ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY FOR ELEVATING · IMPROVING REGIONAL BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY THROUGH THE ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 7 The Survey guides public policies

IMPROVING REGIONAL BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY THROUGH THE

ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY

ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION

SUPERHIGHWAY FOR ELEVATING

THAILAND’S DIGITAL GOVERNMENT

Atsuko Okuda

Chief, ICT and Development Section

ICT and Disaster Risk Reduction Division

ESCAP

1 November 2018



2

ESCAP



3



United Nations Economic and Social

Commission for Asia and the Pacific

(ESCAP)• Established 1947, HQ in Bangkok, Thailand

• Regional development arm of the United Nations for the Asia-Pacific region.

• 53 Member States and 9 Associate Members

• The region is home to 4.1 billion people, or two thirds of the world’s population

For more information (http://www.unescap.org/)

4



5


ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 6

WSIS C7 E-government



7

The Survey guides public policies and institutions for digital transformation and innovation

It is the only global research that assesses the e-government development status of all 193 UN Member States

It builds capacity and shares knowledge and good practices from around the world in enhancing public governance and online public service delivery

It demonstrates the global progress in e-government development and serves as a barometer of e-government trends, a benchmark tool and a development tool

It helps draw attention from the academia and media to issues of digital government and related institutions

United Nations E-Government Survey



UN E-Gov Survey Methodology

• A country’s ranking in the survey is determined by the

EGDI - E-Government Development Index, which is a

weighted average of three normalized scores on

• Scope and quality of online services

1. Online Service Index, OSI

2. Telecommunication Infrastructure Index, TII

3. Human Capital Index, HCI



Online Service Index (OSI)

• Composite normalized score derived on the basis on an Online

Service Questionnaire.

• The total number of points scored by each country is

normalized to a range of 0 to 1.

• Formula:

• Questions surrounding “information about” something such as

laws, policies, legislation or expenditures, “existence of” a

feature such as social networking tools, “ability to” do

something on the website i.e. run a transaction

9



E-participation Index (EPI)

• Focusing on the government use of online services in providing information to its citizens or “e-information sharing”, interacting with stakeholders or “e-consultation” and engaging in decision-making processes or “e-decision-making

• Formula:

• Other updates included: (i) the availability of information on the citizens’ rights to access government information; (ii) feedback from citizens concerning the improvement of online public services; and (iii) public opinion tools on policy deliberation through social media, online polls and online discussion forums.

10



Regional Trends

Source: 2018 UN E-Government Survey

https://publicadministration.un.org/en/Research/UN-e-Government-Surveys



Countries with Very High OSI In Asia# Country Region OSI Score

2018

OSI Rank

2018

EGDI Rank

2018

1 Denmark Europe 1.0000 1 1

2 Singapore Asia 0.9861 2 7

3 United States of America Americas 0.9861 2 11

4 France Europe 0.9792 4 9

5 Republic of Korea Asia 0.9792 4 3

6United Kingoom of Great Britain

and Northern IrelandEurope 0.9792 4 4

7 Australia Oceania 0.9722 7 2

8 Finland Europe 0.9653 8 6

9 India Asia 0.9514 9 96

10 Italy Europe 0.9514 9 24

11 Japan Asia 0.9514 9 10

12 New Zealand Oceania 0.9514 9 8

13 Norway Europe 0.9514 9 14

14 Sweden Europe 0.9444 14 5

15 United Arab Emirates Asia 0.9444 14 21

16 Spain Europe 0.9375 16 17

17 Canada Americas 0.9306 17 23

18 Germany Europe 0.9306 17 12

19 Netherlands Europe 0.9306 17 13

20 Poland Europe 0.9306 17 33

21 Portugal Europe 0.9306 17 29


https://publicadministration.un.org/en/Research/UN-e-Government-Surveys



2018 Global Highlights • E-government has grown rapidly over the past 17 years,

since the first attempt of the United Nations to

benchmark e-government in 2001.

• In the 2018 Survey, 40 countries score “very high”, with

e-government development index (EGDI) values in the

range of 0.75 to 1.00, as compared to only 29 countries

in 2016.

• Since 2014, all 193 Member States of the UN have

delivered some form of online presence.

• Countries in the Low-EGDI level have dropped by a

significant 50 per cent or 16 countries compared to 32

countries in 2016.



