-D Study Groups on BDT’s work on ITU m-Powering Development

RGQ/20

2015-01-22

ITU-T FG DFS

Liaison Statement from ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Financial Services (DFS) to ITU-D Study Groups concerning its work

1/18

2014-05-23

ITU-T JCA-AHF

Liaison Statement from ITU-T Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human Factors (JCA-AHF) on Assistive Listening Devices (ALD) and the allocation of Mobile Phone Services in the 2.3-2.4 GHz band

1/16

2014-03-10

ITU-T Study Group 11

Liaison Statement from ITU-T Study Group 11 to ITU-D SG1 and SG2 on Request for status update from GSMA and ITU on proposed studies on the issue of mobile theft, grey market and counterfeit devices

1/15
(Rev.1)

2014-03-10

ITU-T Study Group 11

Liaison Statement from ITU-T Study Group 11 to ITU-D SG1 and SG2 on Technical report on counterfeit equipment

1/12

2014-02-10

ITU-T Focus Group on Innovation

Liaison Statement from the ITU-T FG on Innovation to ITU-D SG1 and SG2 on New Standardization Activities for ITU-T study groups and ICT Innovation Panel

1/9

2013-10-22

ITU-T Focus Group on Innovation

Liaison Statement from the ITU-T FG on Innovation to ITU-D SG1 and SG2 on inputs on ICT innovation panel

Annex 2.1: Analysis of questionnaire replies to the global survey

1 Global survey on telecommunications / ICTs for rural and remote areas

1.1 Survey background

The overall aim of ITU‐D Study Group 1 Question 5/1 is to study the range and scope of techniques and solutions that are expected to play a significant role in the provision of e‐application services for rural and remote areas. In order for the Question to successfully complete its work for the 2014-2017 further input is needed from the ITU membership on techniques that can be used to best deliver the range of services, and applications required by rural and remote communities and adapted to the needs of their users.

1.2 Survey objectives

The purpose of this survey is to gather detailed information on Telecommunications/ICTs infrastructure in rural and remote areas, policy and regulatory measures that have been taken by the governments around the world and economic and business models for telecommunication/ICT growth in rural and remote areas. The survey also seeks to collect information on possible impact and analysis of such interventions/initiatives.

At the September 2015 meetings of ITU‐D Study Group 1, it was agreed to issue a circular to the Membership of ITU requesting input on specific aspects of access and connectivity in rural and remote areas. The requested input is related to the Rapporteur Group for Question 5/1 dedicated to “Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas”.

All inputs and contributions received through this survey will be compiled as part of the outputs of Question 5/1 to assist countries in strengthening their capacity to address challenges related to access for people living in rural and remote areas.

1.3 Survey range

The Questionnaire was sent to Administrations of ITU Member States and Observer (Res. 99), ITU-D Sector Members, Associates and Academia, Management Teams for ITU-D Study Groups 1 and 2, and Observers (Regional and International Organizations).

Total of 46 entries from 45 countries were received.

1.4 Survey questions

Section 1: Contact information

a) Please select the name of your Administration/Organization from the list. (If it is not available, indicate the name in the field below the list)

__________________________________

b) Region where your organization is based:

□ Africa

□ Americas

□ Asia and Pacific

□ Arab States

□ CIS

□ Europe

c) Country where your organization is based:

d) Contact person:

__________________________________

e) Telephone number:

__________________________________

f) E-mail address:

__________________________________

Section 2: Questionnaire

1. Coverage and power supply for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

1.1 What is the coverage ratio (population coverage ratio and/or area coverage ratio) of fixed communications in your country? (Please provide detailed data for rural and remote areas, if available)

Population coverage ratio %

Area coverage ratio %

Detailed data for rural and remote areas:

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

1.2 What is the coverage ratio (population coverage ratio and/or area coverage ratio) of mobile communications in your country? (Please provide detailed data for rural and remote areas, if available)

Population coverage ratio %

Area coverage ratio %

Detailed data for rural and remote areas:

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

1.3a) What type(s) of power supplies are being used for the telecommunications/ICTs infrastructure in rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible. Please specify the output wattage if applicable)

□ Commercial power supply

□ Combination of commercial power and community grid

□ Community power grid

□ Oil generator

□ Battery

□ Solar cell

□ Wind power

□ Mini/Micro-hydro power

□ Others

b) If commercial power supply is used, please provide the hours of supply per day, in case not provided continuously: /24 hours per day

c) If the community power grid is used, please provide the total power of the grid:

d) If mini/micro-hydropower is used, please specify output wattage:

e) If you selected ‘Others’, please specify type of power supply used:

_____________________________________________________________________

2. National plans for telecommunications/ICTs

2.1 Is there a national telecommunication/ICTs/broadband plan targeted for the development of rural and remote areas?

⃝ Yes ⃝ No

If yes, please provide the link to the website (URL):

________________________________________________________________________

2.2a) What is the target download/upload speed of the access line in rural and remote areas?

Upload speed:

Download speed:

b) Is the target mentioned in the above cited national plan?

⃝ Yes ⃝ No

2.3 What is the target service coverage ratio (population coverage ratio and/or area coverage ratio)?

Population coverage ratio %

Area coverage ratio %

3. National strategies for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

3.1a) In order to achieve the targets for rural and remote areas, what strategies are adopted? (Multiple choices are possible)

□ Universal Service Fund (USF) scheme or equivalent

□ License conditions to roll out in rural and remote areas

□ Subsidy

□ Tax rebate

□ Public Private Partnership (Private operators with capital subsidy)

□ International aid

□ Other strategies

b) If Universal Service Fund (USF) is one of the strategies adopted, please specify the name of fund or equivalent:

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

c) Please specify the source of the USF: (Multiple choices are possible)

□ Collected from telecom service charge

□ Value added tax (VAT)

□ Import tax on telecom equipment

□ License fees

□ Spectrum fee

□ Royalty fee

□ Other.

If other, please specify:

____________________________________________________________________

d) Who is in charge of management of USF?

e) If you selected License conditions, please specify the following: Is there a time frame? Are there specific areas mentioned? Are specific services to be covered by the USF?

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

f) If you selected Subsidy, please specify the amount of subsidy: Is it a percentage of the total cost? One time subsidy for capital investment? Operational cost subsidy? Or both?

____________________________________________________________________

g) If you selected Tax exemptions, please specify the type(s) of tax exemptions given for rural and remote areas.

____________________________________________________________________

h) If you selected Other strategies, please specify:

____________________________________________________________________

4. Technologies for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

4.1a) What backhaul/backbone technologies are used for connecting rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

□ Satellite/V‎–‎SAT (GEO, MEO, LEO, L-band, C-band, Ku-band, Ka-band)

□ Optical fibre including OPGW (Optical fibre composite overhead ground wire)

□ Cable, including submarine cable

□ Terrestrial microwave

□ Wireless

□ Other technologies

b) If you selected Wireless, please specify:

____________________________________________________________________

c) If you selected Other technologies, please specify:

____________________________________________________________________

4.2 What access technologies are used for connecting rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

□ V-SAT

□ Copper

□ Cable

□ Optical fibre

□ Fixed wireless access

□ Wireless, such as Wi-Fi, WiMax, 2G, 3G, LTE

If you selected wireless, please specifythe type of technology:

____________________________________________________________________

4.3 What kinds of user terminals are used by residents in rural and remote areas of your country? Please specify:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

5. Business models for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

5.1 What kind of business model is being employed for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

□ Public-Private Partnership model (Private operators with capital subsidy)

□ Multi-stakeholders partnership model

□ Incumbent operator with subsidy

□ Open competition

□ Other models

If you selected other models, please specify:

____________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________

6. Applications for telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas

6.1. Do you have a national policy for ICT in education for rural and remote areas?

⃝ Yes ⃝ No

If yes, please specify the elements taken into account in the policy:

____________________________________________________________________

6.2. Do you have national policies for other e-applications in rural and remote areas?

⃝ Yes ⃝ No

If yes, please specify:

____________________________________________________________________

7. Other policies for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

7.1. Do you have any specific policy for infrastructure sharing, especially for the rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

□ Optical fibre cable sharing

□ Site sharing

□ Sharing of building

□ Sharing or towers

□ Other related support infrastructure

If you selected other related support infrastructure, please specify:

____________________________________________________________________

7.2. Do you have any specific legal framework for infrastructure sharing, especially for the rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

□ Optical fibre cable sharing

□ Site sharing

□ Sharing of building

□ Sharing or towers

□ Other related support infrastructure

If you selected other related support infrastructure, please specify:

____________________________________________________________________

7.3. Do you have any specific regulatory framework for infrastructure sharing, especially for the rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

□ Optical fibre cable sharing

□ Site sharing

□ Sharing of building

□ Sharing or towers

□ Other related support infrastructure

If you selected other related support infrastructure, please specify:

____________________________________________________________________

7.4.a) Has your government and/or regulator put in place any other specific policy or regulatory intervention for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas?

⃝ Yes ⃝ No

If yes, please provide examples of such interventions:

____________________________________________________________________

Rural ICT related Projects (telecentres; payphones; internet point of presence; white space project)

b) How successful has the other specific policy or regulatory intervention referred to in question above made by your government been in fostering the development of telecommunications or ICTs in rural and remote areas?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

7.5. What are the problems or challenges encountered in the deployment of telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

7.6. What are the guidelines that can be proposed to best deploy telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas?

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

8. Any other comments

Please provide any other comments you may wish to add regarding this survey and ways in which access to telecommunications/ICTs for people living in rural and remote areas can be improved:

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

1.5 Survey results

0 Region where your organization is based:

Section 2:

2 Coverage and power supply for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

1.1 What is the coverage ratio (population coverage ratio and/or area coverage ratio) of fixed communications in your country? (Please provide detailed data for rural and remote areas, if available)

Population coverage ratio %

Area coverage ratio %

Number of Answers to t population coverage ratio: 34(75.56%) Number of Answers to coverage ratio: 21 (46.67%)

Country

Population coverage ratio (%)

Area coverage ratio (%)

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

12

45.9

Mexico

65

Denmark

97

Republic of Paraguay

5

Republic of Belarus

47.8

100

Federative Republic of Brazil

100

100

Mongolia

6.8

91

Lao P.D.R.

95

90

Islamic Republic of Iran

38.19

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

92

0

Japan

99

Confederation of Switzerland

99

Costa Rica

17.6

Central African Republic

1.2

0.02

Afghanistan

25

38

Federative Republic of Brazil

95

Malawi

25

1

Peru

7.6

Democratic Republic

of the Congo

0

0

Republic of Poland

85

74

Turkey

98

Trinidad and Tobago

86

0

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

90

75

Republic of Kenya

0.2

Spain

89

81

Turkey

97.98

97.98

State of Palestine

9.28

91

Republic of the Gambia

3.5

Republic of Panama

68

60

State of Israel

99

99

Costa Rica

16

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

34

27

Argentine Republic

80

90

Detailed data for rural and remote areas:

Number of Answers to this question: 21 (46.67%)

Country

Detailed data for rural and remote areas:

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Unofficial translation: There are no details on the level of fixed telephone coverage in rural and remote regions. Note: The level of regional coverage is related to the population spread.

Mexico

Unofficial translation: At the end of the second quarter of 2015, Mexico reached 21.1 million fixed telephone lines in the country, reaching a penetration of 67 fixed telephony lines per 100 households. On the other hand, in relation to fixed broadband, in the same period, 13.68 million fixed broadband subscriptions were reached, with fixed broadband reaching a penetration of 43 subscriptions per 100 households.

It is estimated that 65% of the population lives in localities that have at least one fiber optic network. This does not imply that there is a greater coverage of fixed telecommunications in the country through other technologies, but the coverage of fixed networks is not precisely known.

Denmark

We define rural areas as areas with a population density of less than 100 inhabitants per square km. As stated, 97% of the Danish households have broadband coverage through a fixed technology.

Republic of Belarus

Unofficial translation: Population coverage ratio 45.2 %.

Fedearative Republic of Brazil

1. The fixed telephony service obligation for rural areas or remote regions is by means of two instruments: (i) Presidential Decree No. 7,512 / 2011 (General Plan for Universal) and (ii) Regulation on the Provision Fixed Switched Telephone Service Targeted to the general public (PSTN) Outside the Basic Tariff Area (ATB) approved by Resolution No. 622 of 23 August 2013. Under the General Plan on Universal Service (PGMU), the dealers of Fixed Switched Telephone Service (STFC), must meet the localities (the concept requires 50 meters of adjacency between the houses) with more than 100 people with at least a Public Use Telephone (TUP) and the localities with over 300 inhabitants with individual care within 7 days. In addition, certain sites located in rural areas such as schools, indigenous communities, health centres and others, must have TUP, regardless of population profile. The Regulation deals with the care of the requests of rural areas and remote regions (out of ATB) – Resolution No. 622/2013, requires compliance by concessionaires of any demand of any citizen, regardless of the size of the locality, with specific plans that can be offered by means of any technology, including satellite. Such an offer has different values for the enjoyment of the service, for example, the responsibility of the applicant to bear the installation costs. The population covered with this option corresponds to about 1%, and the covered area of 51.5% 2. It is noteworthy that the fixed telephony service obligation is not oriented coverage area, since the concessionaire is obliged to meet any user request, regardless of their territorial location. 3. In addition to the obligations with exposed fixed up, was also established to service with internet obligation fixed for residents of areas within 30 kilometers from the boundaries of the headquarters of all Brazilian municipalities. Through bidding Notice No. 004/2012 / PVCP / SPV-ANATEL, the Agency established that the winners of the contest providers should meet the rural area of voice and data connections, starting with a speed of 256 Kbps in 2014 and increasing by 2017 to 1 Mbps. According to surveys conducted in 2012, the population covered by this option is 99%; geographical coverage is 48.5%. 4. The obligations mentioned in items 2 and 3 above are complementary and cover the entire national territory. For this reason it is considered that 100% of the territory and population have fixed telephony offer.

Mongolia

Only 36 soum (Microwave, VSAT) centre has no optic fibre connection from 330 soums.

Lao P.D.R.

Islamic Republic of Iran

Rural Population coverage ratio (%): 23.67.

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Unofficial translation: The population covered by the fixed telephony service Cantv (the country’s main telecommunications operator, with a market share of 88%) in rural and remote areas is 10.88%.

Costa Rica

Unofficial translation: Percentages based on the total population of the country (the demographic distribution per zone is not considered).

Area coverage rate: Not available.

