South African History Online

Address by President Nelson Mandela at the opening ceremony of Telecom 95,
the 7th World Telecommunications Forum and Exhibition

Geneva, 3 October 1995

Dr. Pekka Tarjanne, Secretary-General of the ITU;
Your Excellency,
President Kaspar Villiger of the Swiss Federation;
Honourable
Ministers;
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Distinguished
guests;
Ladies and Gentleman.

South Africa is deeply honoured by the invitation to take part in this
opening ceremony of Telecom 95, the 7th World Telecommunications Conference and
Exhibition.

Your seventh forum is the very first in which South Africa is participating
as a full member of the International Telecommunications Union. This is
testament to the steadfast support which our struggle for freedom received from
the ITU. On behalf of the people of South Africa, we thank you for your
solidarity, and express our joy at being so warmly accepted as a full and equal
partner in the all-important world of telecommunications.

We would also like to express our gratitude at being given this unique
opportunity to present our views at Telecom 95. The keen appreciation we feel is
heightened by the fact this is a special moment in the world's potential for
transition to a truly democratic information age.

The ITU is a body of crucial importance for South Africa and indeed the
entire African continent. We need a vast expansion of our communication and
information network. The ITU, as the principal driving force behind
international policy; technological development; co-operation; and skills
transfer is an indispensable agent in this regard.

It therefore gives me great pleasure to announce that, following discussions
between officials of the ITU and the South African government, we have formally
invited the Union to hold its next Africa region Telecom Exhibition and Forum in
1998 in South Africa. We would be happy and proud to host this prestigious
event, and look forward to further close co-operation with the Secretary General
and the Telecom Secretariat to make it a memorable occasion for the benefit of
the Union and its members.

Ladies and gentlemen;

The value of information and communication is felt with particular force
when, as happened in South Africa for so many years, their denial is made an
instrument of repression. Such measures, however, ultimately evoke inventive and
innovative ways of circumventing the restrictions.

For example, as prisoners on Robben Island, when we were deprived of
newspapers we searched the refuse bins for the discarded sheets of newspapers
which warders had used to wrap their sandwiches. We communicated with prisoners
in other sections by gathering matchboxes thrown away by warders, concealing
messages in false bottoms in the boxes and leaving them for other prisoners to
find. We communicated with the outside world by smuggling messages in the
clothing of released prisoners.

Not even the mot repressive regime can stop human beings from finding ways of
communicating and obtaining access to information.

This applies in equal measure to the information revolution sweeping the
globe. No one can roll it back. It has the potential to open communications
across all geographical and cultural divides.

Nevertheless, one gulf will not be easily bridged - that is the division
between the information rich and the information poor. Justice and equity demand
that we find ways of overcoming it. If more than half the world is denied access
to the means of communication, the people of developing countries will not be
fully part of the modern world. For in the 21st century, the capacity to
communicate will almost certainly be a key human right.

Eliminating the distinction between information rich and information poor
countries is also critical to eliminating economic and other inequalities
between North and South, and to improving the quality of life of all humanity.

Converging developments in the fields of information and communications offer
immense potential to make real progress in this direction. The pace at which the
price of communications and information systems has fallen has also undermined
the previously rigid link between a nation's wealth and its information
richness. There is an unprecedented window of opportunity.

But the present reality is that the technology gap between the developed and
developing nations is actually widening. Most of the world has no experience of
what readily accessible communications can do for society and economy.

Given the fundamental impact of telecommunications on society and the immense
historical imbalances, telecommunications issues must become part of general
public debate on development policies. Telecommunications cannot be simply
treated as one commercial sector of the economy, to be left to the forces of the
free market.

Ladies and Gentlemen;

In South Africa, with its own severe historical imbalances between developed
and disadvantaged areas, we face many of these challenging issues within our own
borders. For that reason we have much to learn from the rest of the developing
world. But we do also believe that the lessons of our own experience may be of
value to others, and in that spirit we would like to share some of them with
you.

First of all, we believe that the concept of universal service should be
extended to the international plane. The obligation on governments to bring
services to the rural and poorer areas of their countries should, with the
globalisation of telecommunications, apply to the world at large. Developed
nations should understand the necessity and the democratic right of the poorer
countries to gain access to the information super-highway.

And just as every nation needs co-operation between its various sectors to
find the country's best way of accessing the utilising the information highway,
so too is increased international co-operation necessary. Amongst other things
this should give high priority to overcoming the legacy of colonial development
which left many countries linked to their neighbours via Europe rather than
directly across their borders. A new programme of building high capacity links
between neighbouring countries is urgently needed.

At present only the best-resourced countries can keep up with new
developments. A world-wide centre for monitoring change would allow all nations
to do so. The scope of what is required is beyond that of existing organisations
and this might well be a role for the ITU itself.

If developing countries are to make effective use of the chance to join the
super-highway, there is a need for a special effort to build the pool of human
resources. A massive investment in education and skills transfer is essential if
the South is to compete in the global communications marketplace. This too
requires long term international co-operation.

Many developing countries face difficulties in raising capital for their
existing operators. There is consequently pressure on governments to throw open
their doors to international competition. This calls for great care, to avoid
jeopardising local services having to compete with powerful international
operators. Perhaps the most creative solution is the establishment of
partnerships of operators in developing countries with international companies
and consortia. Such mutually beneficial arrangements would bring profitable
investment to the Northern partner strategic skills transfers and exne-way
relationships.

Another how to create incentives for telecommunications operators to supply
unprofitable services which tted to supporting - for example tain international
developments new difficulties for many developing countries. In particular,
whiltion are reducing the cost of inrce national operators to reduce order to
compete, thereby diverting funds from their less economic areas.

The effects on national accounting rates ought, therefore, to be taken into
account in the negotiation of these rates and theTraditionally, revenue from international services has been shared in a way
that brought a substantial transfer of funds to developing countries. African
countries in the ITU have urged that this transfer should be maintained or even
increased or even increased, given their higher costs.

Ladies and gentlemen;

These are some of the issues regarding the globalisation of
telecommunications and the information revolution which are of concern to South
Africa and many developing countries. If we cannot ensure that this global
revolution creates a world-wide information society in which everyone has a
stake and can play a part, then it will not have been a revolution at all.

As we head towards the 21st century, the development of a global information
society based on justice, freedom and democracy must be one of our highest
priorities.

To this end I would like to formally table for discussion at Telecom 95 a set
of principles designed to enable the full participation of both the developed
countries and developing countries in building a global information society.

1. We should strive towards global universal service in telephony and global
   universal access to the information superhighway;
2. The expansion of the global information infrastructure should be based on
   partnership and rules of fair competition and regulation, at both national and
   international level;
3. The information revolution should be geared toward enhancing global
   citizenship and global economic prosperity;
4. A diversity of paths towards the achievement of national information
   societies should be respected;
5. The evolution of policy for the development of an equitable global
   information society should be co-ordinated internationally to ensure the
   sharing of information and resources;
6. The education of young people with regard to the skill needed for living
   in an information society should be prioritised.

Ladies and gentlemen;

In conclusion I would wish to emphasise the importance of young people to the
information revolution. Many of us here today spent much of our lives without
access to telecommunications or information services, and many of us will not
live to see the flowering of the information age. But our children will. They
are our greatest asset. And it is our responsibility to give them the skills and
insight to build the information societies of the future.

The young people of the world must be empowered to participate in the
building of the information age. They must become the citizens of the global
information society. And we must create the best conditions for their
participation.

I thank you.

Issued by: The Office of the President