Towards sustainability and resilience

• Highlights the many and

complex opportunities for

deploying e-government to build

resilient societies and sets out

the necessary preconditions,

• Outlines ways in which e-

government can advance the

implementation of the

Sustainable Development Goals

14



Natural disasters in Asia and the Pacific

15



E-resilience as part of Digital Government

• Resilience = “ability of a system, community or society

exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to

and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and

efficient manner, including through the preservation and

restoration of its essential basic structures and functions”

• E-resilience = the use of ICTs during all phases of disaster

risk management —prevention, reduction, preparedness,

response and recovery — towards reducing risk and

impact and maintaining the gains made towards

sustainable development, including through e-

government.

16



17



AI for e-resilience: Qatar

• Qatar’s Artificial Intelligence for Disaster

Response (AIDR) = a free and open source

software that automatically collects and

classifies social media feeds including tweets

that are posted during humanitarian crises.

• AIDR maximises the use of machine intelligence

and assists in making sense of significant

amounts of data, video, images and texts on

social media whenever disaster strikes.

• Once the collection starts and tweets begin to

gather, different keywords and hashtags are

created, such as #Medical Needs or #Shelter.

18



Thailand’s E-Government Ranking

Year Global E-Gov

Ranking

2018 73rd / 193

2016 77th /193

2014 102th / 193

2012 92nd / 193

2010 76th / 192

2008 64th / 192




Thailand’s E-Government Ranking




Thailand’s E-Government Development Index

Global Rank

Regional Rank

(Asia)

Sub-regional Rank

(South-East Asia)

73rd / 193

countries

19th/ 47

countries

4th / 12

countries

High EGDI 0.6543

High OSI

Very High HCI

High TII

0.6389

0.7903

0.5338

High EPI 0.6517

Note:

EGDI – E-Government Development Index

OSI - Online Service Index

TII - Telecommunication Infrastructure Index

HCI - Human Capital Index

EPI – E-Participation Index




Thailand’s Telecommunication Infrastructure Index

(TII)

Mobile

subscriptions

173.78%

Wireless

broadband

subscriptions

92.9%

Internet Users 47.5%

fixed broadband

subscriptions

10.48%

fixed telephone

line

subscriptions

6.83%




Thailand’s Online Service and E-Participation• Thailand’s online service index (0.6389), human capital

index (0.7903) and e-participation index (0.6517) are in the same range as e-government index (0.6543), indicating that the demand/uptake of e-government services offered is comparably high.

• These numbers also indicate that upgrading Thailand’s telecommunications infrastructure, especially the availability of fixed broadband (currently 68th at 0.5338) and expanding the online services offered to its citizens could potentially elevate the country’s already high ranking, but most importantly, ensure that the country is in the best position to leverage on new technologies in implementing its development goals and in making these technology-based services available to everyone.




24

Fixed Broadband



Challenges: Digital Divide in Asia and the Pacific

25

0.3 0.91.6

2.63.8

4.96.1

7.28.4

10.011.5

13.514.6

15.516.2

21.0

23.8

0.10.10.10.10.10.1 0.30.30.30.30.30.3 0.60.60.60.60.60.6 1.01.01.01.01.01.0 1.61.61.61.61.61.6 2.12.12.12.12.12.1 2.72.72.72.72.72.7 3.43.43.43.43.43.44.14.14.14.14.14.1

4.94.94.94.94.94.95.75.75.75.75.75.7

6.76.76.76.76.76.7 7.37.37.37.37.37.3 7.87.87.87.87.87.8 8.38.38.38.38.38.3

10.310.310.310.310.310.311.511.511.511.511.511.5

0

10

20

30

Fix

ed-b

roadb

and

sub

scri

pti

on

s per

10

0 i

nh

abit

ants

2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016Year

East & North-East Asia ESCAP

Pacific Developing Countries Pacific

South-East Asia North & Central Asia

South & South-West Asia

Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100, 2000-2016

Source: Produced by ESCAP, based on data sourced from ITU World

Telecommunications/ICT Indicators Database (accessed July 2017).



0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Lao P.D.R.

Myanmar

Cambodia

Indonesia

Philippines

Malaysia

Brunei Darussalam

Vietnam

Thailand

Singapore

Korea

Fixed Broadband Subscription per 100 habitants, 2017

Fixed Broadband Subscriptions per 100 Habitants ASEAN Average ESCAP Average

Challenges: Fixed Broadband in SEA



27

Mobile Broadband Divide



0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160

Lao P.D.R.

