In that meeting, the importance of the ICT sector to Vanuatu’s national development was emphasised and in his opening speech, then Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Sato Kilman had described the meeting as “dedicated to discussing how we should best utilise information and communication technologies in the development of our country”. “As you well know, our national vision is ‘an Educated, Healthy and Wealthy Vanuatu’. Effective use of ICT is critical in achieving this vision. It is the only way we can overcome the tyranny of distance and connect people living throughout the islands. Furthermore, ICT will assist us in delivering quality education to our children in the remotest parts of Vanuatu, improve health services, increase efficiency of current economic activities and open up new business opportunities, as well as making government services much more accessible to our people,” Kilman said.
ICT Programme Manager at the Vanuatu’s Information Office Jackson Miake told Islands Business that data collection immediately followed the meeting, where officials gathered information from all government, non-government and private sector entities, and a call for public input was the next course of action. “The outcome of the meeting will see a call for public input and by April we should have a draft policy for discussion with all the data we have,” Miake said. The policy, he said, is expected to address a broad range of issues including ICT and telecommunications development in Vanuatu, as well as new and emerging ICT issues like cybersecurity.
“Most of what will appear in the final policy paper is home-grown and we like to take ownership of it and have it work for Vanuatu, and hopefully other countries in the Pacific take this initiative as well. “This is very important and most countries make the mistake of cutting and pasting policies from countries with totally different infrastructures, business environment and as such have a hard time implementing them. We certainly want to avoid that,” Miake said when asked if Vanuatu would borrow from examples of ICT policies in other parts of the world. “A good national ICT policy is about stakeholders taking ownership of the policy on a more bottom up approach which we are taking and so far, we have positive outcomes.
“We are looking at both regional and international examples set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in projects such as ICB4PAC which is to develop a framework for Pacific Islands for policy development both in national ICT policies and other ICT-related policies such as broadband, cybersecurity, etc,” Miake added.
Vanuatu in recent times has set in motion a number of measures to address outstanding issues in its ICT sector. Late last year, it started public consultation, through its telecom regulator, on the management of its country code Top Level Domain name (ccTLD), the dot vu (.vu), which had been in the custody of Television Vanuatu Ltd since the Internet arrived in the country. Vanuatu’s Telecommunication & Radiocommunication Regulator (TRR) is now proposing that the responsibility of managing the .vu be shifted to its office. On a national level, the now active NIDC has declared an interest in enabling for Vanuatu most of the types of services available in most parts of the world today, such as online education, purchasing goods and services via e-commerce, mobile banking, telemedicine, phone or online consultations with experts in agriculture, transport and other fields, registering new business online, e-democracy and public consultation among others.
Vanuatu’s Chief Information Officer Fred Samuels, who was also appointed co-deputy chair of NIDC re-emphasised the importance of ICT as an enabler of efficiency and development in most fields of human endeavour. “As stated by the United Nations General Assembly, investment in ICT fosters sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth, increased competitiveness, poverty eradication and social inclusion. This is one of the best investments you can make in society,” Samuels said, adding that each 10 percent usage in broadband communications usage has been proven to lead to an impressive 1.38 percent increase in the economic growth rate.
“Successful development and subsequent implementation of this national policy is dependent on the concerted effort of all the ministries and key department of government, private sector, citizens, academia and civil society,” Samuels said. Vanuatu had liberalised its telecommunication market in 2008, with the entry of Digicel providing a long overdue catalyst for competition in the sector.
A recent study by the Vanuatu-based Pacific Institute of Public Policy had revealed that 96 percent of households in Vanuatu own a mobile phone and 99.4 percent have access to one. “Furthermore, people increasingly rely on such new technologies—65.6 percent of people living in urban areas and 53 percent of rural dwellers consider phone to be very important in their daily lives,” said Kilman. The ICT evolution in the island country has also seen the increasing penetration of the Internet through new licensees entering the market.
“This is further supported by such projects as the telecenter facility in Rensarie, which provides local community with the access to the Internet and relevant training, as well as connects a secondary school and a health center to the Internet.
The government broadband network connects government agencies in all the provinces. It provides a foundation for better intra-government communication, increased government efficiency and deployment of electronic government services,” Kilman said. Vanuatu’s prospects are also expected to be boosted at the completion of the submarine telecom cable construction linking its capital Port Vila to Fiji. The new NIDC comprises 25 members from Vanuatu’s public, NGOs (includes Vanuatu Society of Disabled People, chiefs, women representatives and church leaders) and private entities.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Dionisia Tabureguci
Quelle/Source: Islands Business, 14.04.2013
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