Population coverage rate: 17.6% (The percentage corresponds to the total fixed telephone subscription divided into the total population).

12.6% (Percentage of households with fixed telephony).

Central African Republic

Unofficial translation: The historical operator SOCATEL, which has the license to operate the fixed network in the Central African Republic, no longer operates in the provinces, and its installations have become obsolete in the towns and villages where they were installed. SOCATEL only operates its wired network in Bangui Capital.

Afghanistan

It will be communicated in future.

Federative Republic of Brazil

We estimate that at least 73% of the rural population live in areas where fixed telephony and broadband services should to be made available by operators as a result of imposed obligations of the spectrum auction held in 2012. (*) Notice that 85% is the portion of the population living in localities served by fixed telephony service provided by concessionaires. The 95% we have chosen to inform adds to that figure the portion of the rural population living in areas where fixed telephony and broadband services should to be made available by operators as a result of imposed obligations of the spectrum auction held in 2012 (the 73% of the rural population mentioned above). It is an estimate. Notice also that the coverage ratio can be said to be 100% since all Brazilian territory is covered by telecommunication services provided via satellite (telephony, broadband and subscription-based television services).

Malawi

Unofficial translation: No.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Unofficial translation: There are not fixed telephone lines in rural and remote areas.]

Trinidad and Tobago

The population coverage was calculated using data on the number of homes passed by fixed infrastructure divided by the population number. Data on area coverage is not available at this time.

Spain

Unofficial translation: Broadband with ADSL at 2 MBps covers 89% of the population. In rural areas it is 81%. Rural areas are those with a population density of less than 100 inhabitants per km2.

Sweden

Population coverage: approx. 300 households lack access to fixed broadband.

Republic of Nepal

NTA does not collect data based on both the criteria. However, the fixed line penetration in Nepal as of mid-September 2015 is just 3.19%. In terms of coverage, the PSTN lines are available only in urban and populated areas. Wireless fixed lines are however available in the rural and remote areas as NTA has introduced rural operators to provide telephone services in such rural areas.

Costa Rica

Unofficial translation: The value is average in rural areas of ICE [Costa Rica Institute of Electricity] fixed lines.

1.2 What is the coverage ratio (population coverage ratio and/or area coverage ratio) of mobile communications in your country? (Please provide detailed data for rural and remote areas, if available)

– Population coverage ratio (%)

– Area coverage ratio (%)

– Number of Answers to Population coverage ratio (%): 38 (84.44%)

– Number of Answers to area coverage ratio (%): 28 (62.22%)

Country

Population coverage ratio (%)

Area coverage ratio (%)

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

170.5

98

Mexico

92

Denmark

99

Republic of Paraguay

107

60

Republic of Belarus

99.9

98.1

Australia

99

30

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

138

99

Federative Republic of Brazil

91

19.6

Mongolia

118

98

Lao P.D.R.

96

80

Islamic Republic of Iran

94.22

Bolibarian Republic of Venezuela

97

11

Japan

Confederation of Switzerland

99

Costa Rica

150

Central African Republic

43

55

Afghanistan

90

93

Republic of Guinea

Federative Republic of Brazil

84

Malawi

100

100

Peru

63.5

51

Cuba

85.3

Democratic Republic of the Congo

50

20

Republic of Poland

99.9

Turkey

100

Republic of Korea

Republic of Cameroon

75

45

Trinidad and Tobago

148

100

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

99

84

Republic of Kenya

90

40

Spain

99.7

98.4

Republic of Sudan

84

41.5

Norway

Sweden

Turkey

98.46

85.8

Republic of Nepal

State of Palestine

98

90.5

Republic of the Gambia

Republic of Uganda

81

49

Republic of Panama

96

70

State of Israel

95

95

Costa Rica

150

Pakistan

64

68

Argentine Republic

90

95

Country

Detailed data for rural and remote areas:

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Unofficial translation: There are no details on the level of area coverage in rural and remote regions but the level of population coverage in rural and remote regions in accordance with the progress of universal service projects is 65% of the total population targeted by Universal Service Fund projects. However, the actual coverage is higher because operators provide coverage in rural and remote regions without the obligations of universal service.

Mexico

Unofficial translation: In the second quarter of 2015, the number of mobile subscriptions reached 103.4 million. In this regard, by the end of the second quarter of 2015 the teledensity of mobile telephony services was 85 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. On the other hand, mobile broadband subscriptions closed at 54.6 million. Thus, the mobile broadband teledensity was 45 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.

In rural and remote areas, coverage is usually through 2G technology, with an estimated population coverage of 92% in 2G technology. With 3G technology, coverage is estimated at 87% of the population. Finally, using 4G technology, it has an estimated coverage of 50% of the population.

Denmark

99%.

Republic of Belarus

Unofficial translation: No data available.

Australia

The three carriers publish public coverage information on their websites. (See www.telstra.com, www.optus.com.au and www.vodafone.com.au).

Federative Republic of Brazil

– The obligations currently set out in Brazil for mobile cover municipal offices only, and is considered served the municipality when 80% of the urban area of the district headquarters have coverage. Thus, all 5,570 municipalities already have mobile telephony, which represents 91% of the population.

– In relation to the rural and remote regions, a study conducted by georeferenced and data coverage prediction software of the Radio Base Stations (RBS), it was found that 18.7% of the geographical area using IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) parameters sectors rural census are covered by mobile telephony, covering 58.5% of the rural population.

Mongolia

Almost all centralized areas are covered with 2G mobile communication network. (3G 55%). Now we are focusing more on mobile broadband and nomadic herder’s connection.

Islamic Republic of Iran

Rural Population coverage ratio (%): 73.61.

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Unofficial translation: Detailed information on the part of all mobile operators is not available for this purpose.

Costa Rica

Unofficial translation: Population coverage rate: 150% (This percentage corresponds to the total mobile subscriptions divided by the total population).
Area coverage rate: Not available.
Detailed data for rural and remote areas: Not available.

Central African Republic

Unofficial translation: The four established cellular operators also operate practically in all the major cities of the Central African Republic with a rural population coverage ratio of 10% and a rural geographical coverage of 20% only.

Afghanistan

Unconnected areas of rural and remote areas of country have been somewhat connected by VCN Project. Area Coverage ratio of rural and remote: 70% by VCN terminals. Population Coverage is: 25%. This VCN terminals are distributed in rural and remote areas of country where microwave installation/set up is impossible.

Brazil

71% of in rural areas.

Malawi

Unofficial translation: No.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Unofficial translation: Geographical coverage in rural and remote areas: 9.83%. Population coverage in rural and remote areas: 26.70%.

Republic of Poland

99.9/80* *3G networks and 4G/LTE networks, respectively (data for the operator with the highest coverage ratio).

Trinidad and Tobago

These results are calculated based on the number of subscribers and coverage maps provided by operators.

Spain

Unofficial translation: UMTS broadband with HSPA covers 99.7% of the population. In rural areas it is 98.4%. Rural areas are those with a population density of less than 100 inhabitants per km2.

Republic of Nepal

NTA does not collect data based on both the criteria. However, the mobile penetration in Nepal as of mid-September 2015 is 104.34%. In terms of coverage, the mobile signals are available in almost all the areas of Nepal. NTA has introduced rural operators to provide telephone services in such rural areas. They invariably have used GSM technology and hence contributed significantly in both the geographic and population coverage because of the cost factor compared to PSTN.

State of Palestine

The above data is provided based on latest JAWWAL measurement survey.

Republic of Panama

Unofficial translation: The Republic of Panama, through the Law 59 of August 11, 2008, (Ley 59 de 11 de Agosto de 2008) has the purpose of maintaining, promoting and guaranteeing Universal Service and Access to services originated with information technology and telecommunications, throughout the country in order to increase the quality and coverage of these services for citizens who, due to their geographical and/or economic limitations, do not have access to them.

Costa Rica

Unofficial translation: The value is an average penetration value adding up the 3 mobile operators.

1.3 a) What type(s) of power supplies are being used for the telecommunications/ICTs infrastructure in rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible. Please specify the output wattage if applicable)

Type of Power Supply

Number of Answers to this question: 39 (86.67%)

b) If commercial power supply is used, please provide the hours of supply per day, in case not provided continuously: ( /24 hours per day)

Number of Answers to this question: 17 (37.78%)

Country

Entity

Hours

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Ministry of Information Technology

8

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

16

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología (MPPEUCT)

20

Argentine Republic

Universidad Nacional de La Plata

23

Lao P.D.R.

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

24

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

24

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

24

Trinidad and Tobago

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT)

24

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

24

Republic of Cameroon

Ministère des Postes et des Télécommunications

24

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones

24

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

24

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

24

Costa Rica

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE)

24

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

24

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

24

State of Palestine

Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel Group)

24

Mean : 22.29

Total: 379.00

c) If the community power grid is used, please provide the total power of the grid:

Number of Answers to this question: 3 (6.67%)

Country

Entity

Power of the grid

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

N/A

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

It varies from few KWs to few MWs.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones

80%

d) mini/microhydro power is used, please specify output wattage:

Number of Answers to this question: 4 (8.89%)

Country

Entity

mini/microhydro power

Lao P.D.R.

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

40

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

N/A

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

mini: 100KW to 1000 KW; micro:10KW to 100KW

Mongolia

Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority

Taishir hydro power station 11MW, Durgun hydro power station

12MW

e) If you selected Others, please specify type of power supply used:

Number of Answers to this question: 4 (8.89%)

Country

Entity

Type of power supply used

State of

Palestine

Palestine Telecommunication

Company (Paltel Group)

In the West Bank the electricity from the grid is stable, While in Gaza the grid electricity is intermittent

and works on a scheduled of 8 hours per sectored area, so JAWWAL sites depend on Backup Battery

Systems and Diesel Generators.

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

N/A

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes

Unofficial translation: The coverage of the electricity network is approximately 98% of the population, that is, greater than the coverage of telecommunications services. It is unknown the detail of the energy sources used in remote areas, but mostly it is through the network of the Federal Electricity.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

Unofficial translation: A portable generator.

2.0 National plans for telecommunications/ICTs

2.1 Is there a national telecommunication/ICTs/broadband plan targeted for the development of rural and remote areas?

2.2 a. Target download/upload speed of the access line in rural and remote areas? Upload speed (Mbps):

Number of Answers to this question: 22 (48.89%)

Speed

No of answers

0

1

0.128

1

0.256

1

0.512

2

0.768

1

1

4

1.2

1

2

4

3

1

5

1

25

1

30

1

50

1

2000

1

2048

1

Upload speed

Country

Entity

Answer

State of Palestine

Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel Group)

0

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

0.128

Federative Republic of Brazil

Ministério das Comunicações

0.256

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

0.512

Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) (Republic of Nepal)

0.512

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología (MPPEUCT)

0.768

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

1

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies

1

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

1

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes

1

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

1.2

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

2

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Ministry of Information Technology

2

Confederation of Switzerland

Office fédéral de la communication (OFCOM)

2

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

2

Lao P.D.R.

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

3

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

5

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

25

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

30

Republic of Korea

Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP)

50

Republic of Belarus

Ministry of Communications and Informatization

2000

Mongolia

Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority

2048

Download speed

Country

Title

Answer

State of Palestine

Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel Group)

0

Confederation of Switzerland

Office Fédéral de la Communication (OFCOM)

0.2

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

0.256

Islamic Republic Pakistan

Ministry of Information Technology

0.5

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

0.512

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

0.512

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología (MPPEUCT)

1

Federative Republic of Brazil

Ministério das Comunicações

1

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

1.325

Costa Rica

Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones

2

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

2

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

2

Cuba

Ministerio de Comunicaciones

2

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

2

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

2

Republic of Uganda

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)

3

Lao P.D.R.

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

3

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

5

Trinidad and Tobago

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT)

5

People’s Republic of China

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)

12

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

20

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

25

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

25

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

25

Republic of Poland

Ministry of Digital Affairs

30

Spain

Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad

30

Republic of Korea

Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP)

50

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

100

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

512

Republic of Belarus

Ministry of Communications and Informatization

512

Mongolia

Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority

2048

b) Is the target mentioned in the above cited in national plan

2.3 What is the target service coverage ratio (population coverage ratio and/or area coverage ratio)? Population coverage ratio (%)

Number of Answers to this question: 24 (53.33%)

Country

Title

Answer

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

80

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

80

Costa Rica

Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones

80

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

80

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Ministry of Information Technology

90

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

90

Trinidad and Tobago

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT)

90

Mongolia

Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority

90

Federative Republic of Brazil

Ministério das Comunicações

91

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes

92

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications

95

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

97

State of Palestine

Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel Group)

98

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

99

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

99

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Viet Nam Telecommunications Authority (VNTA)

99

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

99

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

100

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

100

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

100

Poland

Ministry of Digital Affairs

100

Lao P.D.R.

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

100

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

100

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología (MPEUCT)

100

Mean : 93.71

Total: 2,249.00

Area coverage ratio (%)

Number of Answers to this question: 15 (33.33%)

Country

Title

Answer

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología (MPEUCT)

0

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

48.5

Uganda

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)

50

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

75

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Ministry of Information Technology

80

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

80

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

80

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

80

State of Palestine

Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel Group)

90

Lao P.D.R.

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

95

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et Communication

95

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications

95

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Viet Nam Telecommunications Authority (VNTA)

99

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

99

Republic of Poland

Ministry of Digital Affairs

100

Mean : 77.77

Total: 1’166.50

3. National strategies for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

3.1.a Strategies adopted to achieve the targets for rural and remote areas

Number of Answers to this question: 39 (86.67%)

c) Please specify the source of the USF:

Number of Answers to this question: 29 (64.44%)

If other source, please specify:

Number of Answers to this question: 13 (28.89%)

d) Who is in charge of management of USF?

Number of Answers to this question: 31 (68.89%)

Country

Title

Authority

Lao P.D.R.

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

None.

Costa Rica

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE)

Unofficial translation: The Regulator SUTEL.

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

Unofficial translation: Advisory Board on Service and Universal Access (Junta Asesora de Servicio y Acceso Universal).

Republic of Uganda

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)

National communications Regulator.

State of Palestine

Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel Group)

N/A

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA) the telecom regulator of Nepal.

Turkey

Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA)

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications.

Spain

Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información y la Agenda Digital

CNMC.

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones Transportes

Unofficial translation: The Ministry of Communications and Transport (Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes). Resources from the Budget of Expenditures of the Federation.

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

NTC.

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

Communications Authority of Kenya.

