The 9th edition of the ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report focuses on Monitoring the WSIS Targets. The year 2010 marks the midpoint between the 2005 Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and 2015, the deadline for achieving the ten targets that governments agreed upon at the WSIS. The Report is a mid-term review, and provides policy makers with a comprehensive assessment of what has been achieved so far, and what remains to be done.

The Report has been prepared specifically for the WSIS Forum 2010 and the ITU World Telecommunication Development Conference, both held in May 2010.

The Report reviews the 10 targets, proposes concrete indicators to monitor them and makes recommendations on policies and measures to help achieve them:

1. To connect villages with ICTs and establish community access points
2. To connect universities, colleges, secondary schools, and primary schools with ICTs
3. To connect scientific and research centers with ICTs
4. To connect public libraries, cultural centers, museums, post offices, and archives with ICTs
5. To connect health centers and hospitals with ICTs
6. To connect all local and central Government departments and establish web sites and e-mail addresses
7. To adapt all primary and secondary school curricula to meet the challenges of the information society, taking into account national circumstances
8. To ensure that all of the world’s population has access to television and radio services
9. To encourage the development of content and put in place technical conditions in order to facilitate the presence and use of all world languages on the Internet
10. To ensure that more than half the world’s inhabitants have access to ICTs within their reach

The Report reflects a joint effort among several international organisations, led by ITU and including contributions from UNESCO, WHO and UNDESA, as well as from representatives of civil society.

Published: 2010