Transform, Innovate, and Connect: A New Strategy for Information and Communication Technology

A dramatic increase in use of mobile phones and the Internet; plunging prices of computing and mobile internet devices; the increasing prevalence of social media: these are some of the rapid changes seen in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector over the last decade.

The World Bank Group’s new strategy for the ICT sector for the period 2012-2015 reflects this new context. It aims to help developing countries use ICT to transform delivery of basic services, drive innovations and productivity gains, and improve competitiveness.

“Information and communication technologies can help reduce poverty, boost economic growth, and improve accountability and governance,” explains World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte.

The World Bank Group’s new strategy will help our client countries take advantage of the opportunities that ICT offers across all sectors of the economy, drawing on our unique expertise in public-private partnerships in the ICT sector.”

Working with client countries

The new strategy builds on the Bank Group’s experience working with client countries on ICT sector reforms, infrastructure development, and electronic government:

• Over the 2000s, Bank support for ICT sector reforms helped attract an estimated $30 billion in private investment for mobile network infrastructure in the least developed countries. The International Finance Corporation (IFC)’s $2.3 billion in telecommunications infrastructure investments and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)’s $550 million in political risk guarantees also supported private investment in mobile service providers in difficult and high-risk environments.
• Bank Group support for ICT applications has grown rapidly over the last decade, and over 70 percent of the 1,700 projects in the Bank’s active portfolio now have ICT components.
• Since 2007, the Bank Group has intensified its support for public-private partnerships for broadband and high-speed Internet, helping bring down retail prices and increasing the take-up of services, in some instances by a factor of 10.

Stakeholders from 17 low- and middle-income countries and four OECD countries provided inputs for the new strategy through a series of face-to-face and online consultations. The document also draws on a review by the Bank Group’s Independent Evaluation Group.

For Rashad-Rudolf Kaldany, IFC Vice President for Global Industries, “The Strategy recognizes the vital role of the private sector in improving access to information infrastructure and services in developing countries.” He explains that “IFC works with the private sector as an advisor, financier, and standard setter to help unlock the potential of ICT for development.”

Jose Luis Irigoyen, the World Bank’s Director for Transport, Water, and Information and Communication Technologies, underlines how “ICT offers new tools to directly address poverty by providing access to information, contributing to pro-poor market developments such as microfinance and mobile money, and equalizing opportunities in rural areas.”

Collaborating across the Bank Group

Under the new strategy, the World Bank, IFC, and MIGA will work together to assist countries in unlocking the opportunities offered by ICT.

For instance, the World Bank will provide support for appropriate policy, legal, and regulatory frameworks, as well as catalytic investment in ICT backbone infrastructure; IFC will provide financing and advisory services to mobile operators; and MIGA will provide guarantees to support the roll-out of telecommunications networks and services.

“MIGA has contributed to the rapid growth of access to ICT services in emerging countries by mitigating the political risk of investments,” says Michel Wormser, MIGA’s Vice President and COO.

He adds that, “Under the new WBG strategy, MIGA will make available its insurance capacity to further accelerate ICT investments in higher-risk countries, notably fragile and post-conflict countries, where ICT will be key to growth, job creation, sharing of knowledge, and governance.”

The ICT strategy will adopt a new approach to implementation, including country diagnostics to help prioritize Bank Group interventions at the country level and leverage more partnerships with external sources of expertise. A results-based framework will be used to track progress.