Title: ITU/UNESCO: Broadband Commission releases its outcome report
Source: The United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS)
Publisher: United Nations
Date (published): 20/09/2010
Date (accessed): 26/09/2010
Type of information: press release
Language: English
On-line access: yes (HTML)
Abstract:
"On the eve of the MDG Summit, the Broadband Commission for Digital Development released its outcome report A 2010 Leadership Imperative: The Future Built on Broadband. The report calls on global leaders to ensure that more than half of all of the world’s people have access to broadband networks by 2015, and to make access to high-speed networks a basic civil right. It also includes a High-Level Declaration calling for “Broadband Inclusion for All.”

The report was presented to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during a side event held in conjunction with the Summit. ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré, speaking at the 19 September launch, said, “Broadband is the next tipping point, the next truly transformational technology. It can generate jobs, drive growth and productivity, and underpin long-term economic competitiveness. It is also the most powerful tool we have at our disposal in our race to meet the Millennium Development Goals, which are now just five years away.”

Mr. Ban noted the power of technology to inject new impetus into the development paradigm. “Information and communication technologies are playing an increasingly important role as drivers of social and economic development, but it will take partnerships such as the Broadband Commission to ensure that those technologies live up to their extraordinary potential,” he stressed. “The Commission’s report is an important contribution to our efforts to ensure that the benefits of information and communication technology can further the United Nations goals of peace, security or development for all.”

The report includes a detailed framework for broadband deployment and ten action points aimed at mobilizing a wide range of stakeholders and convincing government leaders to prioritize the roll-out of broadband networks to their citizens."