Why LIRNEasia? Priorities, work style, values LIRNEasia Team For LIRNEasia strategic planning workshop, September 19 th, 2004

2 Two (or many) Asias?  Largest concentration of poor people, particularly S. Asia  Yet Asia is seen as driving the world economy Japan (for several decades) Asian tigers China and India (Asian juggernauts?) on the rise

3 Two (or many) Asias?  Does well in telecom/ICT measures as “Asia” but this is a deceptive label Developed Asia is in many cases ahead of rest of the world Developing Asia is a straggler  Asians shine in ICT industry worldwide, but skill shortfalls in home countries

4 Illustrations ( from ITU Report, September 2004)  Taiwan, China has highest mobiles/100 at , with Hong Kong China in 3 rd place (105.75) Afghanistan & Bangladesh bring up the rear with 1.00 and 1.01  Korea has 2 nd highest est. Internet users at 60.34/100 inhabitants, with Singapore in 5 th place (54.81) Sri Lanka has 1.17/100; India has 1.75/100

5 Illustrations ( from ITU Report, September 2004)  Korea has highest broadband penetration at 23.33/100 inhabitants, with Taiwan, China in 5 th place (13.35) Indonesia has 0.02/100; India has 0.01/100 (Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal no reports)  Broadband is cheapest in China (USD 9.66/mo.); Taiwan 8 th lowest (USD 19.39; and Sri Lanka 11 th (USD 21.71) Bhutan asks for USD 1680/mo.and Myanmar for USD 4794/mo for lower-speed connectivity

6 Why LIRNEasia?  ICT use is held back in Asia by laws/policies/regulation  Key stakeholders in government/private sector/civil society in Asian countries have to change this  LIRNEasia will be a catalyst for change Cannot work without the reactants Is miniscule in relation to reactants Unless conditions are satisfied, catalyst cannot produce results

7 What we want to do?  Immediate Build a world-class team of ICT policy/regulation/implementation professionals  For what? To ensure that laws/policies/regulation facilitate ICT use, not stifle  Objective: improving the lives of the people of Asia Money in the pocket Hope in the heart

8 How?  Applied research and dissemination Study best, worst and possibly in- between but insightful cases that shed light on important issues Improve the research through mechanisms such as expert fora and Internet discussions that also serve to disseminate knowledge

9 How?  Training, preferably context-specific LIRNE.NET executive training courses to be offered in Asia Context-specific training courses and workshops that advance the reform process at critical points  Rapid response unit Offer quick access to resources and training at decisive moments

10 Organizational form  Lean organization, structured around the web  Project teams Country case studies will involve one person from inside and one from outside Emphasis on Asian expertise, but not exclusively  Play with technologies WiFi already in place Access to video-conferencing More...

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12 Distance Learning SLIDA, our partner and home

: Diversifying investment in network development  Sources, types and methods of investment funding for network development;  Factors determining their availability and application; and  Conditions influencing success or failure

14 Possible projects  Lessons from Eastern Nepal and Sri Lanka least-cost subsidy auctions and associated regulatory (in)actions Innovating at the margins in Indonesia using WiFi India’s universal service fund: design and implementation Grameen in Bangladesh: conditions for replication

15 Possible projects  Demand-side subsidies, including Vouchers being designed for e Sri Lanka  Microeconomic (community, household) assessment of impacts, benefits & costs of policy/regulatory reform and ICT diffusion  What people do with ICTs and information obtained through ICTs

16 Possible projects Focus on the lack of backbone Sub-Saharan Africa project under discussion with LINK Centre, South Africa Asian equivalent, covering countries such as  Bhutan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kyrgyz Republic (no/access problems)  India, Pakistan, (have, but access/use could be better)  Afghanistan (planning stage; greenfield)

17 Anchor/continuing projects  Annual sector and regulatory performance indicators Better than ITU, reaching for OECD—”objective”  Use ITU as base  Improve quality  Add new indicators, e.g., leased line prices  Use standard definitions where possible to allow comparison  Benchmarking tools May include TRE assessments and survey results—”subjective”

18 Anchor/continuing projects  Ongoing training programs Executive level ICT (LIRNE.NET) Middle-level multi-sector regulation, in association with TERI, SLIDA and others such as SAFIR [South Asian Forum for Infrastructure Regulation]  Web Regular Asia contributions to WDR LIRNE.NET, LIRNEasia.net; asia.lirne.net

19 In sum: what is LIRNEasia’s comparative advantage?  We specialize in usable, actionable knowledge Creating (research) Disseminating (multi-mode) Creating conditions for learning  No other work such as managing pilot projects  Demand-driven from one of our three audiences: government, private sector, civil society

20 Core values (subject to modification with partnerships)  We are close to the ground, close to the action Operate on the basis of relationships built and fostered over time  People, more than organizations  “Neither here nor there” Not outsiders But not insiders either  E.g., case study responsibilities: 1 st chair from outside; 2 nd chair from inside

21 LIRNEasia’s signature and promise  We will be independent and respected for expertise by multiple sides and parties Exemplified by LIRNEasia Launch ceremony  We will do work that leads to implementation  We will be passionate and committed Will not avoid controversy but will be fair