Bridging the gap

Bridging the gap

The international community has recognised the digital divide and is active in attempting to bridge the gap. The UN General Assembly Resolution 56/183 (21 December 2001) endorsed the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It was held in two phases, with participation of 175 countries. The first phase took place in Geneva hosted by the Government of Switzerland from 10 to 12 December 2003, and the second phase took place in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, from 16 to 18 November 2005.

WSIS Logo

DSF Logo The objective of the first phase was to develop and foster a clear statement of political will and take concrete steps to establish the foundations for an Information Society for all, reflecting all the different interests at stake. In the second phase of WSIS efforts were made to put the 'Plan of Action' into motion and working groups were set up to find solutions and reach agreements in the fields of Internet governance and financing mechanisms. UN head Kofi Annan demanded that "This Summit must be a summit of solutions."

In order to stop the progress of digital disparities between and within countries, mere declarations of intent are not sufficient. Urgent action is needed. Responding to the shortage of basic equipment, investing in computer literacy and extending the reach of information flows is an immense undertaking. All this requires man-power and money, so the UN has setup the Digital Solidarity Fund.

Are these measures having any effect?

It is quite difficult to judge whether the efforts mentioned above are having any effect because of their recent implementation. However according to the ITU's statistics, it is clear that over the last 10 years the digital divide has been shrinking in terms of numbers of fixed phone lines, mobile subscribers, and Internet users.

Fixed
In 2004, the developing world had 4 times fewer fixed telephones than the developed world.

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