The Hindu : International / India & World : Maran suggests Asia-Pacific research fund in IT sector

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Friday, Jul 02, 2004

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International - India & World

Maran suggests Asia-Pacific research fund in IT sector

By P.S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, JULY 1. The Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Dayanidhi Maran, today suggested that "it would indeed be useful if a common Research-and-Development Fund is created for the Asia Pacific region" in the IT sector. This could be "utilised by identified centres of excellence in different countries" that were already sharing their research findings across "the Asia Pacific Telecommunity (APT) platform," he told an international conference in Bangkok.

Addressing the APT ministerial conference on broadband and ICT development, Mr. Maran said governments and industry, besides the U.N. and multilateral financial agencies, "can perhaps fund" IT-related research, with particular reference to the Millennium Development Goals of the global organisation.

India looked forward to exploring the possibilities of R&D-related cooperation with other Asia Pacific countries in the fields of "ubiquitous mobile telecommunication, spectrum management techniques, digital audio-video broadcast and the next-generation terminal devices," he said.

Information highway

Striking a wider regional note, Mr. Maran said, "a project that could be of interest... is the setting up of an East-West Information Super-Highway in order to have broadband connectivity from Iran/UAE to Vietnam via Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia." This project, whose current status he did not go into, could not only serve the Asia Pacific region but also provide "a stand-by route" to certain relevant submarine cables. The APT and the International Telecommunication Union could perhaps undertake this project, he proposed. A "security network" was essential for the development of broadband facilities, he said and added, "most economies are still struggling to realise nationwide broadband access." A principal reason behind this state of affairs was the high fixed costs involved.

Outlining India's IT experience, which had already attracted worldwide attention, Mr. Maran spoke of the country's challenges in this sector. "Having achieved a fair degree of success in improving our tele-density figures, we in India are on the threshold of launching a big thrust in respect of Internet and broadband access," he said.

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Maran suggests Asia-Pacific research fund in IT sector