Trinidad and

Tobago

Telecommunications Authority of

Trinidad and Tobago (TATT)

The Regulator – Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago.

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka.

Republic of Cameroon

Ministère des Postes et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: The Minister of Posts and Telecommunications (Ministre des Postes et Télécommunications).

Republic of Paraguay

Comision Nacional De Telecomunicaciones – CONATEL

Unofficial translation: The Chairman of the Board of Directors of CONATEL.

Republic of Belarus

Ministry of Communications and Informatization

Unofficial translation: Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus.

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste Rep. of the Congo

Unofficial translation: An independent Body under the administrative supervision of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and New Information and Communication Technologies (Administrative du Ministère de PT & NTIC) and the technical supervision of the Regulation Authority.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: Telecommunication Investment Fund (FITEL).

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

The Regulator is proposed to manage.

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

Revenue collection for the TIL is administered by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Fund management and overall responsibility, including payments made is the responsibility of the Department of Communications and the Arts.

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Viet Nam Telecommunications Authority (VNTA)

Ministry of Information and Communication.

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) which functions under ICT Ministry of Afghanistan.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et Communication

Unofficial translation: Central African Republic’s Government.

Costa Rica

Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología Telecomunicaciones

Unofficial translation: The Superintendence of Telecommunications (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones) administers the resources and elaborates the projects, under the public policy issued by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications, Vice Ministry of Telecommunications.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA).

Confederation of Switzerland

Office fédéral de la communication (OFCOM)

Office Fédéral de la Communication (OFCOM).

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología (MPPEUCT)

Unofficial translation: The National Commission of Telecommunications (Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (CONATEL), in compliance with Article 56 of the Organic Law of Telecommunications (Ley Orgánica de Telecomunicaciones (LOTEL)).

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology

Organization of Iran

According to the guidelines, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission is responsible with the

ultimate authority to make decisions about vision, policy, quantitative and qualitative objectives, the adoption of action plans to achieve the goals and approve all regulations, instructions, rules and technical measures underway to create (implementation, execution, monitoring, reviewing, maintaining and utilization) public service projects compulsory ICT (USO).

Mongolia

Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority

USOF, ITPTA.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

Unofficial translation: Communications and Information Technology Commission.

e) Please specify regarding License conditions: Is there a time frame? Are there specific areas mentioned? Are specific services to be covered by the USF?

Number of Answers to this question: 20 (44.44%)

Country

Title

Comments

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

Yes there is a time frame. Island wide coverage in five years.

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

Yes, some licenses are given to provide telecom services in the rural and remote areas in terms of time based roll out plan. Specific areas are mentioned and specific minimum services such as voice telephony fixed are mentioned. However NTA has disbursed RTDF only once to provide VSAT based telephony services in rural and remote areas. Few Community centres were also funded by this fund.

Spain

Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información y la Agenda Digital

Unofficial translation: Requirements for 30 Mbps coverage linked to spectrum bids were made in 2011, in the 800 MHz band, with coverage objectives without mentioning specific areas, and outside the Universal Service.

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones

Transportes

Unofficial translation: The Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law (Ley Federal de Telecomunicaciones y Radiodifusión) established a single concession for social use, which confers the right to provide telecommunication and broadcasting services for cultural, scientific, educational or community purposes, not for profit. The community and indigenous concessions are within this category.

The concessions for indigenous social use may be granted to the indigenous peoples and communities of the country in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Institute and shall have as their purpose the promotion, development and preservation of their languages, their culture, their knowledge, promoting their traditions, Internal norms and principles that respect gender equality, allow the integration of indigenous women in the participation of the objectives for which the concession is requested and other elements that constitute indigenous cultures and identities.

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of

Kenya (CA)

Areas are selected based on CIT access gaps study to be covered during the license period.

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

N/A

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

2% of authorization fee charged by ICT Regulatory Body for all types of electronic communications services. Following services are covered by USF: fixed telephone services, pay phone services, telephone directory services, emergency call services, internet services, marine communications and safety navigation services.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: Deployment deadlines are set, specific zones are identified and specific services are covered in the ad hoc specification accompanying the License.

Cuba

Ministerio de Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: Under the condition of development goals established in the licensing, service objectives are introduced corresponding to rural and distant areas.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes Comunicaciones

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

Obligations are based on time lines; areas and services.

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

N/A

Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

Viet Nam Telecommunications Authority (VNTA)

– Licenses for provision of commercial telecommunications services include:

• License for establishment of telecommunications networks which is valid for 15 years or less and granted to service providers with network infrastructure.

• License for provision of telecommunications services which is valid for 10 years or less and granted to service providers without network infrastructure.

– Licenses for telecommunications operations include:

• License for installation of undersea telecommunications cable lines which is valid for 25 years or less and granted to organizations that install undersea telecommunications cable lines ashore or across the internal waters, territorial seas, continental shelf or exclusive economic zones of Vietnam.

• License for establishment of exclusive‐use telecommunications networks which is valid for 10 years and granted to organizations that establish exclusive‐use telecommunications networks.

• License for testing of telecommunications networks and services which is valid for 1 year and granted organizations that test telecommunications networks and services.

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

USF under name of Telecommunications Development Fund (TDF) is dedicated to expand Telecommunications/ICTs services in those unconnected areas of rural and remote terrain.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

Unofficial translation: The establishment of 05 Multipurpose Community Telecentres to be installed in five cities in the provinces and financed by the World Bank as part of the Fiber Optic Backbones Project (CAB Project).

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

USF under name of Telecommunications. Development Fund (TDF) subsidize projects to extend Telecommunications/ICT's services in rural and remote areas.

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

Yes, there is time frame No area mentioned. Specific Service: Voice and Data

Mongolia

Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authorit

Mongolian mobile operator G‐Mobile was created on that purpose. They use 450MHz Mobile services for nomadic herders.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

Regarding the stipulated time for the service provision to rural areas set out in terms of radio frequency use authorization was granted a timeline for network installation from 2014 to 2015, with capacity increase from 2017. Installation of requests service in areas served by the Provider network must be met no later than fifteen (15) business days of receiving the request, pursuant to art. No 574/2011 23 of the resolution approving the management regulations of the quality of the Multimedia Communication Service.

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

Coverage requirements are set in frequency auctions. In the 2012 800 MHz auction a coverage requirement of 10 Mbps download was set for 207 postal codes.

f) If you selected Subsidy, please specify the amount of subsidy: Is it a percentage of the total cost? One time subsidy for capital investment? Operational cost subsidy? Or both?

Number of Answers to this question: 15 (33.33%)

Country

Title

Comments

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications (NTA)

The subsidy is % of the total cost and one time subsidy for capital investment. Operational cost in the community centres have also been provided for few years but not continuously

Spain

Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información y la Agenda Digital

Unofficial translation: In 2015m, subsidies have been on investment, with a maximum of between 35 and 45% of the same, and with a budget of 63 Million €. (Further information can be found at:
www.minetur.gob.es/telecomunicaciones/banda‐ancha.

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

One time subsidy which is a percentage of the total cost

Republic of Paraguay

Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones – CONATEL

Unofficial translation: Subsidies range from 50% to 60% of the total cost of the project.

Poland

Ministry of Digital Affairs

Within Operational Programme Digital Poland (one of many financial instruments established to fulfil the targets of NBP), above 1 billion € is dedicated to increasing the total coverage of high‐speed broadband infrastructure to eventually reach 100 % of households. Although areas where subsidies can be granted are not limited to rural/or remote, current rules are that public funds may be allocated only on areas where commercial investments are economically inefficient (of which most are rural and remote).

The amount of one‐time capital investment subsidy is specified for each designated area, as a percentage of the total eligible cost of a model investment project covering the area. The value of subsidy can reach 80% of total eligible costs of a project located in mazovian voivodeship, and 85% in remaining voivodeships.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: There are both, but the amount of the subsidy is set freely by the Government.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: The scheme of subsidies includes financing of investment and operating costs maintenance.

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

N/A

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

One time subsidy for capital investment.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

Unofficial translation: Tax relief on rural telephony equipment at the entrance of the Central African Republic.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

On time subsidy for capital investment.

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

One time subsidy for capital investment has been considered. Also discount as operational cost subsidy in rural area has been considered.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

Unofficial translation: One‐time subsidy.

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

Subsidy was used in 2014 for roll‐out on a specific island and a new subsidy is being developed at the moment. Both are subsidies the roll‐out in areas without high speed coverage.

g) If you selected Tax exemptions, please specify the type(s) of tax exemptions given for rural and remote areas.

Number of Answers to this question: 10 (22.22%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

Spectrum fees exemptions were given to telcos till the year when two lines telephones were not available in each of the village development committees.

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

N/A

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

Telecommunication Development Charge Fund (TDCF) tax rebate.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des

Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: The FSUT is exempt from all taxes, levies and charges.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

N/A

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications et des Nouvelles Technologies

Unofficial translation: Charged 3.5% of the Turnover of Telephony Operators in the CAR.

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization

No.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

There is a special regime of taxation plan for construction of telecommunications but not special networks to rural areas.

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

A tax rebate is available in 2016 and 2017 for establishing household broadband connections.

h) If you selected Other strategies, please specify:

Number of Answers to this question: 8 (17.78%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

Subsidized license with cellular spectrum given to such telcos.

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones Transportes

Unofficial translation: La Red Compartida – “The Shared Network”. This project aims to offer wholesale telecommunications services and increase the coverage of these services. The tender will be published in January 2016, and includes a minimum coverage of 85%. It is expected that as a result of the competitive process, the coverage offered by the participants will substantially increase. A model was developed which estimates that coverage superior to the 92% of the population is a possible result, in 4G technology.

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

N/A

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri use Lanka

Joint investments with GSMA–mAgri challenge fund to explore services for rural agriculture.

Republic of Poland

Ministry of Digital Affairs

Other strategies include, yet to be introduced, significant reduction of local tax which is charged by local governments for placing broadband infrastructure in public lanes.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes Comunicaciones

‐

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

See response at 3.1.c. Funding for the USO is achieved by both government and industry‐based financing.

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization

‐

4. Technologies for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

4.1 a) What backhaul/backbone technologies are used for connecting rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

Number of Answers to this question: 40 (88.89%)

b) If you selected Wireless, please specify the type of technology:

Number of Answers to this question: 15 (33.33%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Uganda

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)

GSM

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

Wi-Fi, WiMax

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes

Wi-Fi

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

(Microwave)

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

WiMax, GSM, UMTS, Wi‐Fi

Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka)

GSM, WCDMA, CDMA

Republic of Korea

Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP)

Wireless backhaul

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

Mobile, Fixed Wireless Access

Republic of Poland

Ministry of Digital Affairs

3G, LTE, WiMAX

Cuba

Ministerio de Comunicaciones

WI‐FI. 2G

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

Wi‐Fi, WiMax, 2G, 3G

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et Communication

Faisceaux Hertziens, VSAT+ Faisceaux Hertziens.

Confederation of Switzerland

Office fédéral de la communication (OFCOM)

WiMax, UMTS, GSM, LTE

Japan

Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications

Fixed wireless access

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

LTE/GSM

c) If you selected Other technologies, please specify type of other technologies:

Number of Answers to this question: 3 (6.67%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

N/A

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

Trial Authorisation for TV White Space Device.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

Unofficial translation: Optical fibers in the framework of the World Bank Project Cab or the Optical Fiber Optical deployment project of the National Operator SOCATEL with China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation (CITCC).

4.2 What access technologies are used for connecting rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

Number of Answers to this question: 40 (88.89%)

Please specify type of technology:

Number of Answers to this question: 26(57.78%)

Country

Entity

Comments

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

2G, 3G, LTE.

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

Wi‐Fi, 2G, 3G.

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

VSAT is used when there is no other option is available. mostly Wi-Fi and mobile technologies are used for access.

Spain

Secretaría de Estado de T Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información y la Agenda Digital

LMDS, HSPDA, LTE.

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes

Unofficial translation: Wi-Fi. Through the program México Conectado (Connected Mexico) connectivity to all public sites in the country (estimated to 250 thousand) will provided. Currently, connectivity is contracted in more than 101 thousand sites and public spaces. In the contracts of Mexico Connected does not specify the technology that the operators must use, reason why is not known the scheme used in each site. For remote rural sites, where there is no coverage of terrestrial operators, satellite technology is used.

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation 2G (NTC)

Trinidad and Tobago

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad LTE and Tobago (TATT)

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

GSM (2G), EDGE, WCDMA (3G), HSPA, HSPA+, DC‐HSPA+, LTE, Wi‐Fi, Wi‐Max.

Republic of Cameroon

Ministère des Postes et des Télécommunications

2G, 3G.

Republic of Paraguay

Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones ‐ CONATEL

WIMAX, 2G, 3G, LTE.

Republic of Korea

Ministry of Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP)

Wireless technologies including wireless backhaul equipments (Wi-Fi) and microwave etc.

Republic of Belarus

Ministry of Communications and Informatization

Wi‐Fi, WiMax, 2G, 3G.

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs Communications

2G, 3G, LTE, WiMAX.

Poland

Ministry of Digital Affairs

Wi‐Fi, WiMax, 2G, 3G, LTE.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications

2G

Cuba

Ministerio de Comunicaciones

WI‐FI. 2G.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones

Wi‐Fi, 2G.

People’s Republic of China

Ministry of Industry and Information MIIT)

Unofficial translation: Wireless technologies including Wi-Fi, 2G, 3G, and LTE.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Ministério das Comunicações

Wi‐Fi and 3G.

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

Wi‐Fi, 2G, 3G, LTE.

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

2G and 3G wherever possible. Those areas of rough where Microwave installation/set up is impossible, are getting connected through Satellite/V‐SAT which work in Ku‐band.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

Wi‐Fi, WiMax, 2G, 3G et LTE.

Costa Rica

Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones

2G, 3G.

Confederation of Switzerland

Office fédéral de la communication

WiMax, UMTS, GSM, LTE.

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología (MPPEUCT)

Wi‐Fi, 2G, 3G.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Commission (CITC)

2G, 3G.

4.3 What kinds of user terminals are used by residents in rural and remote areas of your country?

Number of Answers to this question: 31 (68.89%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Costa Rica

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE)

Unofficial translation: Phones, CPE of the xDSL type, smart cell terminals.

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

Modem/ routers, analogue telephones, mobile handsets.

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

Unofficial translation: Public Telephone devices, cellular telephones, Attentions through Infoplazas.

