
The expansion of broadband networks is key to promoting rapid growth in developing countries and to enhancing international justice and global peace, according to United Nations International Telecommunication Union Secretary-General Hamadoun Toure.
“Broadband networks will change the way governments offer essential services from education and health care to transportation, water and energy,” Toure told participants of the World Telecommunication Development Conference in Hyderabad, India. “By delivering efficiencies across all of these areas, broadband networks can quickly pay for themselves, creating a virtuous circle of investment, productivity and human development.”
The 2010 session of ITU’s quadrennial conference will run over the next two weeks. Topics to be discussed at the conference include broadband connectivity, open source software, digital broadcasting, cyber security, information and communication technology policy and regulation, and the application of ICT in health and emergency situations.