3rd Session of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS) Steering Committee and WSIS Regional Review

The 3rd session of the AP-IS Steering Committee is planned to review the latest research findings, current implementation of the Master Plan 2019-2022 by member countries, ESCAP and partner organizations and discuss emerging trends and technologies which affect the implementation and agree on follow-up actions.

An ESCAP study highlighted that 18 ESCAP member States had less than 2 per cent of their populations with fixed-broadband subscriptions in 2016. Recent ITU data for 2017 shows no improvement for these countries. In the case of mobile-broadband subscription, 16 ESCAP member States have ⅓ or less of their respective populations with access to mobile-broadband subscriptions in 2017.

The root causes of the region’s digital divide are multi-dimensional. ESCAP studies have found various constraining factors, including a limited regulatory and policy environment, lack of institutional and individual capacity, digital literacy, inefficient Internet and network management; limited affordability of broadband services; and investment in natural-disaster resilient ICT infrastructure. As society and economy increasingly depend on reliable, affordable and resilient broadband infrastructure to deliver information and services, the lack of broadband access is expected to constrain the member countries’ socioeconomic development and efforts towards the achievement of SDGs...Read more