ICTs & SDGs: Sound Policy & Regulation required for beneficial effects of ICTs

I was deeply impressed with the ITU Publication 'ICT-centric economic growth, innovation and job creation.'

This book has many takeaways. My favourite ones are as follows:

The  publication captures the essence of the undeniable linkages between ICTs and the SDGs. It is both comprehensive and contemporary covering various aspects such as the digital divide, innovation and latest technologies and their connection with sustainable development

In particular, I  support and underline the contention in Chapter 2 that highlights that more emphasis needs to be placed on addressing inequalities in access and usage of ICTs between people and regions which if left unaddressed will exacerbate all other inequalities in development, growth and quality of life over time adversely affecting the progress in realizing the SDGs. The stress on ICT related Targets in SDGs (table 1.) is very important. The measures contained in sub goal 9c must include all disadvantaged persons including Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).

In this context, while governments have a very important role to play, the way forward is a multi-stakeholder model wherein private sector, academia and civil society are actively engaged and involved by governments. I wholeheartedly endorse the importance of good regulation that encourages and facilitates private sector innovation and government support (through inter alia innovative use of Universal Service Funds) to empower the poor, women and PwDs etc. such that they are provided the benefits of ICTs. 

The multi-stakeholder partnership model described in Appendix A to Chapter 2 is very relevant and tried and tested in India in its Sanchar Shakti project  for access to Mobile Value-Added Services for rural women. 

Chapter 4 with its emphasis on a conducive institutional and regulatory framework is highly relevant especially for policy makers and regulators in developing countries. Competition, liberalisation and innovation go hand in hand with sustainable growth. In particular, the trade-off between short term gains and long-term harm caused by policy decisions impacts all sectors including ICTs and has a very important bearing on achieving sustainable development. 

I also appreciate the stress on the capacity of ICTs to empower citizens by providing information and a feedback mechanism to express their views and preferences. The sections on competition, consumer regulation and State owned Enterprises (SoEs) are very well written and pertinent. Competition, credible governance, universal service regulation, privacy and data protection can have a critical impact on, long term growth of ICTs and hence overall socio-economic development given the intricate linkages between ICTs and the SDGs. This is an important precondition for overall balanced growth in international context.

Chapter 5 speaks about new data driven business models based on sharing and personalisation in the context of increasing growth of IoT, multi-sided platforms and the App economy, highlight the need for focus on  important issues such as privacy and data protection and cyber security which are critical to consumer protection, trust and hence uptake of ICTs and their continued contribution to sustainable development.

Communications Imperatives in Disaster Situations

It is heartening to note that Indian Telecommunications Companies are coming forward to assist in post disaster communications in the flood ravaged state of Uttarakhand. Today's Economic Times carries an article titled Telcos help track last call records of victims which explains how major service providers are setting up free help lines for tracking last calls made by victims and free public calling offices (PCOs), topping up prepaid balances for free and setting up portable base stations etc. 

While these efforts are laudable there is a pressing need to have a standard operating procedure for such situations so that many of these measures kick-in automatically. Telecommunications are the life line of relief and rescue work. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) needs to enforce the license provisions relating to location based services. This would appear to be a precondition for the effectiveness of emergency number services in dealing with disaster/emergency related calls as envisaged in TRAI's consultation paper on Emergency Communications and Response Systems.

There are other related issues such as the DoT having a Disaster Management Plan as required under the Disater Management Act, 2005. This would include resilience and redundancy of communications especially in vulnerable areas, SOPs entailing setting up ad hoc networks and mandatory  time bound restoration of communications post disaster etc. It would also entail laying down the protocol and methodology for coordination between service providers and local authorities and list obligations on both their parts. An article BSNL's attempts to restore infrastructure points to the need for such planning and coordination. Such a plan would also lead to corresponding regulations and  amendments to licenses. There would be financial implications which would need to be taken care of. There are also underlying issues regarding Universal Service Obligations which normally  include free access to emergency services. Please see my previous blog titled Universal Access to Emergency Services

The states and districts also need to have well equipped and functional State and District level Emergency Operations Centres (SEOCs and DEOCs) with robust communications networks that can handle the sudden surge in traffic as demanded by disaster/emergency situations. This is mandatory under the DM Act.

There are innovative solutions that can be permanently made part of emergency communications services. See for example Google Person Finder's services for this disaster.

Mobile communications are also important for timely dissemination of emergency alerts and SMS broadcast of location specific disaster prevention/mitigation or relief related information.

Eventually the issue of long term restoration of communications infrastructure arises. In this case suggestions have been to consider mandating insurance towards reconstruction for critical infrastructure like telecommunications.