Posted on 03/12/2006 7:02:45 AM PST by SkyPilot
DOHA (AFP) - The Arab world is lagging behind in the digital revolution, with Internet users making up less than four percent of its population, according to participants in a telecommunications development conference in Doha.
"The Arab presence on the Internet is almost zilch ... not more than a few websites providing information or personal sites," said Syrian Telecommunications and Technology Minister Amr Salem.
This is due to technical factors, notably "the absence of an Arab portal, which means connections on the network have to go through Europe or the United States, pushing up costs," he said.
Salem said other reasons were "the lack of a juridical framework covering the Arab region and investors' hesitation" to put their money in the telecommunications sector, which is booming in industrialized countries.
According to statistics compiled by the UN's International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a co-organizer of the week-long Doha conference ending on March 15, the 22 Arab League members had only 11.7 million Internet users out of a total population of 316 million in 2004.
This amounts to a 3.7 percent penetration rate in the region, whose combined Gross Domestic Product totals 813 billion dollars and per capita income reaches 2,571 dollars.
In contrast, the use of mobile phones is expanding in Arab states, with 45.9 million subscribers in 2004 -- a penetration rate of 14.51 percent -- compared to 27.1 million landline subscribers, which amounts to an 8.59 percent penetration rate.
The Group of Eight leading industrial nations had a total of 429 million Internet users in 2004, nearly as much as the rest of the world combined -- 444 million.
Internet use is growing at varying rates in the Arab world, the ITU's representative in the region, Ibrahim Haddad, told AFP, pointing to a "very rapid" growth in the oil-rich Gulf monarchies.
"But Arab countries generally suffer problems related to infrastructure, poverty and illiteracy -- particularly digital illiteracy," he said.
Salem said Arab states were conscious of the need to tackle such difficulties.
They "are unanimous in wanting to promote" information technologies, he said, hinting that this is one sector which appears to have escaped chronic inter-Arab political differences.
"No Arab country fears e-commerce or digital services on the Internet," Salem said, while deploring the delay in laying down a pan-Arab juridical framework to regulate information technologies.
Haddad was more optimistic, noting that half the Arab countries had set up independent telecommunications bodies, which helped resolve legal problems and reassure investors.
Moreover, he said, Arab states have already privatized 43 percent of their major telecommunications operators -- with the Internet and mobile phones open to the private sector up to 76 percent and 87 percent, respectively.
At the regional level, Haddad said, the private sector will be largely involved in the execution of a project to establish an inter-Arab Internet connection.
The plan, dubbed Regional Access Point, was initiated by Arab states in conjunction with the ITU at an estimated cost of 200 million dollars.
Haddad said this was one of six Arab projects approved during the World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunis last November, including the creation of a digital database.
I was walking through the streets of Amsterdam a few years ago, and the section was predominantly composed of Muslim immigrants.
There were hundreds of able bodied young men, sitting on park benches and street corners, drinking tea, smoking, and arguing with each other (mostly arguing). They talked and talked and talked.
There was one man working, and he was the one selling tea and cigarettes.
The Arab world is extremely unproductive. If it were not for oil revenues, I cannot imagine the level of poverty it would be in.
Furthermore, I don't believe there ever was a "Golden Age of Islam" for science and mathematics.
Whatever achievements they claim were lifted entirely from Greek, Roman, and other cultures that they looted and plundered.
It's tough to master 21st century technology when you live in the 12th.
Really, I understand that after the fall of Rome that Present day Iraq was the center of science, medicine and many other arts.
What's with all the terrorists using the internet? Is that blarney, or the 4% elite?
When they can work out an acceptable design for burkas to cover those sexy desktop and laptop screens, then maybe they can make some progress for the first time in a thousand years.
I think the only Islamic use for the internet is to bring down Western culture. Then they can shut down that pesky internet. So, you are right. It makes sense that only terrorists should be allowed to use it.
There is little good to say about the state of the world today; this is one of the bright spots.
It's a good thing.
Imagine high technology in the hands of hate-filled apes...
Mr Salem may be ashamed to say it, rightfully so, but I'm not:
98% of the arab presence on the internet is related directly or indirectly to mass murder, mayhem and destruction.
Not exactly a legacy to be proud of a few hundred years hence.
I wonder how many women and girls have free access to the internet? I would like to see statistics on this.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
That was my thought. The Arab presence on the Internet appears to be almost entirely devoted to Jihad or phony charities raising $$ for Jihad.
Yep. Even in Dubai you have to go to the free zones (where all the rich White people live) to have uncensored Internet access.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Yeah, but they did invent 'zero'. As soon as they invent 'one' they will breach the digital divide.
Well, the Left likes to claim that the terrorists are all the poor and impovrished Arabs, but that's hardly from the truth. Most of the terrorists are the doctors, the lawyers, the engineers, architects, construction workers (Bin Laden & Co.), etc.
No, they didn't. They stole that from the Indians.
Yes, the ones that have "American" in front of their name (such as the American University in Cairo), or use an American curriculum for foreigner's kids such as oil engineers.
I do find it ironic that the "Information Superhighway", the pinnacle of Western technological achievement, is being exploited by those who would destroy Western civilization. In a way its like the excellent roads built by the Roman Empire. The roads helped Rome expand and maintain its empire. In the end, however, the roads also made it easier for the Barbarians to invade & conquer Rome. Now the Internet is being used to incite the Muslim masses and coordinate terrorist activities. Just goes to show that technology is a double-edged sword.
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