Global Economic Growth Depends on Informed Internet Policymaking, Business Leaders Tell Internet Governance Forum

Global Economic Growth Depends on Informed Internet Policymaking, Business
Leaders Tell Internet Governance Forum
Data Shows 10 Percent Increase in Internet Access Boosts Economic Growth by
1.3 Percent

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The future of the Internet is
everyone's concern. As a gateway to abundant resources that can help raise
global living standards, the continued evolution and success of the Internet
is essential. This was the message delivered today by business leaders to the
UN-linked Internet Governance Forum (IGF), taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh,
Egypt.

Addressing over 1,000 participants during the opening ceremony of the forum,
International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Secretary General Jean Rozwadowski
said: "Harnessed appropriately, the Internet has an important role to play in
helping to address an array of challenges ranging from economic recovery to
climate change."

Mr. Rozwadowski went on to underscore that a holistic, but distributed,
approach to Internet governance was the only way to ensure that the right
decisions are made. "No one group can or should address Internet governance
issues alone," he said.

Business is a major investor, innovator and developer of Internet
technologies, infrastructures, applications and services that enable users to
reap the benefits of the Internet.

Subramaniam Ramadorai, Chair of the ICC initiative Business Action to Support
the Information Society, and Vice Chairman of Tata Consultancy Services,
stressed that developments in networking and mobile technologies and
applications must be underpinned by investments in infrastructure and
increased technical literacy. They must also be supported by informed policy
frameworks at national level that promote innovation.

"Regulatory frameworks should avoid hampering a company's ability to compete,
which in turn slows innovation," Mr. Ramadorai said during his opening speech
at the forum. "In India we have seen that when policies and regulation support
the ability of companies to compete, innovation and entrepreneurship thrive."

Around the world, partnership programmes and initiatives are helping people in
cities and rural areas extend use of the Internet for their economic and
social benefit. Business is a key partner in these efforts.

Research by the World Bank published in July this year revealed that a 10
percent increase in high speed Internet connections leads to a 1.3 percent
growth in the economy - data that supports ICC's belief that informed policy
choices that enable connectivity and new pathways such as mobile Internet
access are a very powerful way to extend economic opportunities.

Herbert Heitmann, SAP Chief Global Communications Officer, and Chair of the
ICC Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecoms said: "Many of us already take
the opportunities and efficiencies of the Internet for granted. However, there
is still a huge untapped potential in this market, one which holds the key to
future economic growth on a global scale."

The economic impact of mobile access to the Internet has been most significant
in some of the most rapidly developing parts of the world, according to
research published earlier this year by the Indian Council for Research on
International Economic Relations (ICRIER).

For example, the use of mobile technology in a fishing village near
Pondicherry now allows fishermen on land to access optimal fishing zone
information, which they use to alert their colleagues out at sea - increasing
the day's catch up to 10-fold.

Meanwhile, the radio taxi industry across urban India has experienced 50
percent annual growth in the past few years, as a direct result of equipping
drivers with mobile phones and using GPS to track cars, according to the
ICRIER report.

Another study, commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks, shows that increased
access to broadband in the US has accounted for 10 percent of recent
productivity growth. The report, published in February this year, adds that if
the US had five more broadband lines for every 100 people, the country's GDP
would be 0.5 percent higher than its current 2009 level.

"Mobile access to the Internet provides people, even in the remotest areas,
access to vast resources of knowledge and information, and makes best
practices available to everybody," said Lauri Kivinen, Head of Corporate
Affairs of Nokia Siemens Networks.

"It also broadens the geographic scope of potential markets, increases choice
in the marketplace, and provides access to goods and services that may have
been previously unavailable or unknown," he added.

Business believes that effective Internet related policies create an
environment that enables innovation and development, attracts investment,
helps build infrastructures for future users and spurs economic recovery and
growth. Informed policy frameworks are pro-competitive and consider issues
such as the free flow of information, data protection, and security.

ICC BASIS is a strong supporter of the IGF that will take place over the next
three days. The forum was set up three years ago as an open platform for
businesses, governments, civil society and technical organizations to discuss
Internet policy issues.

The IGF enables the development of Internet related policies by allowing
participants
to:
-- share ideas and listen to others' perspectives on an equal footing
-- exchange best practices

-- build human and institutional capacity

The forum's original five-year mandate expires at the end of 2010, and ICC
BASIS is publicly backing continuation of the IGF and its founding principles.

* World Bank report "Information and Communication for Development 2009:
Extending Reach and Increasing Impact" can be seen at www.worldbank.org

* The ICRIER's study "India: The Impact of Mobile Phones" can be seen at
www.vodafone.com

* The NSN's study "Economic Impact of Broadband: An Empirical Study" can be
seen at www.connectivityscorecard.org

For further information, please contact:
Dawn Chardonnal
ICC Communications Manager
Tel: +33 (0)1 49 53 29 07
Email: dawn.chardonnal@iccwbo.org

About ICC
The International Chamber of Commerce is the largest, most representative
business organization in the world. Its hundreds of thousands of member
companies in over 130 countries have interests spanning every sector of
private enterprise.

A world network of national committees keeps the ICC International Secretariat
in Paris informed about national and regional business priorities. More than
2,000 experts drawn from ICC's member companies feed their knowledge and
experience into crafting the ICC stance on specific business issues.

The United Nations, the World Trade Organization, and many other
intergovernmental bodies, both international and regional, are kept in touch
with the views of international business through ICC.

For more information please visit: www.iccwbo.org

About the ICC Commission on E-Business, IT and Telecoms (EBITT)
Business leaders and experts drawn from the ICC membership establish the key
business positions, policies and practices on e-business, information
technologies and telecommunications through the EBITT Commission. With members
who are users and providers of information technology and electronic services
from both developed and developing countries, ICC provides the ideal platform
to develop global voluntary rules and best practices for these areas.
Dedicated to the expansion of cross-border trade, ICC champions liberalization
of telecoms and development of infrastructures that support global online
trade. ICC has also led and coordinated the input of business around the world
to the World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva 2003, Tunis 2005, and
continues this effort in the activities established in the Tunis Agenda
through its initiative, Business Action to Support the Information Society
(BASIS http://www.iccwbo.org/basis)

SOURCE International Chamber of Commerce

Dawn Chardonnal, Communications Manager of ICC, +33 (0)1 49 53 29 07,
dawn.chardonnal@iccwbo.org