Republic of Uganda

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)

Mainly mobile phones. Computers are used in public facilities like cafes and in institutions.

State of Palestine

Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel Group)

POTS telephone sets and DSL routers.

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

Mobile set, laptop.

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

Mobile.

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

Broadband Modems, Tablets, PC’s, Laptop & Mobile Phones etc.

Trinidad and

Tobago

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and

Tobago (TATT)

The projects have not yet been implemented therefore data is not available.

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

Mobile Phones (Feature/smart), USB Dongles, Wi‐Fi Devices

Republic of Cameroon

Ministère des Postes et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: Fixed terminals in telecentres and mobile terminals in telecentres and for individual subscribers.

Republic of Paraguay

Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones - CONATEL

Unofficial translation: Standard terminals, non-smart (feature phone) and smart terminals (smartphones).

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

Fixed telephone, fixed modem, mobile phone, cablemodem, VSAT terminal (used at schools in rural area) etc.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: Mobile phone.

Cuba

Ministerio de Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: Fixed telephone, fixed wireless telephone and mobile phone.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: As for mobile telephony, the most used terminals are those that support 2G technology.

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

Computers; smartphones; laptops.

People’s Republic of China

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)

Unofficial translation: Feature phones, smart phones, personal computers, Tablet.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Ministério das Comunicações

Mobile phones, computers and tablets.

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

A range of commercially available devices are used depending on the access technology.

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

Mobile handset wherever 2G and 3G services are provided.

VCN Terminals wherever 2G and 3G services are not provided.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications,

chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

Unofficial translation: The usual telephone terminals, digital tablets and computers.

Costa Rica

Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones)

Unofficial translation: Traditional landlines (not IP) and mobile phones, including smartphones.

Confederation of Switzerland

Office fédéral de la communication (OFCOM)

Unofficial translation: Fixed and mobile terminals sold on the market.

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología

Unofficial translation: Wired fixed telephoy: POTS; Mobile Telephony: 2G and 3G; wired data: módems ADSL/ADSL2+; Wireless Data (WiFi): CPEs; Smartphones, PDAs, Laptops; Wireless Data (2G/3G): CPEs, Smartphones, PDAs, Laptops; Satelital Data and Telephony: VSAT DVBS2/DVBRCS TV Satelital DTH: Set Top Box DVBS2/MPEG4; Open Digital Television: Set Top Box ISDBTb and TVs with integrated decoder ISDBTb.

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

Laptop, Modem, Wi-Fi.

Mongolia

Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority

Mobile phone handsets, tablets, laptop, PC etc.

Fedearative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

We have no information about the terminal users.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

Unofficial translation: Mobile telephones and internet access devices (using a 3G network), similar to those used in urban areas.

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

Same terminals as in the rest of the country.

5. Business models for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

5.1 What kind of business model is being employed for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

Number of Answers to this question: 38 (84.44%)

If you selected Other models, please specify:

Number of Answers to this question: 10 (22.22%)

6. Applications for telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas

6.1. Do you have a national policy for ICT in education for rural and remote areas?

Number of Answers to this question: 33 (73.33%)

If yes, please specify the elements taken into account in the policy:

Number of Answers to this question: 22 (48.89%)

6.2. Do you have national policies for other eapplications in rural and remote areas?

Number of Answers to this question: 32 (71.11%)

If Yes, please specify:

Number of Answers to this question: 15 (33.33%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Lao P.D.R.

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

eLearning.

Costa Rica

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE)

Unofficial translation: Serve to social health.

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

The National ICT Policy approved in 2015 has provisions of using ICTs for agriculture, health, education, tourism etc.

Spain

Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información y la Agenda Digital

www.red.es

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

This is a part of National Broadband Policy.

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

National EGovernment Strategy and Action Plan.

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

National ICT Master Plan.

People’s Republic of China

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)

Unofficial translation: in 2015 the State Council issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting Rural to accelerate the development of eCommerce”, focusing on the development of rural eCommerce.

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

It will be furnished as soon as possible.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

Unofficial translation: Creation of community telecentres and rural digital animations.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

It will be provided in near future.

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología

Unofficial translation: Ensure the promotion of training and transfer of knowledge that allows the development of electronic equipment and computer applications in open technologies and open standards. (Objective 1.5.3.1 of the National Plan for Economic and Social Development (PDESN) 2013-2019). Ensure the democratization and ownership of citizens’ knowledge in electronic equipment and computer applications in free technologies through educational programs in universities, technical, media and occupational centers. (Objective 1.5.3.2 of the National Plan for Economic and Social Development (PDESN) 2013-2019).

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

A strategic plan has been considered for the development of communications in rural areas; in which there is a pilot for electronic applications that should be continued to exploit in national level.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

Unofficial translation: Yes, the creation of platforms to provide eGovernment services in villages and remote regions.

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

http://www.digst.dk/digitaliseringsstrategi.

7. Other policies for telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas

7.1. Do you have any specific policy for infrastructure sharing, especially for the rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

Number of Answers to this question: 28 (62.22%)

If you selected other, please specify:

Number of Answers to this question: 11 (24.44%)

7.3. Do you have any specific regulatory framework for infrastructure sharing, especially for the rural and remote areas? (Multiple choices are possible)

Number of Answers to this question: 26 (57.78%)

If Other, please specify :

Number of Answers to this question: 11 (24.44%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

Unofficial translation: Observation: Our existing Legal Framework (AN No. 2848 Telco) establishes infrastructure-sharing policies at the national level, including rural and remote areas. Therefore it is mandatory to make any type of sharing, as long as there is availability of it.]

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA

No specific regulatory framework for rural and remote areas.

Turkey

Information and Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA)

Our regulatory framework includes all the areas (rural,remote).

Facility Sharing Procedures and Principles, April 12, 2013, Türk Telekom Reference Facility Sharing and Dark Fibre Offer June 17, 2014 http://www.btk.gov.tr/trTR/Sayfalar/TesisPaylasimiDuzenlemesi

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

Infrastructure or Networks of The Infrastructure in/on Premises.
Bylaw on the Passing Any Kinds of Cables and Similar Material Used in Fixed and Mobile Telecommunication.

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulations Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

Available in draft.

People’s Republic of China

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)

Unofficial translation: The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released the annual “to promote the implementation of the views of telecommunications infrastructure sharing” and to strengthen the sharing of resources, reduce duplication, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of the telecommunications industry.

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

Arrangements enable carriers to apply to the regulator (the ACCC) to acquire access to facilities and services generally, subject to specified criteria.

Confederation of Switzerland

Office fédéral de la communication (OFCOM)

Unofficial translation: Use of cable ducts. It should be noted that the use of facilities is a measure which concerns the entire territory and not only rural or isolated areas. Moreover, this use is only possible in special circumstances (requirements linked to spatial planning, protection of the environment and heritage, etc.) and provided that the capacity is sufficient.

Mongolia

Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority

We have a regulation document on infrastructure sharing. Also we planned to use RAN sharing on rural areas LTE network.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

The legal instrument that must network capacity sharing is the Notice No. 004/2012 / PVCP / SPVANATEL.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

Unofficial translation: Copper cables.

7.4. a Has your government and/or regulator put in place any other specific policy or regulatory intervention for the development of telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas?

Number of Answers to this question: 31 (68.89%)

If yes, please provide examples of such interventions:

Number of Answers to this question: 23 (51.11%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Lao P.D.R.

Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT)

3 building strategic plans, building province to be strategic unit, building district to be strength unit, and building village to be developing unit.

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

ADSL deployment program from 2003 Completing deployment program for Hot Telecom from 2014.

Republic of Uganda

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)

National Backbone Infrastructure.

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

Introduction of rural areas specific licenses on least cost subsidy basis.

Introduction of specific license starting roll out from rural and remote areas.

Provisioning of cellular spectrum.

Spectrum fees exemptions for a specified number of years.

Spain

Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información y la Agenda Digital

Unofficial translation: Plan of Telecommunications (Plan de Telecomunicaciones y Redes Ultrarápidas) and Ultra-fast Networks and Digital Inclusion and Employability Plan (Plan de inclusión Digital y Empleabilidad).

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes

Unofficial translation: Shared Network. Connected Mexico (Mexico Conectado) provides connectivity to approximately 30,000 sites and public spaces in remote areas through satellite technology. In many of these sites, there is free public connectivity through Wi-Fi. In addition, the Shared Network is being developed, which will increase the coverage of mobile services in Mexico, mainly in rural areas.

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

Proposal for spectrum fee waiver for operators willing to provide service in selected rural areas.

Republic of Cameroon

Ministère des Postes et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: Implementation of passive infrastructures to facilitate the deployment of active equipment of operators in certain isolated areas.

Republic of Paraguay

Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones – CONATEL

Unofficial translation: The Regulator has set reduced tariffs for certain rural projects.

Republic of Belarus

Ministry of Communications and Informatization (f Belarus)

Unofficial translation: State Programme for sustainable development of rural areas 20112015.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: Grant licenses for rural telephony.

Cuba

Ministerio de Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: Development goals: Mandatory dial-up access in all communities with more than 200 inhabitants.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: Policy oriented to the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure and services in rural areas through the formulation.

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

Rural ICT related Projects (telecentres; payphones; internet point of presence; white space project).

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

The Universal Service Obligation (USO) requires universal service providers to ensure standard telephone services are reasonably available to all people in Australia on an equitable basis. USO costs are borne partly by the Government and partly by industry under the Telecommunications Industry Levy (TIL).

The National Broadband Network (NBN) will provide better broadband services to rural and remote Australia. In the cities and large towns the NBN will be delivered over a fixed network; in smaller towns and villages, and areas surrounding them, homes will be served by fixed wireless; and beyond those areas, extending all across regional and remote Australia, the NBN will be delivered over satellite.

The Mobile Black Spot Programme invests in telecommunications infrastructure to address mobile black spots in regional and remote Australia. Under round 1 of the programme, 499 new or upgraded mobile base stations will be deployed across the country. The Australian Government committed $100 million to round 1, with additional funding leveraged from mobile service providers and other levels of government.

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

VCN Project (A government owned project) already implemented has been distributing VCN terminals for rural and remote residents what currently offer voice services. The project has been successfully implemented/supported by the government.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

Unofficial translation: Creation of the Telecentres in the city of Kaga Bandoro by a decree.

In addition, implementation of the “Multi-purpose Community Telecentres” project in 5 towns of provinces within the framework of the World Bank’s CAB Project.

Costa Rica

Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones

Unofficial translation: The Regulations on the Shared Use of Infrastructure for Internal Telecommunications Networks and Support of Public Telecommunications Networks are in the process of being prepared by the Regulator. On the other hand, the National Institute of Rural Development (Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Rural -INDER) is developing a regulation to grant it on the boarder.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

ATRA TDF Fund subsidize projects and sites in rural and remote areas.

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología

Unofficial translation: Regulation of the Organic Law of Telecommunications on Universal Service (Ley Orgánica de Telecomunicaciones sobre el Servicio Universal); Partial Regulation of the Organic Law of Telecommunications for the Granting of Financing to Research and Development of Telecommunications (Reglamento Parcial de la Ley Orgánica de Telecomunicaciones para el Otorgamiento de Financiamiento a la Investigación y Desarrollo de las Telecomunicaciones); Law National Economic Development Plan of the Nation 2013-2019 (Ley Plan de Desarrollo EconómicoSocial de La Nación 20132019).

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

According to the agreements with USO contractors, monitoring and test should be done to provide standard services.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

Through Notice bidding of 450 MHz of radio frequency subband, ANATEL forced the winning providers of the event for the years 2014 and 2015 to connect all public schools located in rural areas, up to 30 km radius of the seats municipal, with internet service, free of charge, in accordance with item 5 of Annex IIB of the notice.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

Unofficial translation: Yes, the Universal Service Fund.

7.4.b How successful has the other specific policy or regulatory intervention referred to in question above made by your government been in fostering the development of telecommunications or ICTs in rural and remote areas?

Number of Answers to this question: 24 (53.33%)

7.5 What are the problems or challenges encountered in the deployment of telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas?

Number of Answers to this question: 37 (82.22%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Lao P.D.R.

Telecommunications (MPT)

Expanse infrastructure will mainly base on the focus zone on developing potentially growth.

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Ministry of Information Technology

Access to rural areas and high deployment cost.

Costa Rica

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE)

Unofficial translation: The copper cable is stolen in some areas.

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

High cost for service providers and reluctance on their part, very low ROT.

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

Unofficial translation: Lack of electricity infrastructures, little development of road systems and aqueducts. On the other hand, the geographical composition of mountain ranges and little accessibility for the population growth.

Republic of Uganda

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)

Cost and reach of power, infrastructure security.

State of Palestine

Palestine Telecommunication Company (Paltel Group)

From the point view of JAWWAL, the main obstacles can be summarized in the following points:

‒ Difficulty in deploying JAWWAL infrastructure in C Areas.

‒ Logistic problems facing us when importing our Equipment’s with Israeli customs.

‒ Interference on available spectrum by Israeli operators.

‒ Lack of spectrum to deploy mobile broadband services.

‒ Unavailability of 3 / 4 G licenses.

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

‒ Power accessibility by roads and other transportation mechanisms.

‒ Maintenance.

‒ Affordability.

‒ Capital cost too high to make any business sense.

‒ Too low number of users to make money as the households are scattered.

‒ Low literacy.

Spain

Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información y la Agenda Digital

Unofficial translation: Lack of commercial interest of the operators due to the high costs.

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes

Unofficial translation: The lack of infrastructure in remote areas, derived from low levels of investment by operators, has limited the supply of telecommunications services. Citizens’ low levels of income in rural and remote areas prevents the economic attractiveness for the provision of services by the market.

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

All problems related to Security Situation in those regions.

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) (Republic of Kenya)

Harsh, terrain, sparse population, lack of power and insecurity in some areas.

Trinidad and Tobago

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT)

The projects have not yet been implemented. Therefore, data is not available.

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

Spectrum limitation, Low return on investment for operators, Cost of customer service provision, Requirement for local language communication and services, lack of awareness, low usage of smart devices, Under developed Infrastructure (access roads, commercial power).

Republic of Cameroon

Ministère des Postes et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: Unavailability of a reliable source of energy and the high cost of infrastructure.

Republic of Paraguay

Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones – CONATEL

Unofficial translation: Operators have stated the high operating costs and the low profitability in short/medium-term.

Republic of Korea

Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP)

Conflict of interests between demanding on national universal services in wired/wireless communication networks over all the regions and commercial services by operators.

