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The market for the SARDEG comprises of
information providers like the government, development partners,
civil society organisations, the private sector, academic
institutions, international investors, financial institutions and
the consumers of the information – typically the average internet
user. The market is expected to grow quickly, as more
infrastructures and business conducting environments become
conducive. The growing numbers of public Internet access points like
rural multimedia centres in the remote parts of the region is
another promising enhancement for accessibility. But there is still
a problem concerning insufficient infrastructures and poor
connectivity in many parts of the target countries, whereas for the
locals, affordability is still an issue to address.
There has been a great increase in regional content on the Internet
coming from the target countries. The successful running of the
respective country gateways shows their national acceptance and
potential. Many individuals, small businesses, entrepreneurs and
organisations – government or private - have been quick to realize
the huge potential of the global market. Initially, most sites
targeted the info-elites of the society who had access to the
Internet, not to mention the credit cards that drive Net commerce.
But there is a growing realization that the Net can reach the large
and wealthy middle class and more so with the rapid increase in the
Internet user population. This group is rapidly plugging into the
Net (still out of range for most of the people) and there is
increased use of credit cards.
Additionally, Business-to-Business (B2B) transactions are on the
increase though there is no accurate estimate of the current or
projected volumes. For local businesses interested in an overseas
market the Net provides an efficient medium of communications - a
factor that has retarded a great deal of trade in the past. Email
and web sites are available 24 hours a day and for the growing
software industry, the Internet offers the ability to reach a
client, respond to problems on a real time basis, and transfer
products instantly with the click of a mouse. India exports billions
of dollars of software annually, and the industry is growing
rapidly. However, the same potential could not be materialised for
the region as a whole. The demand has not yet been met efficiently
and this represents an enormous barrier to business and societal
development.
A new social class is being created, mainly amongst the young
generation who find the Internet an effective tool for their career
development and the globalization of their thoughts and creativity.
Many Internet users have stated that a whole new world has been
opened to them, they are getting a new source of knowledge, and they
are also making relations with many good friends and organizations
worldwide. The advent of the Internet kindles hope of bridging the
wide information gap between north and south created over the past
several decades. Nothing in human history has had greater potential
to make more information more readily available to more people at
low cost. A recent G7 ministerial conference on the information age
reflected a widely held belief that the new technologies will hasten
the integration of developing countries into the global economy, and
will enable them to "leapfrog entire stages of development in
setting up their own infrastructures." The regional gateway would
provide an opportunity for these individual users to get the
required information and services on many issues at the regional
level. These services may be booking an appointment with a hospital
in India, arranging a visit to Kathmandu, building a network on
conflict resolution between India’s Northeast and Sri Lanka, or
getting information about admission in any university in the region
with around 350 of them in India alone. The potential is enormous
subject to proper partnership and technical expertise to handle
these information processing.
South Asian region has been buzzing of late, with several major
multinational vendors unveiling billion-dollar investment plans, and
a look at some figures leaves little doubt as to why it's generating
so much attention. Emerging markets with little installed telecom
infrastructure are finding it easier to access the Internet and
attract potential businesses and investments. Where does that leaves
the small businesses and organisations like a handicraft seller in
Colombo or a university in Bangladesh? The regional development
gateway can provide the link with the potential customers for
handicrafts outside the country and also link the university with
interested students at the global level by providing necessary
information and facilitating the outreach of the products.
Let us take higher education sector, for instance. In most of the
universities, and even specialised academic institutions in the
region, the physical collection of the applications for admission
and the selection process takes a lot of time. On the other hand,
many admission seekers do not know about the programmes offered or
reach the universities in time. Individual websites may provide some
information about the university’s particular programmes but they
are unable to utilise the powers of the Internet besides putting up
what may be a copy of the admission notice. Average user will get a
comprehensive information window in the regional development
gateway. Here the user can not only get sufficient information about
the similar programmes offered by various universities in the region
but also optimise his cost factor (say, to find out that a
university in Nepal will offer the same medicine programme at a
lower cost while he is failing to get admission in the local
university in India). The same market scenario exists for other
sectors also – health services, agricultural marketing, tourism,
public procurement etc.
Public procurement has been a matter of great secrecy in the region
and often and ‘deals’ are infested with so many scandals. In a
conflict-prone area the procurement process is often over shadowed
by ‘syndicated’ tenders where a particular bidder or group of
bidders manipulate the process through
‘official-politician-contractor’ nexus. The Internet has done way
with this disease in many cases where even small organisations can
get the best bet for their money if the tender is open and
transparent. With right to information laws catching up the public
imagination, already enacted by India, similar services will be
necessary in near future. Regional development gateway will partner
with various organisations in the region to help them in
e-procurement and get them better tende- visibility and more
suitable bidders.
The regional gateway will thus provide a two-way service: to the
information generator a portal with minimum technical hassles and
maximum coverage of the content; and to the information user a
one-stop shop for the required information and services with a
comparative advantage. With a market that is in effect a clean
slate, all the target countries are moving straight into
next-generation services.
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