broadband strategies handbook.pdf - Khazar University

E-government initiatives have been a major driving force for developmentof the broadband ecosystem. This has triggered demand by enterprisesin the ICT sector and motivated citizens to increase Internetusage. Ensuring a shared vision among political leaders and technocratshas also been an important factor in pushing e-government programs.Political leaders saw e-government as a central instrument that wouldsupport public reforms and larger changes in the political system. A centralorganizational structure was formulated to develop strategies andput public money into the pipeline for a set of strategically importantprojects with high value and high transaction costs.The high-tempo growth of Turkish economy in the last decade is anothersupportive factor. Various market-oriented reforms have been complementedwith a proactive foreign policy resulting in large sums of overseascapital flowing into the country. Communications, software, and hardwaresegments of ICT industries have expanded rapidly. This has included significantinvestment in upgrading mobile networks to broadband. Broadbandmobile networks were only launched in 2009, yet by the end of 2010around a quarter of the population was already capable of accessing highspeedwireless services.The Turkish population has largely embraced social networking. Thecountry is the fourth largest Facebook market in the world. In addition,local content is growing, and Turkish websites are getting more popular andincreasingly diversified.Nevertheless, the country continues to face economic and social barriersto its ability to absorb broadband technologies effectively on a large scaleand better utilize them for leveraging competitiveness. Fixed broadbandcompetition is limited and dominated by DSL technology. ICT skill gapsamong SMEs and the less educated need to be addressed with the participationof private initiatives. The lack of a suitable national accounting frameworkfor more detailed analysis hinders international benchmarking inICTs and innovation.If Turkey can overcome these barriers, the results could be considerable.According to its Digital Vision roadmap, broadband could boost economicgrowth by 0.8 to 1.7 percentage points per year. The economic momentumenabled by an enhanced broadband ecosystem would create between180,000 and 380,000 new jobs each year.VietnamWith s ome 86 million inhabitants, Vietnam is the thirteenth most populatedcountry in the world. Its land area is larger than Italy and almost the size of328 Broadband Strategies Handbook