Vietnam

Cambodia

Philippines

Myanmar

Indonesia

Thailand

Malaysia

Korea

Brunei Darussalam

Singapore

Mobile Broadband Subscription per 100 habitants, 2017

Active Mobile Broadband Subscriptions per 100 Habitants ASEAN Average ESCAP Average

Challenges: Mobile Broadband in SEA



Network quality and fixed-broadband adoption

29

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 10 20 30 40 50

25

6 K

bit

/s -

2 M

bit

/s s

ub

scri

pti

ons

per

10

0 f

ixed

-bro

adb

and

sub

scri

pti

ons

Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants

Solomon Islands

Afghanistan

Myanmar

Iran (I.R.)

AzerbaijanUzbekistan

French Polynesia

Bhutan

Bangladesh

MalaysiaMongolia

Brunei Darussalam

Kyrgyzstan Kazakhstan

Russian FederationSingapore

Korea (Rep.)Sri Lanka

Cambodia ChinaHong Kong, China

New ZealandThailandGeorgiaTurkey

PakistanLao P.D.R.

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 10 20 30 40 50

10

+ M

bit

/s s

ub

scri

pti

ons

per

10

0 f

ixed

-bro

adb

and

sub

scri

pti

ons

Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants

Turkey

Russian Federation

Georgia

Hong Kong,

China

New Zealand

Japan

Korea (Rep.)

Singapore

China

Kazakhstan

Malaysia

Bangladesh

Azerbaijan

Brunei Darussalam

Thailand

Uzbekistan

Iran (I.R.)French Polynesia

CambodiaKyrgyzstan

AfghanistanLao P.D.R.Solomon Isl.Mongolia

Source: Produced by ESCAP, based on data sourced from ITU World

Telecommunications/ICT Indicators Database (accessed July 2017).

256 Kbit/s – 2 Mbit/s 10+ Mbit/s



Challenges: Affordability (Mobile)

30

.1.2.2.2.3.3.3.4.4.4

.6.7.8.8.9.9.911

1.21.31.4

1.81.81.922

2.62.7

3.23.33.4

3.73.8

44.3

4.75

5.55.6

7.47.7

8.88.9

9.49.4

9.8

0 .5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6 6.5 7 7.5 8 8.5 9 9.5 10Mobile-cellular prices (% of GNI per capita)

Macao, ChinaHong Kong, China

New ZealandSingapore

AustraliaBrunei Darussalam

Sri LankaIran (I.R.)

KazakhstanRussian Federation

ChinaMalaysiaMongolia

TurkmenistanArmenia

AzerbaijanThailand

JapanMaldives

Korea (Rep.)Bhutan

GeorgiaBangladesh

IndiaMyanmar

NauruPakistan

Viet NamTonga

PhilippinesIndonesia

TurkeyTajikistan

NepalKyrgyzstan

FijiLao P.D.R.

SamoaKiribati

Marshall IslandsTimor-Leste

CambodiaPapua New Guinea

Solomon IslandsAfghanistanMicronesia

Vanuatu

Source: ITU World Telecommunications/ICT Indicators Database (21th Edition/Dec 2017)

Mobile-cellular prices (% of GNI per capita)



Challenges: Affordability (Fixed)

31

.1.5.6.6.6.6

11.11.11.11.21.41.51.71.81.92.12.42.6

3.23.23.33.53.53.83.93.94.24.4

4.85

7.18.38.4

10.310.6

11.111.8

12.613.5

16.518.6

25.729

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30Fixed broadband prices (% of GNI per capita)

Macao, ChinaSingapore

Brunei DarussalamJapan

KazakhstanRussian Federation

TurkeyAustralia

AzerbaijanMalaysiaIran (I.R.)Sri Lanka

Korea (Rep.)Viet Nam

New ZealandTonga

MongoliaChina

ArmeniaGeorgiaVanuatu

TurkmenistanMaldives

NauruThailand

BhutanFiji

Papua New GuineaBangladesh

IndiaPakistan

PhilippinesTajikistan

KyrgyzstanNepal

IndonesiaMicronesia

SamoaMarshall Islands

CambodiaLao P.D.R.

