The Digital Divide inside European Research and Education David Williams Second Round Table on Developing Country Access to Scientific Knowledge ICTP, Trieste 23 October 2003

Why me? n My main job is the coordination of relations between CERN and the institutions of the European Union –especially Commission, but also e.g. Parliament n I have a long-term professional interest in IT and networking n From 1999 until May 2003 I was president of TERENA, the association of national research and education networks (NRENs) in Europe n I am leading an FP5-funded project, called SERENATE (see which is just in the final stages of completing its report on the medium-term (5- 10 year) strategy for European research and education networks

SERENATE and the DIGITAL DIVIDE inside EUROPE This work was led by Marko Bonač, the head of the Slovenian NREN. He unfortunately cannot be here, but agreed that I can use some of his slides.

SERENATE findings on geographic issues SERENATE findings on geographic issues Marko Bonač ARNES

Report identifying issues related to the geographic coverage of European research and education networking The Report will  review the digital divide in research networking provision in Europe and  provide some recommendations on how this divide could be closed. Sources of information are:  answers to the special questionnaire sent to all eastern European NRENs  several meetings with eastern European NRENs  TERENA Compendium 2003 Marko Bonac (Arnes) and John Martin (ENPG) are working on the Report. Any additional input is welcome.

NRENs from eastern Europe  Albania (ANA)  Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIHARNET)  Bulgaria (ICT)  Croatia (CARNet)  Cyprus (CYNET)  Czech Republic (CESNET)  Estonia (EENet)  Hungary (HUNGARNET)  Latvia (LATNET, LANET)  Lithuania (LITNET)  Macedonia, FYR (MARNet)  Malta (CSC)  Poland (PSNC)  Romania (RoEduNet, RNC)  Serbia and Montenegro (AMREJ)  Slovak Republic (SANET)  Slovenia (Arnes)  Turkey (ULAKBIM)

Data illustrating the digital divide Group of countries NREN total international bandwidth (Mbps) Typical National Core Bandwidth (Mbps) NREN budget per 1 M inhabitants (MEURO) GDP per capita (EURO) GERD per capita (EURO) Average EEA 6,8923,8331,5725, Average AC 1, ,7711,79144 Average OEC ,49

GÉANT (January 2003) Country grouping Speed of access port to GÉANT in Mbps LoadExpenditure for GÉANT as percentage of NREN`s budget Average EEA % Average AC %23 % Average OEC %22%

High speed University connections Country grouping Percentage of Universities connected to NREN at 1 Gbps or more Percentage of Universities connected to NREN at 100 Mbps or more Average EEA 29 %47 % Average AC 10 %24 % Average OEC 2 %24 %

Findings and recommendations Digital Divide exists  The depth of the digital divide varies very greatly from country to country  There are four countries in eastern Europe with a high overall standard of research networking. Reasons include: –Good support for research networking at government level –Access to dark fibre where/when necessary –History of participation in joint European projects  The majority of countries fall very far behind those in western Europe  The consequences of this digital divide are serious  Those countries without an adequate research network will suffer from “research exclusion”

Findings and recommendations Access to dark fibre is vital  Access to dark fibre enables the NRENs in small eastern European countries to upgrade the capacity of the backbone and access links one hundred-fold without spending much more on the infrastructure  At the present moment this is the main step which could be taken to close the digital divide. –It seems that in most eastern European countries the fibre is already laid. –In countries with a liberalized telecommunication market it is not difficult to get the fibre. –There are encouraging examples that this was also done in the countries with monopoly in telecommunications –Could the EC make recommendations in this respect? _

Findings and recommendations The case for research networks still needs to be made  Lack of awareness of the importance of research networking / at government level as well as at academic level / is a matter of concern  Sometimes it is supposed that the ordinary Internet will solve the problem. Not every one recognizes that without high capacity research network research exclusion is inevitable.  Problems are also known to exist where –the NREN is not formally established as an independent body or –where there are several NRENs with indistinct responsibilities and without necessarily economy of scale

Summary 1.Digital divide in research networking provision exists 2.The depth of the digital divide varies very greatly from country to country. 3.The digital divide between most developed and least developed countries is getting bigger. 4.If uncorrected, will prevent the goal of equal opportunity for researchers. A.Access to dark fibre is vital B.Awareness of the importance of research networking at government level is important. C.Participation in joint projects is very valuable. D.Could the European Commission and TERENA do more to close the digital divide ?

Some personal comments n I think that the digital divide issue is actually very important for the future stability of the world n I think that it will be very difficult to fix n Some of it is finding the right technologies for different areas n But a lot is about the structure of society – reliable electrical power, government transparency, support for education and scientific research – and while the developed countries can help, the real directions can only be determined in the developing world n But you need to understand that “removing the digital divide” is shooting at a moving target. Internet use has only just started and technological progress will move the goalposts (raise the bar) a lot in the next years.

What might help? n Scientists have to sell their ideas to politicians and to society in general n Creating a National Research and Education Network does help – the power of acting together n High costs of connectivity are a killer – Europe suffered from that a lot from the early 80s to the late 90s n GEANT communications 30 M€  5 M€ n Try to work very hard to obtain access to an optical fibre backbone –EU-25 has regulated that –Poland and Czech Republic built/leased their own –Serbia fixed the issue

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