Republic of Belarus

Ministry of Communications and Informatization

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime

Affairs and Communications

Sharing problems between the operators.

Financing Problems.

Republic of Poland

Ministry of Digital Affairs

Due to low/or very low level of population density over rural and remote areas, it is challenging to make the basic economical requirements of supply to meet the demand. It concerns more the supply than the demand, as the supply depends on acceptable rate of investment return, which in turn, depends on operational costs, the total number of expected subscribers and the average service charge. Thus, it is essential to provide an investment-friendly legal environment and to boost the demand through various promotional and educational activities.

Democratic Republic of

the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la

Poste et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: Accessibility and transport.

Access to the electricity and high exploitation costs.

Cuba

Ministerio de Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: Economic difficulties.

Peru

Ministerio de Transportes y Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: Budgetary restrictions.

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

Electricity; poor road network and illiteracy.

People’s Republic of China

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT)

Unofficial translation: The Chinese relatively weak economic foundation in the rural and remote areas, the complicated geographical environment with population living in scattered areas, telecom operators investing in those areas to construct broadband network experience, high costs. However, the benefits are relatively low, and thus there are different degrees of market failure.

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

The Australian Government established a Regional Telecommunications Independent Review Committee every three years to conduct a review into telecommunications services in regional, rural and remote parts of Australia. The recent Regional Telecommunications Review report, released in October 2015, found that:

For mobile telecommunications, the low population density over the remaining geography means that new approaches are needed to assess the priorities of those in the 70 per cent of Australia’s land mass that has no mobile coverage, and to improve poor coverage elsewhere. These geographies are economically challenging for the extension of existing high speed mobile networks.

The USO, providing a standard telephone service, is of declining relevance because, within the next few years, the majority of consumers, and notably those in regional Australia, will not be using voice calls over the existing copper network, but will be using mobiles, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and other social media applications, as their primary communication method.

Maximising the rollout of the NBN for rural communities, including managing the demand for services provided via satellite, given issues relating to capacity, reliability and latency.

Afghanistan

Ministry of Communications and IT

Security Obstacles.

Rough Geographical terrains.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies et de Communication

Unofficial translation: Costly electrical energy; access and transport to difficult sites; lack of qualified personnel for maintenance of the equipment and very high operating cost.

Costa Rica

Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones

Unofficial translation: Despite the signing of agreements with local governments, there have been obstacles related to the granting of construction licenses by the municipal authorities. In addition, legal loopholes have been found for the granting of environmental permits (environmental sworn declarations), especially cases of properties that are in precarious possession or that are in the process of land titling (possessory information), in coastal areas, border areas or wild areas Protected national parks. There have also been challenges related to the difficulty of accessing communities.

Confederation of Switzerland

Office fédéral de la communication (OFCOM)

Unofficial translation: In Switzerland, investments in telecommunications infrastructure are high and result in genuine competition between infrastructures. Thanks to its prosperity, Switzerland therefore enjoys a very good situation and the coverage rates displayed by several technologies are high. The main problem with network deployment is that the last few percent of users to connect, especially by wire, are those for whom it costs the most. Consequently, it is not feasible at this time to require a minimum data transmission rate which is too high in the context of the universal service. Currently, the authorities plan to increase this throughput to 3,000 kbit/s.

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología (MPPEUCT)

Unofficial translation: There have been problems such as:

‒ Geographical (distances, relief, soil);

‒ Economic (investment financing);

‒ Accessibility (availability of adequate road);

‒ Lack of basic services networks (electricity, water);

‒ Environmental (restrictions in protected areas);

‒ Legal (building permits).

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

The main problems caused by the specific geographical conditions of rural areas, their population distribution and cultural problems of the people in the developing services.

Mongolia

Information Technology, Post and Telecommunications Authority

In our country we encountered multiple issues on rural broadband network. Mongolian IT infrastructure is built on various high speed and nationwide networks. However, its uses lack in certain areas especially remote and small towns. Slow speed of network and lack of applications play in the role along with downside of IT usage. The Mongolian government state owned company, which is dominant on broadband network, is influenced competition on broadband network.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

Brazil has continental dimensions and presents significant regional contrasts with regard to income and the availability of infrastructure. In this sense, the first major challenge is the installation of terrestrial networks in remote and difficult to access, such as the areas in the northern region of the country, due to topography and the existence of large forest areas. Another challenge is the socioeconomic conditions of the share of the population living in rural and remote areas that many times can not hire the services or fails to maintain payment plans. Moreover, with the expiration of the deadline for the fulfilment of the first range of commitments made to the rural area at the end of 2015, it will be possible to follow developments in the provision of services and identify improvements to be made to expand service and improve the provision of conditions. Finally, in parallel, Brazil also works hard to expand its backbone and backhaul networks to improve the delivery of services (quality and expansion) further to the municipal headquarters. When this barrier is completely overcome, especially with the arrival of fibre optic and mobile data in all Brazilian municipal centres, the expansion to rural areas can be accelerated with a view to the expansion of high speed at the headquarters network, starting from the call results performed between 2012 and 2016.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

Unofficial translation: The difficulty of providing up-to-date and accurate information on concentrations of population in rural and remote areas; the geographical nature of rural and remote areas; and the distance between concentrations of population their low density.

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

Lack of commercial business case for rollout.

7.6. What are the guidelines that can be proposed to best deploy telecommunications/ ICTs in rural and remote areas?

Number of Answers to this question: 32 (71.11%)

Country

Entity

Comments

Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Ministry of Information Technology

Lowering deployment costs.

Costa Rica

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE)

Unofficial translation: Bring optical solutions to the villages and also to use LTE in bands low to 1 GHz, to have possibilities of wide broadband in rural and distant areas.

State of Israel

Ministry of Communications

Guidelines regulations published as a part of an advisory committe work.

http://www.moc.gov.il/sip_storage/FILES/0/4310.pdf.

Republic of Panama

Autoridad Nacional de los Servicios Públicos (ASEP)

Unofficial translation: Creation of laws that encourage greater growth and development of infrastructure works. Look for sources of less expensive financing that serve as stimuli, among others.

Republic of Uganda

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)

Shared facilities among operators, low cost technologies and communal access.

State of

Palestine

Palestine

Telecommunication Company (Paltel Group)

From the point view of JAWWAL, the following are needed:

Guarantee more spectrum for mobile services.

Unavailability of 3 / 4 G licenses.

Smoothen Equipment import operation logistics.

Guarantee Mobile towers deployment in Area C.

Republic of Nepal

Nepal Telecommunications Authority (NTA)

The telecommunications and ICTs should be considered as essential services and should be made a part of all other government services. The USF scope has to be expanded to include all areas of digital divide at lease starting from the rural and remote areas the funding should not be limited to capital expenditure but also to include operational costs in bridging the digital divide telecommunications and ICTs should be integrated into Sustainable Development Goals and fully owned by the Government.

Spain

Secretaría de Estado de Telecomunicaciones y para la Sociedad de la Información y la Agenda Digital

Unofficial translation: Competitive public aid.

Mexico

Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes

Unofficial translation: In the case of Mexico, infrastructure sharing is considered a suitable strategy to promote the increase of coverage in remote areas. There are three ways:

1) By means of the regulation imposed by the Federal Institute of Telecommunications to the economic agent.

Forcing it to share its infrastructure.

2) Through the Shared Network, for mobile telecommunications services.

3) Through the Trunk Network project, which will use the existing optical fiber in the Federal

Electricity to provide fixed telecommunications services in a wholesale manner.

Republic of Sudan

National Telecommunications Corporation (NTC)

Financially support the operators for covering those areas (CAPEX or Opex).

Republic of Kenya

Communications Authority of Kenya (CA)

The government to develop the infrastructure for sharing but lease it to private operators to manage.

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka

‒ Incentives to be granted for sharing costs of services roll out.

‒ Operators to be separately allocated different rural areas to develop (to avoid duplicate costs).

‒ Operators be mandated to construct a communication tower in identifies rural areas and cost will be shared by operators.

‒ Revision of broadband prices.

‒ Improve the popularity of smartphones in rural areas, by enabling easy payment schemes for purchases, creating awareness on the benefits of smart phones etc.

‒ Programs to improve ICT literacy in rural areas.

‒ Fast infrastructure developments in rural areas.

Republic of Cameroon

Ministère des Postes et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: Ensure availability and sustainability of electric power train people to support users in the rural world plan for a breakdown device to have a preferential tariff policy.

Republic of Paraguay

Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones – CONATEL

Unofficial translation: Tax incentives should be established and subsidies should be awarded according to the projects.

Republic of Belarus

Ministry of Communications and Informatization

Turkey

Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications

Studies to form the National Broadband Strategy have started.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications

Unofficial translation: ICTs should be considered as a cross-sectoral sector for the development of other sectors, and therefore they need to be integrated into the formulation of national policies and strategies in other sectors (energy, transport, education, agriculture, environment, health, etc.).

Cuba

Ministerio de Comunicaciones

Unofficial translation: Development goals for the operator.

Malawi

Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA)

Deploy specific technologies to rural rather than the universality approach. Deploy low cost technologies. Involve the rural communities in the deployment.

People’s Republic of China

Ministry of Industry andInformation Technology (MIIT)

Unofficial translation: The central government to increase investment, to guide local policy and strengthen financial support to encourage the stateowned telecommunications companies, broadcasters and private capital through competitive bidding and equitable participation in the construction of rural broadband operation and maintenance, while exploring PPP, entrust operators and other marketbased approach to mobilize all class body active participation, to fully achieve the 2020 target rural broadband strategy target.

Federative Republic of Brazil

Ministério das Comunicações

‒ To reduce taxes on broadband equipment, services and infrastructure deployment geared to rural areas in order to mitigate the enduser cost differential in relation to urban areas.

‒ To encourage (not only through tax reductions, but also by direct subsidy and regulatory measures) satellite broadband provision in the Kaband and wireless broadband provision in the 450 MHz band, which are able to offer highspeed downloading and are less expensive than alternative technologies.

Australia

Department of Communications and the Arts

Australia emphasizes the commercial and competitive provision of telecommunications to the greatest extent possible. Where Government intervention is warranted it considers this should be done on a transparent and completely neutral basis. Australian telecommunications legislation provides telecommunications carriers with powers and immunities to enter land (including buildings) for inspection, and to maintain and install certain types of facilities. It also provides certain immunities, including from a range of State and Territory laws (such as laws relating to land use, planning, design, construction, siting, tenancy, environmental assessments and protection). The powers and immunities regime supports the fast and efficient rollout of infrastructure by allowing it to be done nationally, including in rural and remote areas, under a uniform streamlined process, rather than the requirements of multiple jurisdictions. This helps carriers meet consumer demand for services while reducing the administrative burden on carriers and various tiers of government. Australian telecommunications legislation encourages mobile telecommunications providers to colocate of mobile telecommunications facilities, where it is feasible to do so. Guidelines encouraging or requiring the colocation of telecommunications facilities can assist carriers to rollout and upgrade facilities in rural and remote areas at a lower cost than carriers installing their own standalone facilities.

Afghanistan

Ministry of

Communications and IT

‒ Ensuring security in rural and remote areas the same as ensured in urban citizens can help deploy.
Telecommunications/ICTs in rural and remote areas easily.

‒ Expansion of transportation systems in rural and remote areas to ease transportation of vehicles.

‒ Investment encouragements in rural and remote areas is preferred.

Central African Republic

Ministère des Postes et Télécommunications, chargé des Nouvelles Technologies d’Information et de Communication

Unofficial translation: Subsidizing rural ICT operators to expand their reach in rural areas.

Costa Rica

Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Rica

Unofficial translation: The feasibility of making legal modifications to the Construction Law, Condominium Property Regulatory Law, and the Law for the Strengthening and Modernization of Telecommunications Institutions (Public costs of the telecommunications sector) has been analyzed.

Afghanistan

Afghanistan Ministry of Communication and Information Technology

‒ Ensuring security in rural and remote areas the same as ensured in urban citizens can help deploy Telecom/ICT’s services in rural and remote areas.

‒ Provision in transportation facilities for vehicles in rural and remote areas.

‒ Investment encouragement in rural and remote areas.

Confedera-
tion of Switzerland

Office fédéral de la communication (OFCOM)

Unofficial translation: No suggestions.

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Ministerio del Poder Popular para Educación Universitaria, Ciencia y Tecnología

Unofficial translation:

‒ Create programs aimed at developing ICTs in rural areas, such as a development policy whose aim is to ensure that the greatest possible number of citizens in remote areas have access to ICTs and promote inclusive development through affordable access to technologies.

‒ Establish a commission for the follow-up of ICT Development in Venezuela, focused on rural areas.

Islamic Republic of Iran

Information Technology Organization of Iran

Resolution no. 156 in Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (IRAN)

Federative Republic of Brazil

Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações – ANATEL

Public policies for the development of rural areas should be guided from the perspective of expansion of terrestrial networks focusing on quality of services offered, sharing of infrastructure by service providers, public incentives to reduce the values of access by the end user and better procurement conditions of equipment or smartphones

Kingdom of SaudiArabia

Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC)

Unofficial translation: We believe that principles differ with different markets, in terms of the regulatory aspects and the needs and locations of users. However, it may be said that the sharing of infrastructure, site partnership, national roaming and introduction of competition in universal service projects might result in the more complete spread of telecommunications in rural and remote areas.

Denmark

Danish Energy Agency

Promoting demand for digital infrastructure through digitization e.g. of public services. Ensuring use of wide range of technologies. Encouraging local demand aggregation to improve business plan for rollout.

8. Any other comments

Please provide any other comments you may wish to add regarding this survey and ways in which access to telecommunications/ICTs for people living in rural and remote areas can be improved:

Number of Answers to this question: 24 (53.33%).

Annex 2.2: Analysis of questionnaire replies to the global survey – Presentation

Annex 3.1: Measuring the Urban-Rural Digital Divide (URDD)

1 Introduction

The urban-rural digital divide is the main digital divide most commonly referred to (besides the international digital divide). It is now a major issue in many countries and regions around the world, including Europe and the United States. Solving the urban-rural digital divide has been identified as the main way of bringing more people online. It provides an overview of why it arises, and the various measurement methods to date.

There is by now a considerable body of literature describing the urban/rural digital divide. Much of the literature concerned with urban/rural provision has been developed with a view to justifying the introduction of competition, private sector provision of telecoms, local loop unbundling and/or the success (or otherwise) of Universal Service Funds.

