Internet: uneven expansion widens digital divide

United Nations show "white spots" on interactive maps

The digital divide that separates Internet users from the group of non-users has widened due to the uneven distribution of the expansion of modern information and communication technologies. This is the result of a current report by the International Telecommunication Union http://www.itu.int , a subsidiary of the United Nations specifically focused on the Asia-Pacific region. In order to give all guarantors in the affected countries equal access to online information and services, the international agency has for the first time created an interactive map of the region's "data superhighway", with the help of which "blank spots" are closed as quickly as possible should be.

 

Internet: digital divide

Fast web: often in short supply not only in Asia (Photo: itu.int)

"The growing imbalance in terms of income, education and knowledge is one of the greatest challenges in the Asia-Pacific region. The uneven expansion of modern information and communication technologies has made this problem even more acute," said the Chinese news portal Xinhua Noeleen Heyzer , Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific http://www.unescap.org . The main aim of the new interactive map is to close the existing broadband gaps. "It is important that we use the technology in the best possible way to enable people to improve their lives," says Heyzer.

Poor and rich countries

"The availability of sufficient bandwidth is always an issue because the expansion of the necessary infrastructure can only keep up with demand with difficulty," says Christian Oggolder from the Commission for Comparative Media and Communication Research http://www.oeaw.ac.at/cmc compared to the press text clear. The fact that poorer countries in particular are clearly at a disadvantage in terms of faster internet connections is also due to a global redistribution problem. "This is a political issue. On the technical side, non-cable-based solutions in particular would help us to take measures more quickly against the digital divide," says the expert.

But even rich industrial countries like Germany are not exempt from this problem. "Even with us, the number of white spots on the Internet map is still alarmingly high," criticized Bernd Rudolph, second chairman of the Federal Association of Initiative against Digital Divide http://www.geteilt.de , in conversation with pressetext. In rural areas in particular, many people would still have to get by without a way to get into the web with sufficiently fast broadband access. "For a nation that relies on high technology and knowledge, the digital divide is completely unacceptable, indeed a sign of poverty," explains Rudolph.

Extremely unbalanced

As far as broadband coverage is concerned, however, the balance of power is hardly anywhere more unbalanced than in the Asia-Pacific region. According to UN statistics, this area has both the highest and lowest broadband penetration rates of all countries in the world, with a value of 37,56 percent in South Korea and just 0,01 percent in Myanmar. "Fast internet access has long since become a part of public services. It decides on social participation and economic competitiveness," concluded Rudolph.

 

(ck) 27.11.2013/XNUMX/XNUMX

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