In the occasion of the Internet Governance Forum, the Association for Progressive Communications is launching three new papers on key ICT policy and internet rights issues. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CONVERGENCE: The importance of convergence in the ICT policy environment By Kate Wild This paper looks at the meaning and importance of convergence and considers some of the challenges to implementing it, along with strategies for overcoming them. It also provides a global perspective on regulating convergence and broadband from ITU and then it looks at experiences in North America and Europe as well as regional and country approaches in Africa. http://rights.apc.org/documents/convergence_EN.pdf (English) http://rights.apc.org/documents/convergence_FR.pdf (French) --------------------------------------------------------------------- OPEN ACESS: Lowering the costs of international bandwidth in Africa By Mike Jensen This paper was commissioned by the APC as part of the Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa initiative and to contribute to APC's efforts to promote open access to ICT infrastructure in Africa. According to the author, a variety of factors are responsible for the lack of acess to bandwith in Africa, but the biggest cause is the high cost of international connections to the global telecommunication backbones. http://rights.apc.org/documents/open_access_EN.pdf (English) http://rights.apc.org/documents/open_access_FR.pdf (French) --------------------------------------------------------------------- WSIS: Whose information society? Developing country and civil society voices in the World Summit on the Information Society By David Souter This paper summarises a study of developing country and civil society participation and influence in WSIS that was commissioned by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). As well as analysing participation, the study looked at the impact of WSIS on international ICT decision-making in general and makes recommendations to all main actors about how future decision-making might become more inclusive of developing countries, nongovernmental actors and their concerns. http://rights.apc.org/documents/wsis_EN.pdf (English) -------- FRANÇAIS -------- Les nouveaux thèmes émergents d'APC en anglais en français A l’occasion du Forum sur la gouvernance de l’internet (FGI), l’Association pour le progrès des communications lance trois nouveaux articles sur les thèmes fondamentaux des politiques de TIC et des droits d’internet. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CONVERGENCE : L’importance de la convergence dans le contexte des politiques des TIC Kate Wild La première partie de ce document porte sur le sens et l’importance de la convergence et sur certains des problèmes associés à sa mise en oeuvre, ainsi que sur les stratégies qui permettent de les surmonter. La deuxième partie présente un survol de la régulation de la convergence et de la bande passante par l’Union Internationale des Télécommunications (UIT) et s’intéresse aux expériences en Amérique du Nord et en Europe ainsi qu’à certaines approches régionales et de pays d’Afrique. http://rights.apc.org/documents/convergence_EN.pdf (Anglais) http://rights.apc.org/documents/convergence_FR.pdf (Français) --------------------------------------------------------------------- ACCÈS OUVERT : Abaisser les coûts de la bande passante internationale en Afrique Mike Jensen Cette analyse a été commandée par APC dans le cadre de Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa et pour contribuer aux efforts d´APC pour promouvoir l´accès ouvert à l´infrastructure de TIC en Afrique. Selon l’auteur, la situation actuelle de la bande passante en Afrique est attribuable à un certain nombre de facteurs, mais elle est due essentiellement au coût élevé des connexions internationales vers les dorsales de télécommunication internationales. http://rights.apc.org/documents/open_access_EN.pdf (Anglais) http://rights.apc.org/documents/open_access_FR.pdf (Français) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Uniquement en anglais: WSIS: Whose information society? Developing country and civil society voices in the World Summit on the Information Society By David Souter This paper summarises a study of developing country and civil society participation and influence in WSIS that was commissioned by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). As well as analysing participation, the study looked at the impact of WSIS on international ICT decision-making in general and makes recommendations to all main actors about how future decision-making might become more inclusive of developing countries, nongovernmental actors and their concerns. http://rights.apc.org/documents/wsis_EN.pdf (English) A. Wanjira Munyua National Coordinator, Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa (CATIA) Association for Progressive Communications (APC) alice@apc.org http://www.apc.org http://www.catia.ws