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 | World Bank Attacks Digital Divide Scheme A new report by the World Bank disputes the basis of the Digital Solidarity Fund, a mechanism designed to transfer funds and expertise from developed nations to spur ICT expansion in underdeveloped nations.
According to the World Bank report, the growth of telecommunications services in poor countries indicates that the digital divide is rapidly closing. "People in the developing world are getting more access at an incredible rate - far faster than they got access to new technologies in the past," the report says.
The World Bank report states that competitive, well-regulated, private investment in ICTs is more important and influential for further narrowing the digital divide than public or international contributions.
The Digital Solidarity Fund, to be inaugurated on 14 March 2005 in Geneva, maintains that the digital revolution increasingly disempowers the majority of the world's population who lack basic skills, resources and infrastructure. The Fund aims to encourage North-South cooperation in ICT, using mechanisms such as the Geneva Principle, in which vendors of public ICT contracts in the city of Geneva contribute 1% of their profits to the Fund.
In its recent Preparatory Committee for the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the United Nations welcomed the creation of the Digital Solidarity Fund.
Useful Links
Use this link to go to the Digital Solidarity Fund website.
Use this link to go to the WSIS website.
Use this link to read the report from the World Bank on private investment in ICTs.
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