A telecommunications revolution

After three years of exhausting negotiations, delegates at the World Trade Organization telecommunications forum finally reached the historic decision to demolish all obstacles that obstruct investments in basic telecommunications services. Delegates of 68 countries, including Indonesia, last week put their signatures on the accord that opened their respective telecommunications markets to investment from other countries.

It is appropriate that we welcome the agreement since the lifting of national borders to foreign investment in the field of telecommunications is certain to eventually benefit consumers, who will profit from lower telephone, facsimile and data transmission rates. For investors, the agreement is no less beneficial because it means greater efficiency, easier access toward investments and the elimination of protection barriers.

For Indonesia, the accord connotes a triumph because, at the very least, the forum did not present us as being backward. On the contrary, the Indonesian delegation showed the forum that in the field of telecommunications we have been a step ahead of many others, since we had already opened our doors to foreign investments through projects of cooperation at a time when others, including some industrially advanced countries, were still busily debating the issue at the conference table.

In many countries the first to benefit from this telecommunications "revolution" will probably be the consumer. The subsequent reduced telephone and data communication rates are certain to make it cheaper to obtain information for business, education, entertainment and other purposes. To anticipate the opportunities before us, it would be advisable to start finding more effective ways to prepare the public and the business community -- in particular small businesses as well as government, educational and other institutions -- to utilize this approaching inflow of cheap information to maximum advantage.

Clearly, the arrangements that need to be taken include not merely making available the necessary hardware and software or controlling their prices. Rather, the emphasis should be on the human resources aspect. For example, how will our children utilize the cheap information available when they do not speak or understand English?

As we are anticipating this era of cheap information, it is not just the Ministry of Education and Culture that needs to busy itself preparing for what is to come. All parties involved in the development of our human resources should take part in the effort, including the private sector, although indeed the Ministry of Education and Culture needs to be the front runner.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta