Remarks of Commissioner Rachelle B. Chong to Inter Comm 95 Vancouver February 22, 1995 Good afternoon. It's a pleasure to talk with you today about a topic of great personal interest to me -- the Global Information Infrastructure or GII. This afternoon, I'd like to outline how the GII has been defined in the U.S., how it's been developing up to now, and my vision of the GII for the future. Definition of GII In a nutshell, the GII is a plan to create an international network made up of local, regional and national information networks. Through the GII, people will be able to exchange whatever kind of information they want to send -- whether it be an architectural drawing, a sound recording, a video program, or a text document. And they will be able to do it quickly and cheaply across national borders and between continents. The GII concept goes beyond physical cables and radio waves. It embodies the ideas and information we all will share on this worldwide network. It is a shorthand way of talking about what some have termed the concept of international connectivity -- the collective expectations we have for how technology can bring people from different parts of the world closer together. The Vision Futurists already have many ideas about how the GII will bring tangible benefits to everyone who gets linked to this network of networks. I thought I'd give you some examples of how I think the GII can make a difference. For business, the integration of computer technology and far-flung digital networks will bring enhanced productivity and help make companies more adaptable to changing market conditions. The GII will bring customers and suppliers closer together, lowering costs and enhancing competition. Ideally, the GII will promote new global markets. For developing nations, the GII will be an invaluable resource to aid in developing their economies, infrastructure, and political institutions. It will provide a means of accessing problem-solving knowledge for government and private industry. It will allow greater contact between governments and citizens, thereby increasing participation in political matters. The GII also will facilitate advancements in education, health care, and other fields. Picture for a moment the vision of schools, libraries and medical facilities throughout the world linked to each other by a network of wired or wireless radio paths. This network allows them to be able to share ideas in a nanosecond. In education, this could mean, for example, that instead of American students trying to learn French by repeating taped phrases before a teacher, American and Quebec students could team up interactively through a real-time video link and build their French and English language skills together. What a great way to promote cultural understanding between our children! In medicine, the GII would allow a patient to be examined by a far-away medical specialist via interactive television. X-rays and CAT scans can be delivered via high-speed data lines. This "telemedicine" will lower health care costs and improve the quality of care. Indeed, the GII holds great potential to improve the quality of all our lives by providing early warning systems for natural disasters like hurricanes, volcanic eruptions, floods, and earthquakes. The GII will also allow experts around the world to share their research to solve international problems, like global warming, and to collaborate on public health projects, like finding an AIDS vaccine. Getting There There are the five basic principles will guide the evolution of the Global Information Infrastructure in the months and years to come. First, we should encourage private investment. In the U.S., we believe that private enterprise is the best organizational form to foster the kind of innovation and investment necessary to achieve a useful information infrastructure. Countries all over the world seem to agree with us. Many countries are moving toward privatization. In the Russian Federation, for example, there are now over 80 private firms providing telecommunications services in its 86 regions to clients throughout Russia. Likewise, in the Czech Republic and in Greece, the governments have announced that they would sell off portions of their government- owned telecommunications monopolies to allow faster innovation. But privatization is not enough. There must also be competition. That's the second principle. Competition promotes reasonable rates and increases efficiency and innovation. In our view, countries simply cannot afford not to have competition. The U.S. has been moving aggressively to introduce competition in all aspects of the telecommunications market. In the ten years that competition has existed for U.S. long distance telephone service, the cost of a long-distance call has declined significantly -- about 40% depending on how you measure it -- and it has brought about a multitude of new service plans, improved connections and quality of service. The third principle for the GII, especially important to the FCC, is to encourage countries to put in place flexible regulatory frameworks. These flexible regulatory frameworks allow regulators to keep pace with the fast-moving technological innovations. I see a regulator's role as one which ensures fair competition and fosters private investment while protecting consumers' interests. The goals of regulation should be set such that competition is enhanced and compliance is simple so that the operators are not overburdened with paperwork. The fourth point for building the GII is that we should provide open access to the network for all information providers. Every user should have access to the thousands of sources of information available around the world, with all the systems interconnected. Ideally, network owners should charge nondiscriminatory prices for access to their networks. Another precondition of open access is the ability of multiple systems to interface seamlessly. To bring about the GII, we all must work to develop international standards to ensure interoperability and interconnection between systems. Fifth and finally, we should ensure that the principle of universal service is kept in mind as the GII expands its reach. The promise of information technology is especially great when we consider its potential to deliver inexpensive, reliable communications to remote locations. Did you know that there are more telephone lines in the city of Tokyo than in all of Africa, and that more than half the people in the world have never made a phone call? We hope that the coming technology will change that. Low Earth Orbit satellite systems, for example, promise to bring telephone and high speed data service to anyone on the planet. This means that Siberians, Eskimos and Samoans will all for the first time be able to install telephones in their villages and have an on-ramp to the Information Superhighway. This is not to say that this technology will be a magic solution to the problem of underdevelopment of telecommunications. Developing countries have 75% of the world's population but only 12% of its telephone lines. Because a working communications infrastructure is so important for economic development, it is crucial that we encourage efforts to help these countries modernize their communications networks. These five principles will guide our efforts to make our GII vision a reality. Current GII Efforts The U.S. government has been working hard to bring this vision to reality. Countries throughout the world have become very interested in building their own networks to ensure they are linked to the GII. In the last year and continuing this year, there has been a flurry of international activity as representatives from countries throughout the world meet to coordinate their countries' positions on GII. I thought I'd update you on some of the key activities. Last March, our Vice President Gore announced an action plan for the GII at the ITU World Telecommunications Development Conference in Buenos Aires. He proposed that work be done for the next four years in guiding the construction of GII. At the G-7 summit in Naples last July, the world's leaders approved President Clinton's proposal that telecommunications ministers from G-7 countries meet to address issues related to constructing the GII. They will be meeting in just a few days in Brussels. This is an extremely significant step because the only other time the G-7 has agreed to hold such a high-level meeting on a specified topic was last March in Detroit to address global unemployment. Last December, Western Hemisphere leaders met at the Summit of the Americas in Miami to focus on telecommunications and information infrastructure issues. In addition, the U.S. government has held high-level policy discussions with representatives from other countries to open overseas markets for products and services that will be part of GII. Last, but by no means least, we and other representative from the Asia- Pacific region are meeting here in Vancouver this week to address cross-border issues affecting the development of GII. Conclusion In every country in the world, we can see the beginning of projects which embody the spirit of GII as expressed by the five principles. Many governments around the world are promoting private investment in their state telecommunications companies as vehicles to provide a solid communications infrastructure. By continuing this development, we can all bring ourselves into the new Information Age with all the promise that it will bring. Thank you very much.