High-level panel discussion at the Mobile World Congress 2012, Barcelona, Spain
A World Bank event graciously hosted by Alcatel-Lucent on their stand in Hall 6 (booth 6C3)
Wednesday, February 29, 2012 from 8:00-10:00 a.m.
Moving into the 2010s, the World Bank Group will follow a new strategy for ICTs. It will promote their use to transform services for greater development impact - strengthening accountability and governance, improving public services, and enabling more inclusive private delivery of services (Transform pillar). To drive innovations and productivity gains, it will target skills development for ICT - related jobs and the use of ICTs to accelerate innovation across the economy (Innovate pillar). And to promote the rapid roll-out of broadband infrastructure, it will scale up its support for policy reforms and for public-private ventures where needed to help catalyze greater investment in broadband infrastructure (Connect pillar).
The event will start with a presentation of selected Broadband Internet Development projects in Africa supported by the World Bank in Africa. These case studies reflect a range of approaches to policy and public-private investment that are under implementation or preparation, including access to submarine connectivity; cross-border links to ensure seamless and secure regional connectivity, and national links to deliver broadband Internet to provincial capitals, leveraging when possible infrastructure established by other utilities.
Distinguished senior panelists from industry, government and regulatory authorities will share their views and discuss issues such as: What are the overarching objectives for policy makers when defining broadband strategies and underlying broadband infrastructure? What are the main expectations of operators and service providers? How critical is the existence of fiber backbones to support mobile and fixed broadband services? How can development partners support a mix of catalytic investments and policy reforms to accelerate broadband development in Africa?
Please confirm your attendance for Wednesday, February 29, 2012 from 8:00-10:00 a.m. at the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona, Spain (Hall 6 - booth 6C3), as places are limited to 120, by sending your contact information to: mralisoanoro@worldbank.org by February 10, 2012.
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