2 The Urban-Rural Digital Divide (URDD)

2.1 Defining the Urban-Rural Digital Divide

The digital divide is defined as “inequality in deployment, access to, and use of, ICTs” (Information and Communication Technologies), but there are many different aspects to this term. The urban-rural digital divide is in fact one of the main ‘digital divides’ most commonly referred to, which may also include divides in access to ICTs by:

– By level – regional or national digital divides, versus the international digital divide.

– By community or grouping – socio-economic group, language community, poor versus rich, etc.

– The gender digital divide: male versus female in ex ante access to ICTs (% of total men/women online) or ex post Internet access (among those who have made it online).

– By geography/space – urban versus rural; by district or country; mountainous regions versus plains. This also includes finer levels of spatial analysis (e.g. local loop length, distance from an exchange, or the tendency for investment to upgrade existing connections, rather than connect entirely ‘new’ areas). Addressing the urban/rural digital divide is often a major objective of the Universal Service Fund, where this exists.

– Over time – the evolution of the digital divide over time.

The richest body of research to date for the Internet derives from the US, due to its longstanding concern with universal service of telecommunications and early mover advantages in the Internet; however, a growing body of data and work is now available for OECD countries and a range of developing countries.

The task of defining rural/urban settlements has always been challenging[137], due to national differences in the characteristics that distinguish urban from rural areas. UN Habitat and the international community tried to standardize definitions of urban/rural areas in 2003; however, these attempts proved rather difficult, as there is no international standard definition of what constitutes a rural area or village.[138] In the event, National Statistical Offices (NSOs) usually define the administrative areas or district for use in national Census surveys, which may usually follow the hierarchy village –> town –> city (and agglomeration) –> Municipality or province (or close equivalent). International statistics are then based on the NSO definitions.[139]

Definitions of urban/rural areas differ, according to:

– Population density: The European Investment Bank defines urban as >500 inhabitants/km2; semi-urban as 500 <-> 100 inhabitants/km2 and rural as <100 inhabitants/km2. In the E.U., ‘rural’ is not defined by the size of localities, but by population density.[140] Eurostat uses the categories ‘urban’, ‘intermediate’ and ‘rural’.[141]

– Population concentration: Once areas have been classified as low, medium or high population density, the distribution and concentration of population between these areas is another variable that comes in on top. For Europe, for example, only 2.1 per cent of Belgium’s population lives in rural areas outside the main conurbation, whereas the proportion of rural population for Ireland was considerably higher at 37% in 2014.

– Absolute town size: The U.S. Census distinguishes between ‘metropolitan’, ‘non-metropolitan urban’ or ‘non-metropolitan rural’ areas. Wood (2007) identifies “metropolitan” areas in Pennsylvania as the state’s largest cities (minimum population of 50,000) and their suburbs..[142] ‘Non-metropolitan urban areas’ are urban areas with populations ranging from 5-15,000, often serving as places of employment for people in outlying rural areas. ‘Non-metropolitan rural areas’ comprise small towns (with populations of <1,000) or low population density areas outside major towns or areas without a central location.

– Administrative districts: Countries may be divided into administrative districts or municipalities, which may then be classified more or less scientifically as urban or rural, depending on population density, broad characteristics or other criteria.

The UN Statistics Division (UNSD) collects country-by-country population data from National Statistical Offices (NSOs) since 1948, through its Demographic Yearbook system. UNSD publishes an annual Demographic Yearbook, providing the latest available statistics on population size and composition. UNSD also provides data on the population of capital cities and cities of 100 000 and more inhabitants each year. In this database, the population data are given for the city proper and for the urban agglomeration, including the suburban fringe adjacent to the city boundaries.

The UN Population Division uses UNSD data as the basis for preparing demographic estimates, standardized time series starting from 1950, with projections to 2100 for total population, urban population and rural population for all countries and areas of the world. The results are published annually in World Population Prospects, which serves as the standard and consistent set of population figures for use throughout the United Nations system (available online, 2015 edition is the latest edition). The UN Population Division also publishes a biennial report, World Urbanization Prospects, which presents summary tables by country and region and also reports the sources of data and the definition of urban and rural when available, for each country (2014 is the latest available edition).

The US Census Bureau also maintains an international database IPC as a computerized source of demographic and socio-economic statistics for nearly 230 countries and areas of the world. The IDB combines data from country sources (especially censuses and surveys) with IPC's estimates and projections to provide information dating back as far as 1950 and as far ahead as 2050. Because the IDB is maintained at IPC as a research tool in response to the requirements of its sponsors, the amount of information available for each country may vary.

There are few hard and fast conclusions, in part due to the changing focus of research with the Internet adoption curve over time (Figure 1A). Early studies (broadly until around 2010) focus more generally on broadband access, while more recent studies tend to focus on the impact of broadband speeds.

Figure 1A: Shifting focus on different aspects of the digital divide with the internet adoption curve

Source: ITU. Stage 1: Presence/absence of coverage. Stage 2: 3G versus 4G and investment upgrades to existing connectivity - http://www.infrastructure-complexity.com/content/2/1/6 Stage 3: For example, a provider may offer only a relatively slow speed or may provide only residential but not business-class broadband packages, while some providers may also set thresholds or limits on monthly data transfer amounts.

The rural/urban digital divide is manifest in various different aspects, which are explained in Table 1A. Urban areas may benefit from greater availability of Internet, but also better Quality of Service (QoS) or Quality of Experience (QoE), more effective demand, higher incomes, lower costs of Internet access, better training and support, more ‘knowledge-intensive’ professions and greater consumer choice.

Table 1A: Different aspects to the Urban/Rural Digital Divide

Urban Areas

Rural Areas

Internet penetration

Higher penetration rates by households and individuals

Generally lower penetration by households and individuals

Purchasing power & cost of Internet access re income

Incomes tend to be higher

Incomes tend to be lower, so ICT costs are relatively higher for low-income groups.

Quality of experience

Urban households may be closer to the exchange and benefit from higher bandwidth & better QoE.

Lower bandwidth available, as well as less reliable service & lower QoE.

Effective Demand

Workers are more likely to have occupations where computers and the Internet are part of their work environment. Citizens may be more informed of their rights to Internet access through other media, or receive training.

Rural areas may benefit from rural livelihoods e.g. farming and agriculture, where ICT may not necessarily form part of the work environment. Training or maintenance centres may be distant or less accessible.

Consumer choice

Consumers in urban areas may benefit from a choice of alternative operators.

Consumers in rural areas may be restricted to a single provider (or limited choice).

Source: ITU.

2.2 Why does the Urban-Rural Digital Divide exist?

The literature divides according to whether observers see the Urban-Rural Digital Divide (URDD) as a result of underlying patterns of socio-economic activity, or as a driver of this activity (similar to how railroads, electrification and even air conditioning have been viewed as enablers of the redistribution of population in the United States from the East Coast to the West Coast over recent history).

A large number of papers see the URDD primarily as a problem of supply. Dr. Wood (2007) observes that “it is clear that telecommunication providers have been, over time, more likely to make investments in advanced technologies in urban rather than in rural areas, with population density being a key factor in relation to such investments” (page351). Dr. Wood concludes that “the most important factor associated with broadband availability relates to population density, though factors such as income can also play a role, especially for cable companies... (page351). Investing in the infrastructure necessary for broadband in densely as opposed to less densely populated areas offers cable as well as telephone providers a much greater return on their investments” (page 358). The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO, 2006)[143] agrees: “the most frequently cited cost factor affecting broadband deployment was the population density of a market. Many stakeholders, including broadband providers, state regulators and state legislators, said population density was a critical determinant of companies’ deployment decisions. The cost of building broadband infrastructure in areas where people live farther apart is much higher than building infrastructure to serve the same number of people in a more urban setting” (page 19).

Once socio-demographic characteristics and broadband availability are considered, GAO found in the US that rural households no longer appear less likely to adopt broadband – “while rural households are less likely to adopt broadband, our findings indicate that this difference may be related in part to the lower availability of broadband in rural areas”[144] (page 5). Grubesic (2008) found that supply-side determinants are critical in explaining the diffusion, adoption and availability of broadband, and metropolitan size is not the only factor determining the availability of broadband. Preston, Cawley & Metykova (2007) suggest that for the European Union (EU), robust local initiatives in rural and less developed regions can only be made possible by some kind of universal service-type policies[145].

Authors also differ on profiles of demand in metropolitan/rural areas. Whitacre (2010) suggests that after controlling for underlying demographic and economic characteristics, households in rural areas have a similar propensity to adopt broadband as metropolitan households. Some authors cite differences in the perceived benefits to Internet adoption between urban and rural areas. For example, Strover (2001)[146] found that the perceived benefits of broadband may be lower in rural areas, due to lack of skills or knowledge to realize the importance of digital information.

In reality, both supply and demand factors are important (Figure 2A). It is clear that by now, the presence of broadband infrastructure is now a decisive factor in business location decisions, especially for knowledge-intensive firms[147], and part of the package put together by many investment promotion agencies. According to Grubesic & Mack (2016), “ICTs are a key enabler of intra- and inter-regional interconnection of economic clusters and city regions”[148]. The real significance of the urban-rural digital divide may therefore lie in:

1) Supporting and underpinning existing macro- or micro-economic activities, as well as the redistribution of existing activities;

2) potentially enabling new forms of economic activity in a new digital economy;

3) Enabling ‘personal fulfilment’ factors e.g. entertainment, staying in touch with distant relatives.

It is notable that policy-makers and the economic literature most often cite economic factors (1) and (2), whereas factor (3) is most often cited as the reason people take up broadband.

Figure 2A: Drivers and determinants of broadband take-up

Source: ITU.

In terms of supply, major supply-side challenges exist in expanding the Internet and web to accommodate the next four billion people – notably, extending present-day networks outside urban areas into rural or remote areas, and upgrading networks to cope with the growth in traffic. The challenge of universal access stems from steep increases in marginal costs of network deployments for less densely populated or more remote areas, jeopardizing the viability of service provision on a commercial for-profit basis.

As one example of just how steeply costs can rise, Analysys Mason (2015) recently calculated the commercial viability of deploying different technologies in different municipalities in TFYR Macedonia by calculating the Net Present Value (NPV) of a roll-out over the period 2015–2023. The estimate of viable coverage varies, depending on the broadband technology and ranges from 44 per cent coverage for FTTH (covering mainly urban/sub-urban areas – see Figure 3A, left) to 51 per cent for DOCSIS3.0 and 94 per cent for LTE i.e. covering most of the territory. (These coverage levels will vary, depending on the country and its geography, population distribution and terrain). Even in Europe, many countries still have a way to go to achieve these levels of coverage, with only four countries over 25 per cent FTTH+FTTB and only six countries over 20 per cent FTTH+FTTB coverage[149]. Globally, four countries have achieved over 50 per cent coverage (UAE, Rep. of Korea, Hong Kong and Japan[150]).

Capital expenditure (capex) per household or per capita also increases massively when reaching the last 10 per cent or 20 per cent of the population in remotely populated areas. The equivalent level of capex for which FTTH remains commercially viable is just under 200 Euros/household for FTTH in TFYR Macedonia (Figure 3A, right chart), 30 euros/capita for LTE and 100 euros/household for DOCSIS3.0. After this, broadband coverage may become prohibitively expensive.

Figure 3A: Commercial viability of broadband coverage

Source: Analysys Mason.

Where the business case is compelling, the World Bank calls for the private sector to take the lead in providing Internet infrastructure and services, but notes that “public investment or intervention is sometimes justified where the private sector is unable to provide affordable access”[151]. One factor contributing to the slowing of Internet growth is that the business case is less compelling for the areas in which the remaining 57 per cent of unconnected people live.

3 Measurement methods to date

There are many different ways of breaking down and measuring digital divide more generally, some of which can yield different conclusions. Methods used for the urban versus rural digital divide include:

‒ Penetration;

‒ Spatial coverage, location & territory measures;

‒ Network Performance;

‒ Utilization measures.

3.1 Penetration measures

Penetration measures have the advantage of being simple, but they represent fairly blunt percentages. They can be available at the national level for target populations of interest, within available reporting structures. Per capita penetration measures are readily available and used widely by many regulators, NSOs and operators, and can be used for ranking purposes. They may also give an indication of the remaining addressable market (as the inverse measure). Absolute percentages are available from:

– Homes: as a proportion of total premises covered – usually for a specific network, as the combined aggregate requires information from all operators. For example, in Q1 2014, 57 per cent of adults in the UK used the Internet on their mobile phone (OFCOM, 2015).

– Proportion of consumers: for example, in Q1 2014, 57 per cent of adults in the UK used the Internet on their mobile phone (OFCOM, 2014).

– Defined relative to minimum thresholds for speed or technology: For example, from recent analysis from the US: “Current deployment data indicate that 92 per cent of Americans in urban areas, and 47 per cent in rural areas, have access to fixed broadband with speeds of at least 25/3 Mbps[152]. In contrast, 31 per cent of the population residing in rural census blocks lack access to fixed broadband providing at least 10 Mbps/768 kbps speeds - SBI Data, as of 31 December 2013. In the U.S., fixed broadband services with even higher speeds, such as 25 Mbps downstream /3 Mbps upstream (25/3 Mbps) or higher, are available to the vast majority of urban households”.[153]

There are a number of national mapping initiatives which have engaged in simple mapping of broadband penetration rates by municipality or county. For example, a number of European nations have carried out mapping initiatives as part of the Digital Agenda. Figure 4A shows the case for Latvia; Figure 5A depicts the situation of household broadband access for Europe and the Balkan States, while Figure 6A shows a recent analysis of the urban/rural digital divide in the United States.

Figure 4A: Broadband across Latvia, 2015

Source: “Latvian Experience Mapping Broadband & QoS aspects”, Elmars Lipenbergs, Head of QoS Division, Electronic Communications Post Dept, Public Utility Commission, Latvia, Presentation.

Figure 5A shows the situation of household broadband access for Europe and the Balkan States. In Bulgaria and Romania, for instance, the urban rural divide in internet access is greater than 30 percentage points (Figure 5A), while in Belgium and Luxembourg it is actually reversed, with higher rates of penetration outside cities. Uzbekistan’s broadband market remains comparatively underdeveloped, with approximately 426,000 users at the end of June 2015, equivalent to a household penetration of just 8 per cent. In Tajikistan, fixed line internet access, however, remains limited to major urban areas and the primary access method is via dial-up or leased line connections, whilst a handful of ISPs also provide satellite and fibre broadband services.

