Information and Communication Technology Issues

Technologies and Services

ICTs continue to evolve at a rapid rate, although there is little agreement about which specific products or services will succeed and for how long. We are experiencing a tsunami of innovation characterized not so much by any single technology or science but rather by the intermingling of several crossover technologies and services.

At the core is the ubiquitous microprocessor, providing control and memory. Microprocessors are found in almost every mechanical and electronic device from control units (such as traffic lights) to online tools (like Internet browsers). Grouping these together as ICTs may obscure substantial differences in technique, application, cost, and impact.

Today, the greatest growth is in networked services. Even the simplest data network, linked by narrow-band telephone lines, can have a dramatic effect on organizations and individuals.

The growth of networking then raises the question of computer ";intelligence,"; based on increasing memory and more sophisticated processing software. What forms will intelligence take, and where will it be located? Will it be in the user's own device, in the network, or both? The outcome will have a major impact on all sectors and countries. Computer intelligence, however it is defined and wherever it is located, is a core driver of industrial change; but different network architectures favour, and are influenced by, different national strategies.

Economics

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) challenge current economic thinking. What does it mean to own information? If I give you my land or my money, you have it and I don't. If I give you intelligence or an idea, we both have it. The traditional economic theory of the firm assumes ";perfect information"; and examines changes in supply, demand, and price. The economics of information overturns that basic assumption.

This is most evident in the economics of software. Software has a high R&D cost, a low manufacturing cost, and a low distribution cost. For users, the cost may be high if the software necessitates retraining or the acquisition of a more powerful processor to run it. In many cases, manufacturers give software away; charging licence fees could be counter-productive. One reason the Internet has developed so quickly is that the major protocol owners have charged rights fees to producers (servers) but not to end users (clients).

Intellectual property rights (IPRs) such as patents and copyrights are the main unit of value in an information economy. Copyright law is a mechanism for balancing the owner's need for reward and the public's need for access. Some people say that digital formats make copyright unworkable. Copyright owners naturally resist this idea. If IPRs wither away, then rights owners must operate a system of private contracts. Developing countries may gain short-term benefits because they would have free access to others' work. But, in the long run, everyone must work together to establish a commercial basis for rewarding rights owners, encouraging further innovation, and allowing access. This is one of the dilemmas facing national policymakers in developing countries, both domestically and at the global level.

Regulation

The regulation of ICTs is heavily influenced by the changing role of government and by business imperatives. Both play a very different role in the ICT sector from their role in most public-service provision (such as education) and industry (such as manufacturing). In general, government is moving from being the owner and operator of communication systems (telecommunications, broadcasting) to being the referee of private companies in terms of industrial, trade, competition, and other related policies. This liberalization is also the dominant force in industry.

When dealing with ICTs, policymakers are confronted by widely varying cultural and economic values. The computer industry is free-wheeling, entrepreneurial, idiosyncratic, global, and unregulated. Telecommunications is mostly nationalistic, monopolistic, and highly regulated. So far, deregulation has been somewhat of a myth. Although there is a strong trend toward the liberalization of ownership and control, this has only come about through more regulation.

Policymakers need to create new policy principles for convergent services that mix

• Computers — unregulated and highly competitive;
• Telecommunications — governed by regulated notions of equity and access; and
• Content — governed by regulated notions of what is right and proper in society.

International Frameworks

The role of international organizations is crucial especially in telecommunications, because of the requirement to have standardized or compatible protocols between the two ends of the connection. Otherwise, communication literally cannot take place.

This gives international organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the oldest agency of the United Nations (UN), and the World Trade Organization (WTO) a power and influence that other agencies may not have. The creation of the WTO moved telecommunications from being a distinct sector, dominated by state bodies, to the mainstream of trade. It also has an impact on the ways in which national governments and regional trading blocs (such as the European Union [EU] and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) organize their responsibilities. At the same time, the growth of bilateral and regional arrangements has led to a large number of unofficial proprietary standards that may undercut the role of the official intergovernmental agencies.

Inherent Uncertainties

As a result of these trends, ICTs worldwide are subject to several intrinsic instabilities:

• Definitional — a lack of consensus about definitions and a lack of clear boundary lines;
• Technical — rapid, unexpected developments in R&D and manufacturing;
• The need to invent new legal and regulatory regimes and regulatory principles;
• Fragmented administrative responsibilities at the global and national levels;
• Evolving new economic theories of intangible goods and exchange;
• Undefined and volatile public needs and wants (as citizens and as customers); and
• Shifting relationships between the public and private sectors.

These uncertainties require public policy to be comprehensive, far-sighted, and flexible both at the global and the national levels.