Building Consensus on Internet Access at the Internet Governance Forum

This paper identifies and documents the main areas of discussions and ‘recommendations’ that were generated under the Access theme at the second Internet Governance Forum in Rio De Janeiro, November 2007.

Whilst recognising that the IGF is currently viewed and operates primarily as a space for discussion, the paper finds that (specifically in the case of Access) it is also a space in which commonality of opinion occurs to the level at which ‘recommendations’ can be made and repeatedly asserted independently/individually in the workshops, and strategically reinforced at different levels of the IGF.

The levels addressed in the paper include:

• the three 'thematic' workshops on access
• the reporting back session
• and the main access plenary

The paper finds the generation and articulation of recommendations to be in line with the mandate of the IGF, specifically:

Advising all stakeholders in proposing ways and means to accelerate the availability and affordability of the Internet in the developing world.

Whilst a variety of recommendations were made, these can be categorised into the following broad areas:

• Enhancement of the development of and access to infrastructure - in recognising that the availability of internet infrastructure needs to be considered hand-in-hand with the affordability of the infrastructure, this recommendation calls for the consistent implementation of competitive regimes and the creation of incentives that facilitate the coexistence of competitive and collaborative models for providing and/or improving access.
• Localisation of ICT and Telecom policies and regulation – refers to calls for a review of the ways in which access issues are articulated and ICT/Telecom policy and regulation is formulated. It asks that the translation/customisation of largely urban-centric policies be challenged and that greater emphasis be given to demand-side characteristics and the needs of rural/local communities.
• Promoting the development potential of ICTs and integrating access infrastructure initiatives with other basic needs – calls for a multi-sectoral approach to infrastructure development and regulation; specifically the integration of ICT regulation and policy with local development strategies, as well as the exploitation of complementarities between different types of development infrastructure

This paper proposes that the convergence in opinions about how to address the challenges of access may be a result of a maturity in understanding of the issues relating to access that has built up over time and is discussed in other related bodies and fora. However, thinking and understanding of ‘tools’ and implementation procedures/processes of solutions for resolving/addressing these well understood issues and challenges cannot be described as having attained a similar level of maturity – in fact, particularly in the case of rural/local access they can be described as infantile.

http://rights.apc.org/documents/IGF_AccessRecommendations_0208.pdf