Figure 5A: Household broadband access in Europe, 2015

Source: Eurostat.

Various institutions (such as the FCC) carry out regular benchmarking and mapping initiatives in the United States, where broadband penetration has become a major economic issue in terms of attracting investment into different municipalities and maintaining national competitiveness.

“While the map strongly suggests an urban-rural divide, it also reveals several rural areas that have relatively high rates of Internet adoption. Examples include much of the Northern Great Plains and several counties in Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, Colorado and Utah. This suggests that even though geography is known to have a large impact on costs, other factors can influence Internet adoption, even after conditioning on geography”.

Figure 6A: Internet penetration in the United States, by County, 2013

Source: US Administration – nearly every American can access the Internet.

3.2 Spatial coverage, location and territory measures

Traditional measurements of cellular coverage are typically associated with space/location (relating to certain geographical locations) there are more complex aspects relevant to B5G systems associated with people’s mobility patterns. The lack of nuances and in-depth understanding of a coverage measure is clearly noticeable in the historical coverage requirements adopted by regulators. Invariably, the percentage of coverage required in license conditions is a static measure, which relates to the locations where people live. There is an important role for engineers and the research community to re-define coverage in terms that are useful and will guide the direction of new radio technologies. Another growth area for analysis is the spatial and temporal patterns with which people move (interview with Korea Telecom on the use of big data). ITU also calculates coverage for fixed broadband networks, including the distribution of population in relation to backbone nodes for fixed networks (see Figure 7A below).

Figure 7A: Status of backbone connectivity, 2013

Source : ITU.

Network Performance

More recent evaluations of network performance can rely on random sampling of performance metrics. For example, according to OFCOM 2014[154] traditional network Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) could include:

– HTTP download speed: the rate at which data can be transferred from the internet to a user’s device (such as downloading apps, music or other files);

– HTTP upload speed: the rate at which data can be transferred from the user’s device to the internet (such as uploading photos or other content to social media sites);

– Web browsing speed: the time that it takes to load a standard web page; and

– Latency: the responsiveness of the network, measured by recording the time it takes for a small piece of data to travel to one point and return a response to the user’s device.

This sort of research enables conclusions to be drawn about relative network performance (which could then be divided according to the urban/rural distinction). For example, in the UK in Q2 2014, a comparison of the relative performance of 3G versus 4G networks led to the following conclusions:

– 4G download speeds were twice as fast as 3G (average speed of 15.1Mbit/s v. 6.1Mbit/s).

– Upload speeds were seven times faster via 4G than those on 3G ( 12.4Mbit/s versus 1.6Mbit/s).

– Web browsing was faster on 4G (average time to load a standard webpage - 0.78 v. 1.06 seconds).

– 4G networks have lower latency than 3G (as an average, latency on 4G was 55.0ms v.66.8ms).

The main criticism of these types of traditional indicators is that they tend to focus on network performance, at the expense of user satisfaction or user experience. Network performance can be measured by the use of more subjective threshold criteria e.g. deciding that a web upload delay in excess of 1 second is likely to result in user dissatisfaction. A 2012 study from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in the United States of America, and Akamai Technologies found that Internet users start abandoning attempts to view online videos if they do not load properly within two seconds[155]. The problem with these fixed thresholds is that they will reduce over time as throughput capacity increases (Figure 8A).

Figure 8A: Evolution in technical factors for video

Source: “End-to-end video quality QoE assessment as a means of verifying interoperability”, Presentation by Paul Coverdale, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, to ITU Workshop on VoLTE, 1 December 2015.

3.3 Utilization measures

Michael Curri (Strategic Network Group – 31 March 2015) found that, “regardless of speed available, rural communities are utilizing the Internet and its applications at a lower rate, largely because there is less knowledge transfer amongst peers and less of a market for specialized technical services in in rural areas”, while “rural communities have far less local resources to support businesses looking to better utilize broadband applications”.[156] It is also possible to explore urban – rural divides by utilization measures of different services, which may also give some idea of the sophistication of demand in different areas.

Meanwhile, Ericsson, XL Axiata and Facebook have developed the concept of ‘app coverage’ to measure and improve end-to-end network performance using Facebook application use cases[157]. This seeks to relate the functionality possible to the coverage area, defined in terms of speed from the cell tower. App coverage looks at the network from a user perspective and allows operators to evaluate whether a user will be satisfied with their experience of a specific app in a given location at a given time. App coverage brings together different aspects of network performance – such as radio network throughput (see Figure 9A), latency and capacity, as well as the performance of the backhaul, packet core and CDNs, and performance variations between high- and low-end devices.

Figure 9A: The concept of app coverage

Source: Ericsson/Facebook/XL Axiata.

Table 2A: Bandwidth requirements for sample apps

Service/App

Bandwidth needed

Comments

SMS

Bursty

Email

7.5-8MB of external bandwidth per day, equivalent to a quarter of a kilobyte per second over an eight-hour working day

Bursty

YouTube

Skype video calling

300 kbps/ 300 kbps

Minimum symmetrical bandwidth requirement for mutual video calling

VoIP

30 kbps / 30 kbps

Minimum VoIP for pure voice Skype calling

Facebook

Video calling works best with a connection speed of 150 kbps. Need corresponding figure for template download, single and multipicture download and single picture upload.

https://www.facebook.com/help/325947034156919/

Netflix

0.5 Mb/s required

1.5 Mb/s recommended

3.0 Mb/s recommended for SD

5.0 Mb/s recommended for HD

25 Mb/s recommended for Ultra HD

Netflix Internet connection speed recommendations - https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/05/the-speed-of-networking-today-and-tomorrow/.

Table 3A: Bandwidth requirements for different types of Skype calling

Source: Skype, at: https://support.skype.com/en/faq/FA1417/how-much-bandwidth-does-skype-need.

3.4 How to address the Urban-Rural Digital Divide

In terms of what we can actually do about the urban/rural digital divide, we can distinguish between general enabling ‘framework conditions’, which are good for the market as a whole. These include the well-known framework conditions of:

– Undertaking market liberalization, including privatization & competition;

– Establishing an independent regulator, which engages in regular consultations & benchmarking.

– With a broadly open approach to new technologies (VoIP).

These are by now well-known, and most – but by no means all – countries have moved to engage with these. For example, the vast majority of countries now have competitive mobile markets, there are now 162 regulatory authorities worldwide by 2015, and VoIP is now fully legal in over 130 countries.

With regards to the industry more broadly, it is also vital to address industry issues more broadly – different countries are struggling with different aspects:

– Exploring new financing models.

– Work to resolve potential issues quickly (roaming fees, OTTs, FDI, interconnection – issues which may differ, according to the region).

With specific regard to broadband and universal service, the framework for Universal Service is also fairly well-known by now:

– Rights-based approach in laws – twenty countries have made Internet access a legal or civil or citizen’s right.

– USOs have been introduced through a range of different regulatory instruments.

– Universal coverage can be included in the license conditions for new operators.

– A number of countries have gone down the route of establishing a USF with PPPs (although there is somewhat mixes evidence about the efficiency of results).

It can be helpful to establish a National Broadband Plan, with dialogue involving all the major stakeholders. In 2013, ITU found that countries with a National Broadband Plan are likely to have higher fixed and mobile broadband penetration. By 2015, 148 countries had introduced a National Broadband Plan. Table 4A presents examples of supply-side measures that can be taken to promote the supply of broadband networks and services, and high-speed broadband in particular. Regulators may need to work closely with operators and other policy-makers to ensure that coverage obligations or sharing requirements are fully understood, and that adequate follow-up and enforcement mechanisms are available.

Table 4A: Supply-side measures to promote provision of broadband networks and services

Type of policy

Definition and examples

Sharing of telecoms infrastructure

Measures to promote the sharing of existing telecoms infrastructure among players that would benefit operators through a reduction in roll-out costs (e.g. harmonizing and facilitating infrastructure sharing, developing a register of infrastructure locations)

Co-deployment and co-investment

Measures to enable coordination and joint investment in the roll-out of communications networks by telecoms operators, possibly in conjunction with utilities/promoters (e.g. to develop infrastructure in under-served areas, or to promote the joint construction of telecoms networks at the same time as other infrastructure is being constructed)

Access to non-telecoms infrastructure

Measures to allow operators to use non-telecoms civil infrastructure when deploying communications networks (e.g. giving the national regulatory authority (NRA) legal powers to mandate access to infrastructure owned by entities outside the telecoms sector)

Spectrum assignment

Actions to define a clear and efficient spectrum policy to encourage the development of mobile broadband (e.g. promoting technological neutrality when assigning frequencies, assigning the digital-dividend spectrum to mobile)

Spectrum trading

Introduction of the option to transfer spectrum rights to improve flexibility in the use of frequencies

Coverage obligations

Design of new spectrum licenses that will increase the availability of broadband networks and services at a national level (e.g. by imposing coverage obligations, or implementing geographical obligations)

Imposition of technical standards

Elimination of uncertainty regarding the technical specifications for broadband roll-out projects (e.g. by defining standards for high-speed broadband connections that must be provided as part of new housing developments, to help achieve economies of scale, improved quality, or access to new markets)

Wholesale and retail markets

Introduction of measures to promote competition to allow potential new operators to successfully enter the market (e.g. appropriate regulation of wholesale broadband offers, carrying out audits and improving the operational terms of bitstream offers)

Source: Analysys Mason, 2015.

Table 5A outlines examples of measures that can be implemented on the demand side, to facilitate the use of broadband by the largest number of citizens possible and increase the amount and attractiveness of digital content and services in order to foster citizens’ interest in ICT. In certain developing countries, it may still be necessary to demonstrate the proven benefits of ICT services (e.g. to gain access to online services, provide remote diagnosis, news reporting or entertainment) to help create more demand for broadband take-up.

Table 5A: Demand-side measures

Type of policy

Definition and examples

Broadband mapping

Develop a publicly accessible mapping tool to display the availability and speed of retail broadband connections, on a nationwide basis. This would enable citizens to see the current status of broadband services at a particular location, including the availability of basic or high-speed broadband

Transparency and control

Set up transparency requirements for operators to enhance information, control and trust for end users in relation to broadband (e.g. requiring ISPs to be transparent regarding the speed delivered, or requiring broadband contracts to be structured in a way that is clear, understandable and accessible to users)

Communication

Design marketing campaigns to encourage the widespread use of digital services (e.g. to increase awareness of the potential that exists in broadband technologies)

Trust and security

Introduce measures to improve security for users of digital services and increase their confidence in these technologies (e.g. ensuring appropriate security for electronic financial transactions, adapting copyright laws to the digital sphere, and developing services such as e-identification to protect user identities and privacy)

e-Inclusion and ICT literacy

Implement measures to foster access to, and use of, ICT content and services by the vast majority of the population (e.g. promoting education in ICT and broadband, and setting up financial incentives such as fiscal subsidies on ICT services or device subsidies)

e-Education / e-Administration / eHealth / e-Commerce / e-Justice

Devise measures to:

connect schools and universities and develop the use of ICT in the education sector by all stakeholders (e.g. introducing digital learning in the classroom)

make the most important administrative services available online to the whole population, to streamline and simplify administrative processes (e.g. by increasing Internet use in the public sector)

leverage the potential for providing online access to the health sector and encourage the use of new services (e.g. developing telemedicine services through the use of videoconferencing, and digitization of health records)

develop the use of e-commerce (e.g. by simplifying the administrative process involved in opening an online business)

enable the judicial system to benefit from the use of ICT services (e.g. by making legal guidance and information services available online, or allowing citizens to initiate small-claims cases online)

High-quality online content

Involve the State in initiatives to develop high-quality and local online content, in order to attract a wide public audience (e.g. by encouraging and supporting the creation of content and services, offering digital access to cultural content that is the responsibility of the State)

Support for industry

Take steps to support ICT businesses, as a way of stimulating the development of new and innovative services or products (e.g. by creating ‘digital hubs’ to concentrate enterprises in the digital sector and stimulate competitiveness and growth, or reducing the rate of value-added tax charged on products and services in the ICT sector)

Source: Analysys Mason, 2015.

Annex 3.2: Measuring the Urban-Rural Digital Divide (URDD) – Presentation

Annex 4: Country examples of ICT in education in rural areas

– Bangladesh[158]

A Public Private Partnership model where KT is partnering with International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Bangladesh Government (Ministry of ICT division under the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology) to provide broadband infrastructure and ICT solutions to a remote Moheshkali island in the East of Bengal, Bangladesh. As the broadband network infrastructure is being set up, the project will begin introducing relevant ICT solutions to the targeted facilities (schools, health clinics, government sites and others) and provide relevant training to the island.

In coordination with the Government of Bangladesh, KT identified four major social priorities in Moheshikhali; Education, Health, Information, and Agricultural Resilience Service. E-learning solution will be deployed to primary schools in Moheshkali Island to provide distant learning to help the island overcome shortages in teaching staffs that so many remote areas go through. e-Learning solution will link teachers in urban areas to students in Moheshkali. Contents related to e-Learning will use the existing Ministry of Education’s “Teachers Portal”.

– Bhutan[159]

The National Research and Education Network (DrukREN) consist of a fiber-optic network using the existing National Fiber Network. The Ministry of Information & Communications (MoIC) is working with the existing Network Operators in Thimphu to establish the IXP. MoIC has established a fiber-optic cable backbone in Thimphu connecting all the Internet Service Providers in a ring topology. The fibre optic network linking all ISPs located in Thimphu will be used by each ISP to connect with the Internet Exchange Point Switch for ISP peering with 10Gbps through Single mode OFC.

– Burundi[160]

DrukREN shall extend high-speed connection to all the research & educational institutes in the country. It shall provide high-speed access to schools, research centers and Basic Health Units located in rural areas.

In order to take full advantage of the national fibre-optic backbone, the Government of Burundi through the ICT ministry has launched projects that will enable rural populations to continue to become familiar with ICTs. These include multipurpose community telecentres and ICT clubs in secondary schools.

Broadband infrastructure and applications have helped to meet the challenges facing Burundi in areas such as health and education.

– People’s Republic of China[161],[162],[163]

Objective of China’s rural broadband development.

According to the plan, education related goals for rural broadband are set as follows:

By 2015, Broadband network will cover all rural schools, libraries and hospitals and 95 per cent% of administrative villages; broadband access rates for rural households will reach 4 Mbps; household penetration of fixed broadband in rural areas will reach 30 per cent; mobile Internet will have become very popular, 3g/4g penetration in rural population will reach 32.5 per cent.

