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<DIV><FONT size=2>Thanks. But can the core report-document be shared?
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Gaston Zongo</FONT></DIV>
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style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=rikp@earthlink.net href="mailto:rikp@earthlink.net">Rik
Panganiban</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=plenary@wsis-cs.org
href="mailto:plenary@wsis-cs.org">plenary@wsis-cs.org</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Friday, February 25, 2005 12:13
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [WSIS CS-Plenary] World Bank
sees digital divide narrowing, 25 Feb</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Dear friends,<BR><BR>Here is an interesting article on the
World Bank views on the WSIS.<BR><BR>Rik
Panganiban<BR><BR><B>========================================<BR><BR>ABC
News<BR></B><A
href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1310673.htm">http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200502/s1310673.htm</A><BR><B><BR>Last
Update:</B> Friday, February 25, 2005. 9:21am (AEDT)<?/color><BR><BR><?/fontfamily><B><?fontfamily><?param Georgia><?bigger><?bigger><?bigger><?bigger><?bigger><?bigger><?bigger><?bigger><?bigger><?bigger>World
Bank sees digital divide narrowing<BR><BR><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/bigger><?/fontfamily></B><?fontfamily><?param Georgia><?bigger>The
World Bank has called into question a costly UN campaign to bring hi-tech
communications to the developing world, saying the "digital divide" between
rich and poor nations is narrowing fast.<BR><BR>The World Bank says in a
report that telecommunications services to poor countries are growing at an
explosive rate.<BR><BR>"People in the developing world are getting more access
at an incredible rate - far faster than they got access to new technologies in
the past," the report said.<BR><BR>It says half the world's population now
enjoys access to a fixed-line telephone and 77 per cent to a mobile network -
surpassing a World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) goal that calls
for 50 per cent access by 2015.<BR><BR>The report says there were 59 million
fixed-line or mobile phones in Africa in 2002 - contradicting Senegalese
President Abdoulaye Wade's claim last year that there were more telephones in
Manhattan than in all of Africa.<BR><BR>"Unless New Yorkers and their commuter
friends have 12 phones each, Africa now has many more telephones than
Manhattan," the World Bank report said.<BR><BR>The UN hopes that widening
access within the developing world to technology such as mobile phones and the
Internet will help eradicate poverty and build stable
democracies.<BR><BR>Poorer countries, particularly from Africa, are expected
to repeat calls in Geneva for a "Digital Solidarity Fund" to help finance the
infrastructure they say is needed to close the perceived technology
gap.<BR><BR>To help fuel fierce demand for communications in countries which
lack fixed-line alternatives, US mobile phone equipment maker Motorola Corp
announced this month it planned to provide an ultra low-cost mobile phone for
less than $US40.<BR><BR>It will be aimed at emerging markets.<BR><BR>About
1,700 international experts are gathering in Switzerland to prepare for the
United Nation's World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).<BR><?/bigger><?/fontfamily><?fontfamily><?param Arial>===============================================<BR>RIK
PANGANIBAN Communications Coordinator<BR>Conference of NGOs in Consultative
Relationship with the United Nations (CONGO) <BR>web:
http://www.ngocongo.org<BR>email: rik.panganiban@ngocongo.org<BR>mobile: (+1)
917-710-5524 <?/fontfamily></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>