broadband strategies handbook.pdf - Khazar University

on content, high cost of personal computers, and limited competition. Thereport’s overarching conclusion was the need for convergence—throughbundled offers and transition to IP-based networks—which would triggermass broadband adoption.Many, but not all, of the countries have awarded spectrum for mobilebroadband services. Morocco, for example, was one of the first countries toaward 3G frequencies in the region. It did so through a beauty contest,which lowered spectrum costs for operators. Some of the spectrum wasawarded to a new operator, shaking up the existing duopoly and triggeringintense competition in the mobile broadband market (box 7.3). As a result,mobile broadband subscriptions in Morocco have surpassed wireline connections.The country has adopted the Maroc Numérique 2013 Strategywith targets for providing broadband to all schools and one-third of householdsby 2013 (Morocco, Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and New Technologiesn.d.). Morocco is highlighted in a case study at the end of thischapter.Most countries in the region share a common language, which facilitatescollaboration on developing digital Arab content to improve demand forbroadband. 7 The Jordanian minister of information and communicationstechnology has outlined the importance of the content industry as a maindriver of Internet penetration, especially as it relates to local and Arabiccontent. The digital content industry in Jordan received a boost in 2009,when chipmaker Intel announced plans to invest in two digital contentcompanies: Jeeran and ShooFeeTV. 8 The funding will be used to help bothcompanies to pursue regional growth as well as extend their product offerings.Jeeran is the largest user-generated content site in the Arab world,reaching 1 million members and 7 million unique visitors per month. 9ShooFeeTV provides online information for more than 120 Arab satellitechannels, including listings, programming information, celebrity news, pictures,and video clips. 10 Global social networking sites such as Facebook andTwitter have also grown in popularity, as reflected in their extensive useduring the so-called Arab Spring in 2011. The number of Facebook users inthe Arab region grew 78 percent in 2010, while in Tunisia the proportion ofFacebook users increased 8 percent in the first two weeks of January 2011following the beginning of demonstrations. 11South AsiaSouth Asia faces severe supply- and demand-side constraints in promotingbroadband access. In absolute terms, there is a significant base of wirelinetelephone lines and cable television subscribers. India has the third largestGlobal Footprints: Stories from and for the Developing World 311