MyanmarTimor-LesteAfghanistan

Source: ITU World Telecommunications/ICT Indicators Database (21th Edition/Dec 2017)

Fixed-broadband prices (% of GNI per capita)



32

Artificial Intelligence



33

ESCAP’s analytical work

on ICT:

new technologies,

financing mechanism,

broadband infrastructure,

co-deployment,

international gateways,

university education

among others



New reality with Artificial Intelligence

34

Internets



Most important technologies today

35

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

11 11

1617

21

2527

37

Pe

rce

nta

ge

The Economist Intelligence unit Limited 2016



Number of Artificial Intelligence research

and size of the economy, 2015

36

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

Cit

able

do

cum

ents

, A

rtif

icia

l In

tell

igen

ce

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000GDP (current USD), in billion

World ESCAP

Fitted line (World) Fitted line (ESCAP)



AI research and ICT investment

37

Bangladesh

Hong Kong, China

India

Japan

Kazakhstan

Korea (Rep.)

Macao, China

Malaysia

New ZealandPakistan

Philippines

Russian Federation

Thailand

Turkey

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

Num

ber o

f cita

ble

docu

men

ts

0 5.00e+09 1.00e+10Annual invesment in ICT services



AI research and Absorptive Capacity

38

Australia

Bangladesh

China

Hong Kong, China

India

Indonesia

Iran (I.R.)

Japan

Kazakhstan

Korea (Rep.)

Malaysia

New Zealand

Pakistan

Philippines

Russian Federation

Singapore

Sri Lanka

Thailand

Turkey

Viet Nam

05

01

00

15

02

00

h-i

nd

ex

3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6Firm-level Technology Absorption Index



AI research and Fixed Broadband

39

Australia

Bangladesh

China

Fiji

Hong Kong, China

India

Indonesia

Iran (I.R.)

Japan

Kazakhstan

Korea (Rep.)

Macao, China

Malaysia

New Zealand

Pakistan

Philippines

Russian Federation

Singapore

Sri Lanka

Thailand

Turkey

Viet Nam

05

01

00

15

02

00

h-i

nd

ex

0 10 20 30 40Fixed-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants



40

Asia-Pacific Information

Superhighway



The Asia-Pacific Information

Superhighway initiative aims to increase

the availability and affordability of

broadband Internet across Asia and the

Pacific, by strengthening the underlying

Internet infrastructure in the region.

41

• Promote terrestrial and submarine fibre-optic connectivity

• Provide a regional intergovernmental platform focusing on the missing fibre-optic links between ESCAP countries

• ESCAP resolution 73/6 = mandate



42

AP-IS PILLAR 1

Connectivity

AP-IS PILLAR 2

Internet Traffic & Network Mgmt.

AP-IS PILLAR 3

E-Resilience

AP-IS PILLAR 4

Broadband for All

INFO AND PUBLICATIONS ON WWW.UNESCAP.ORG/APIS

ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY (AP-IS)



AP-IS Initiatives

43

Identification, coordination, deployment, expansion and

integration of the regional backbone network

Establish a sufficient number of IXPs at the national and

subregional levels and set out common principles on

Internet traffic exchange

Regional social and economic studies

Enhancing ICT infrastructure resilience

Policy and regulations for leveraging existing

infrastructure, technology and inclusive broadband

initiatives

Capacity-building

AP-IS funding mechanism based on public-private

partnerships

Strategic Initiatives 2016-2018

1

2

3

4

5

6

7



Transmission Map: Thailand

44



Cybersecurity

45

• “Enhancing Cybersecurity for Industry 4.0 in

Asia and the Pacific” report was prepared:

to increase awareness and understanding

of cyberattacks and cybersecurity among policy-

and decision-makers, regulators, academia, private

sector and CSOs with focus on Asia and the

Pacific

This report provides:

(1) insights and understanding of the nature

and magnitude of cyberattacks

(2) help to initiate policy discussions and

dialogues for action to enhance cybersecurity

(3) support the implementation of the Asia-

Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS)

https://www.unescap.org/resources/enh

ancing-cybersecurity-industry-40-asia-

and-pacific

https://www.unescap.org/resources/enhancing-cybersecurity-industry-40-asia-and-pacific



Co-deployment in Myanmar

46

•

https://www.unescap.org/resou

rces/study-cost-benefit-

analysis-fibre-optic-co-

deployment-asian-highway-

connectivity

https://www.unescap.org/resources/study-cost-benefit-analysis-fibre-optic-co-deployment-asian-highway-connectivity


ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAYAsian and Pacific Training Centre For Information and

