World Dialogue on Regulation

The overall aim of Richard Heeks’ set of suggestions for the G8 meeting in Germany merits strong support. ICT needs to have a more prominent position in development policies and assistance. Many other issues are of great importance too, however, the role of ICT in social and economic development needs to be emphasised.

From a specific research and education point of view, much more emphasis should be given to the cooperation on research and higher education between the rich countries and the economically poorer countries. This implies support for joint research and university education projects and exchanges of researchers, teachers, and students. It also implies support for the establishment and interconnection of research and education networks like the European GÉANT network

Among the many other areas that merit political attention, two in particular are noted here.

First, there is the unfairness of the international Internet interconnection regime. Whereas the international accounting rate system for telephony would often lead to economic support for telephone operators in developing countries, the Internet interconnection system moves money in the opposite direction. This needs to be rectified.

A second issue concerns support for open standards. The increasing importance of Internet means that ICT standards are as much about application and even document standards as about basic communication standards. Not only will richer countries benefit from a higher degree of use of open standards, this will also strongly benefit the economically poorer countries.