To accomplish the periodic goals, a “Broadband Village” project and a “broadband applications in rural schools” demonstration project are included in the Plan.

Considering so many arduous problems for remote areas to resolve immediately, it’s natural for people outside ICT industry to share the same views on the priority of broadband. Regulator should make the necessity of broadband in providing basic public service such as hygienic, medical and education in rural and significance of broadband in creating development environment for rural communities be fully aware of to widen channels for broadband funds.

The experience of China Telecom in developing “Broadband Villages”.

In addition to the roll-out of infrastructures, the Sichuan Branch of China Telecom has also put into operation platforms for services such as IPTV, e-Learning, e-Commerce and micropayments that aim to address issues specific to the rural areas in China, e.g. monotonous cultural life, relative shortage of medical and educational resources and relatively backward modes of business, trade and logistics. These platforms are very important in enriching the cultural life of the general public, improving livelihoods and promoting the transformation and upgrade of the traditional businesses and logistics in the rural and remote areas.

Cooperation with the government in continued commitment to the improvement of ICT-based education

In 2010, Guangdong Provincial Department of Education signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Telecom. The two sides have achieved fruitful results in Smart Campus, Campus Safety, Care for Children Left Behind and training, etc. Up until now, 27 000 primary and secondary schools in the province have been equipped with broadband access, and China Telecom’s education cloud platform is accessible by 14 000 classes, with 120 000 teachers’ accounts opened.

In May 2016, the Guangdong Provincial Department of Education signed a five-year strategic cooperation framework agreement with China Telecom on the "Internet + Education". In 2016, the company will bring broadband access to the remaining 5 per cent unconnected teaching points at the grass-root level in rural areas. Within three years, the company will achieve an average bandwidth of 500 Mbps or more per campus for all the schools located in advanced districts equipped with modern education technologies, and will achieve an access bandwidth of 100 Mbps or more for rural primary and secondary schools and teaching points; in regions and schools with conditions in place, the company will gradually advance the roll-out and application of wireless education MANs (Metropolitan Area Networks) and the wireless campus networks.

– Colombia[164]

The Colombian Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (“MINTIC”) committed to provide internet access points to 100 per cent of population centres of more than 100 people through the “Kioscos Vive Digital” (KVD) project.

The project is being implemented in a number of phases. Local operators are contracting with a number of satellite operators (Eutelsat, Intelsat, and Hispasat) for satellite capacity and are installing VSATS around the country. At this stage more than 5,000 Kiosks have been installed, but it is expected that many more VSATS will be requested. The initial requirement of speed per school, have been increased from 4 to 6 Mbps. Kiosks support connectivity to computers, laptops and other devices in libraries, schools and other public access sites.

– Guinea[165]

Making ICTs widely available in rural areas

As part of the effort to spread ICTs in local communities, the Ministry, in collaboration with Global Voice Guinée (GVG), has set up neighbourhood cybercafés in the capital’s five districts, with Internet connection rooms and training rooms equipped with computers and other office equipment. Operating these centres serves as a test for communities in the country’s interior. This is a project to provide Internet connection for public secondary schools.

– Haiti[166]

(The need for telecommunications in rural and remote areas)

With people in rural and remote areas now travelling to and from the city, and with the democratization of telephony, another vision is opening up and the scope of business negotiations is broadening. Parents are demanding more from their children’s education, and are calling for adequately equipped clinics and hospitals.

Business models

A proliferation of community telecentres would have been necessary to facilitate the rapid integration of such rural areas and enhance the development of numerous sectors including education, health, small enterprises, agriculture, etc. The information, telecommunication and data services provided by such local centres are underpinned by telecommunication and IT resources as a factor in sociocultural, economic and political development. The qualified and competent person hitherto responsible for maintaining the equipment and assisting users should now, in addition to managing the telecentre, be running training events for members of the community.

Following the establishment of Internet access, a desirable step would then be to have a large number of Internet radio stations providing content in the areas of environmental education, agriculture, finance, hygiene, health, and so on.

– Kenya[167]

The objectives of the Universal Service Fund in Kenya include supporting expansion of communication services to schools, health facilities and other organizations serving public needs.

Following broadband related projects is a prioritized Universal Service Fund project in Kenya: Establish a first step towards addressing the critical national gap which exists in connectivity of schools and tertiary college institutions below university level.

– Madagascar[168]

The goal of the government’s telecommunication/ICT programme “Numérique pour tous” (Digital for Everyone), which is led by the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and Digital Development, is to promote widespread use of ICTs especially in Madagascar’s more isolated areas. The ministry of Education in ICTs will enable pupils to become familiar with ICT tools and reduce digital illiteracy in rural areas.

Digital “showcases” associated with an ICT centre (“VOHIKALA Centre”) have been set up in rural communes. School pupils, women, young people, farmers’ associations, and many others, can make use of this centre. VOHIKALA is equipped with computers, scanners, printers and various other accessory items. Some 24 centres have been set up and commissioned in rural areas of Madagascar and many more will follow.

– Rwanda[169]

Education is the vital right of every citizen of Rwanda, according to article 40 of the Rwandan Constitution which states that “Every person has a right to education” whether a child resides in a high profile society or in a remote underserved area.

The government of Rwanda aims to facilitate and contribute to the deployment of the telecommunications or ICTs in rural and remote areas to improve the environment and life of the populations in those areas with more beneficial effects on poverty alleviation of the country.

The following are educational related initiatives implemented by the Government of Rwanda through Universal Access Fund (UAF) to promote the penetration of telecommunications/ICT access and its usage in rural and remote areas of the country:

1) Provision of bandwidth subsidy to rural communities for accessing the education, health and public services in rural and remote areas of Rwanda.

2) Providing the broadband connectivity to 30 community ICT Telecentres in rural and remote areas of the country.

3) Offering the internet bandwidth connectivity to all Universities (Public and Private) using RwEdNet.

4) Connecting secondary schools in remote and rural areas on VSAT internet connectivity.

5) All technical secondary and college schools are connected.

Ongoing Projects

Since 2013, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) through the UAF in collaboration with other institutions has developed and implemented the following projects:

1) Connecting rural schools on broadband Internet services:

In line of promoting the quality education in the country and ICTs penetration to rural and underserved areas; RURA initiated the joint project with Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) to connect schools in rural and underserved areas on broadband Internet services. Currently, 67 schools were selected where:

• The identified 18 schools in rural areas will be connected to broadband Internet by using the national optic fibre backbone, and;

• The other 49 schools located far from the national optic fibre network will be connected to broadband Internet services by using the Wireless Technologies.

This project is now in its implementation phase and coordinated by MINEDUC as the focal point of the project with the following main goals:

• To promote the quality education in the country;

• To speed up the ICT penetration to rural and underserved areas;

• To spread the Internet connectivity to school’s neighbourhood communities.

2) Supporting ICT literacy in rural and remote areas of Rwanda:

This project aimed to build up nation`s ICT skills and bring ICT literacy to the critical mass by promoting the ICT literacy in rural areas of the country. This project plays a vital role in the citizens of Rwanda by establishing e-Learning and e-service centres in rural and underserved areas as a means to providing access to affordable ICT services to rural communities. This is in line with the leadership vision of transforming the country into a knowledge based society. The project stakeholders are Ministry of Education and Ministry of Local Governance.

– Sri Lanka[170]

Connect a School, Connect a Community Project

The ITU assisted “Connect a School, Connect a Community” public-private-people-partnership (PPPP) project in Sri Lanka is helping to bridge the rural-urban digital gap and opening up economic opportunities for rural communities. The ITU and Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) have provided funds for the hardware and software required to equip the computer laboratories in schools while the Telecommunication Operators, Internet Service Providers joined as partners to assist in providing access to education through ICT in the rural schools of Sri Lanka. This project aims to transform these schools in to connected community ICTs centres. The project has been received with great enthusiasm by students. For an example, a grade 9 students in a rural School, had this to say: “I don’t have a computer in my home and my friends don’t have computers in their homes either. We now have our own computer lab at our school. So now I have the chance to learn with computers. The first thing I learnt was how to draw and colour pictures. Other than that, I learnt how to use dictionaries, the calculator and study the online educational programme of the Ministry of Education. I found the Internet really wonderful and fantastic. We can search information and pictures, listen to music and watch educational documentaries. Occasionally, we get the chance to play computer games.” More information can be found using following link; http://itunews.itu.int/en/4956-Spotlighting-Sri-Lanka.note.aspx.

Nenasala

“Nenasala” (Wisdom Outlet) is a tele-centre implemented by the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) in rural areas to assist communities in poverty reduction, social and economic development, and peace building. Under the "Nenasala" label, several models of the tele-centres or knowledge centres have been established in all parts of Sri Lanka to spread ICT services to the rural and semi-urban population. Rural knowledge centres, e-libraries, distance & e-Learning centres, tsunami camp computer and telegnetic project are few models implemented under “nanasala” project. More information can be found using the following links; http://nanasala.org/target.htm and http://nanasala.org/telemedicine.htm.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation presented its 2014 Access to Learning Award of US$1 Million to the e-Library program under “Nanasala” in recognition of its work to provide free access to computers and the internet to underserved Sri Lankans living in rural and remote areas.

– Zimbabwe[171]

Zimbabwe’s Universal Service Trust Fund has carried different projects including the computerisation and provision of e-Learning services in 100 schools.

E-Learning Connect A School Connect A Community Project

A pilot project to computerize 60 Schools that is, 30 primary and 30 secondary schools in rural areas was also undertaken. Each school received 10 tutor laptops, 80 student laptops, 2 wireless access point devices, 80 desks and chairs, 2 x 3kW solar modules, school server, digital curriculum content, training of teachers, charging trolleys, 2 projectors, 1 printer including accessories. Deployment of hardware, furnisher and the installation of LAN, solar power equipment, software and licenses has been completed.

Public Rural Institutions Internet Connectivity

The project will cover an initial 1300 schools, Rural District Council offices (RDCs), clinics, police stations and other government institutions. The plans for the project are almost complete and work should commence within the next two months. A total of nine thousand schools are expected to be connected in phases over the next three years.

_________________

[137] http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0310e/a0310e05.htm.

[138] ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report 2010, “Monitoring the WSIS Targets: A mid-term review”, ITU, Geneva.

[139] See the definition of national and international % rural populations available from the World Bank at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.

[140] Markandey Rai (2006), “Operational Definitions of Urban, Rural and Urban Agglomeration for Monitoring Human Settlements”.

[141] Presentation, “Connectivity: Broadband market developments in the EU”, Digital Agenda Scoreboard 2015.

[142] Wood (2007), “Broadband Availability in Metropolitan and non-Metropolitan Pennsylvania: A Narrowing Broadband Divide?”, available at: https://netcom.revues.org/1091?lang=en.

[143] The US Government Accountability Office (2006),”Broadband Deployment Extensive throughout the United States, but It Is Difficult to Assess the Extent of Deployment Gaps in Rural Areas GAO-06-426”, available at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06426.pdf.

[144] The US Government Accountability Office (2006),”Broadband Deployment Extensive throughout the United States, but It Is Difficult to Assess the Extent of Deployment Gaps in Rural Areas GAO-06-426”, available at: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06426.pdf.

[145] Preston P, Cawley A, Metykova M. 2007. Broadband and Rural Areas in the EU: Recent Research and Implications, Telecommunications Policy, 31, 6-7, p. 389-400.

[146] Strover, S. (2001), “Rural Internet connectivity”, Telecommunications Policy, 25(5), 331–347.

[147] “The Importance of Broadband Provision to Knowledge Intensive Firm Location”, Mack, Anselin & Grubesic, http://www.ersa.org/IMG/pdf/MackSummerSchool_Presentation.pdf.

[148] “Broadband Telecommunications and Regional Development” (2016), Grubesic, Tony H., and Mack, Elizabeth A, Routledge.

[149] http://www.ftthcouncil.eu/documents/PressReleases/2015/PR2015_FTTH_Subscribers.pdf.

[150] Ibid.

[151] “World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends”, World Bank, forthcoming.

[152] Footnote 31, page 8 https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-releases-order-increase-connect-america-rural-broadband-speeds#.

[153] https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-releases-order-increase-connect-america-rural-broadband-speeds# See National Broadband Map, http://www.broadbandmap.gov/.

[154] http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/research/mbb.pdf.

[155] Krishnan, S. Shunmuga and Sitaraman, Ramesh K., 2012. University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Akamai Technologies. Video Stream Quality Impacts Viewer Behavior: Inferring Causality Using Quasi-Experimental Designs. Available at:www.akamai.com/dl/technical_publications/video_stream_quality_study.pdf.

[156] Curri, «The Rural Broadband Digital Divide”, available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2587782.

[157] Ericsson White Paper, “Measuring and Improving Network Performance”, available at: https://info.internet.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2016/07/10734295_270843076447514_1952370192_n.pdf.

[158] Document 1/368, “ICT improvement initiatives in remote and isolated areas: GiGA Island Project in Bangladesh”, Republic of Korea.

[159] Document 1/407, “National research & education network in Bhutan”, Kingdom of Bhutan.

[160] Document 1/254, “Impact of the national fibre-optic backbone in connecting rural areas in Burundi”, Republic of Burundi.

[161] Document 1/46, “Rural broadband in China and proposals for Question 5/1 study”, People’s Republic of China.

[162] Document 1/158, “The experience of China Telecom in developing ‘Broadband Villages’”, People’s Republic of China.

[163] Document 1/283, “China Telecom’s experience in rural broadband expansion in the era of all-optical networks”, People’s Republic of China.

[164] Document 1/329, “The critical role of satellite in connecting the unconnected”, ITSO, INTELSAT and EUTELSAT IGO.

[165] Document 1/144, “Situation regarding access to telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and services in rural and isolated areas in the Republic of Guinea”, Republic of Guinea.

[166] Document 1/140, “Business model and operator encouragement”, Republic of Haiti.

[167] Document 1/291, “Use of the Universal Services Fund for extension of ICT Services in rural and remote areas in Kenya”, Republic of Kenya.

[168] Document 1/270, “Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas”, Republic of Madagascar.

[169] Document SG1RGQ/147, “ICT in education sector of Rwanda”, Republic of Rwanda.

[170] Document SG1RGQ/176(Rev.1), “Closing the gap of Digital Divide”, Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

[171] Document 1/194, “The universal services fund as a driver of telecommunication/ICT development in rural and remote areas”, Republic of Zimbabwe.