Communications Technology for Development



MISSION

To build the ICT human and

institutional

capacity of ESCAP member States

Knowledge-

Sharing

Multi-Stakeholder

Dialogue and

PartnershipTraining



TARGET AUDIENCE AND FLAGSHIP

PROGRAMMES

Policy Makers

Civil Servants

Central Government

Local Government

Civil Service Organizations

Training Institutions

Women

Entrepreneurs

Women Entrepreneurs

Women Associations

Local Women Communities

Gender-Related Agencies

Students and Youth

Institutions of Higher

Learning

Future Leaders

Primer Series

on

ICTD for Youth

Women ICT

Frontier

Initiative (WIFI)

Academy of ICT

Essentials for

Government

Leaders



ACADEMY OF ICT ESSENTIALS FOR GOVERNMENT

LEADERS

M1 - The Linkage between ICT Applications and Meaningful Development

M2 - ICT for Development Policy, Process and Governance

M3 - E-Government Applications

M6 - ICT Trends for Government Leaders

M4 - Network & Information Security and Privacy

M8 - Options for Funding ICT for Development

M9 - ICT for Disaster Risk ManagementM10 - ICT, Climate Change and Green Growth

M11 - Social Media for Development

M5 - Internet Governance

M7 - ICT Project Management in Theory and Practice

Foundational

Technical

Managerial

Thematic

Modules



cc

152Countries enrolled

in Distance

Learning Platform

35Countries where

Academy is

launched

16 Localized

Languages

UTILIZATION OF THE ACADEMY PROGRAMME

China

Philippines

Indonesia

Timor-Leste

PalauMicronesia

Solomon Islands

Kiribati

Nauru

Samo

a Niue

Tong

a

Tuvalu

Myanmar

Lao

s

Cambodia

Viet Nam

Bhutan

Banglades

h

Sri LankaMaldives

India

Nepal

Pakistan

Afghanistan

Kazakhstan

Kyrgyzstan

Tajikista

n

Iran

TurkmenistanUzbekistanAzerbaijanArmenia

Mongoli

a

Cook Island

s



WOMEN ICT FRONTIER INITIATIVE

Promote Women Entrepreneurship through ICT

Capacity Development



cc

Cambodia

Bangladesh

Sri Lanka

India

Kyrgyzstan

CIS Region

ASEAN

Philippines

Armenia

7 Countries and

2 Subregions

reached

7 Localized

Languages

UTILIZATION OF THE WIFI PROGRAMME



PRIMER SERIES ON ICTD FOR YOUTH

Social

Media for

Developme

nt

Impart key knowledge of ICT for Development

(ICTD) to students and youth

An Introduction to

ICTD

Project

Management

and ICTD

ICT for

Disaster Risk

Management

ICT, Climate

change, and

Green

Growth



Colleges and universities in the region are using the Primer Series

as learning resources

• Build Bright University

(Cambodia)

• Institute of Information

Technology Bangalore (India)

• International Information

Technology University

(Kazakhstan)

• Kathmandu University (Nepal)

• Kyrgyz State Technical University

(Kyrgyzstan)

• Royal University of Phnom Penh

(Cambodia)

• Satbayev University (Kazakhstan)

• Tashkent University of

Information Technologies

(Uzbekistan)

• Universitas Gadjah Mada

(Indonesia)

• University of Indonesia

(Indonesia)

• University of Hyderabad (India)

• University of Moratuwa (Sri

Lanka)

• University of Technology,

Yadanabon Cyber City (Myanmar)

UTILIZATION IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC



DELIVERY CHANNELS

e-Learning

PlatformKnowledge

Repository

Platform

WIFI

Resource

Center

http://wifiinfobank.unapcict.o

rg/

http://unapcict.org/ecohub/https://e-

learning.unapcict.org/

(AVA) (E-CO HUB) (INFO BANK)

http://wifiinfobank.unapcict.org/

http://unapcict.org/ecohub/

https://e-learning.unapcict.org/



Asia-Pacific ICT & DRR Gateway

57

Providing policymakers and

relevant stakeholders with an

accessible gateway containing

a spectrum of resources with

regard to Information and

Communications Technology

and Disaster Risk Reduction



Navigate to the ICT & DRR Gateway

58

Access the Gateway on

www.drrgateway.net



59

Thank you!Email: [email protected]

Documents

ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY FOR ELEVATING · IMPROVING REGIONAL BROADBAND CONNECTIVITY THROUGH THE ASIA-PACIFIC INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 7 The Survey guides public policies