Paul Mountford Discusses Cisco's Role in Developing Countries

December 03, 2006

As part of the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU) Telecom World 2006, Dec. 4-8 at the AsiaWorld-Expo, in Hong Kong, Cisco Systems Inc. is sponsoring a three-day symposium -the Telecommunications Development Symposium (TDS-06) -- focused on how ITU members can help bridge the digital divide and bring the benefits of modern communications networks to all people, particularly those in the least developed countries. Telecom World takes place every three years, showcasing new technologies and serving as a forum for industry leaders from around the globe to discuss information and communications technology issues. The ITU is the primary United Nations organization for coordinating telecommunications development among nations. News@Cisco spoke with Paul Mountford, president of Cisco's Emerging Markets group, about the importance of the symposium and role network communications can play in improving the prosperity of all countries.

What is the purpose of TDS-06 and why is Cisco sponsoring it?

Paul Mountford: This symposium focuses on how the worldwide telecommunications industry can help bridge the digital divide and extend the benefits of networking technology to all countries, particularly those that are least developed. This meeting is a rare opportunity when everyone is in the same room, so to speak. Industry leaders from both developed and developing countries will be there. It is an excellent forum for everyone to share their experience and expertise on how developing countries can most effectively build out their communications infrastructures.

Cisco plays a global role in the development of information and communication networks, especially those running over Internet protocol (IP)-based systems. We firmly believe that new IP communications networks can help boost the economic and social conditions of any country. Without such communications networks, a country and its people are now at an economic disadvantage. We very much believe the Internet is a global network. That should include everybody.

How can modern networks help reduce the economic and social problems faced by many developing countries?

Paul Mountford: We believe the key is to use information and communications technologies and next-generation networks to help expand the middle class of developing countries. Many of these countries have a concentration of wealth within a small segment of the population, with the remainder of people living in poverty and disenfranchised from the global economy. A broader middle class brings stability to these countries. While new networks cannot solve this problem alone, they can clearly help facilitate economic growth. Most importantly, the businesses in these countries need to be connected. Without such basic infrastructure, they are shut out of the global economy. With Internet technologies, small manufacturers in Latin America or Africa, for example, can reach distributors and sell their products via the World Wide Web to markets in the United States, Europe and Asia. This then increases the flow of outside capital into a country and begins the distribution of wealth that builds up a strong middle class. Of course, such network infrastructure investments must go hand-in-hand with government leadership and the proper economic and social reforms. But without the basic communications infrastructure in place, these countries, their businesses, and their citizens are at clear competitive disadvantage.

In what ways is Cisco directly involved in helping the creation of communications infrastructures in development countries?

Paul Mountford: Besides providing the routers, switches, wireless gear, and other equipment for IP-based networks, we also provide our expertise. We have a very detailed strategy for working with what we call "emerging markets" economies. Whether is comes from us or other experienced networking companies, expertise is crucial to developing countries, which typically have little experience with advanced network technologies. We refer to this process as "country transformation." Country transformation is our approach for helping governments leverage the power of technology to achieve their economic and social development goals. For Cisco, it starts by meeting with the leaders of a country or a region to understand what they want to achieve. Before we even talk about the nuts-and-bolts of building a network, we discuss the necessary governmental steps that we believe need to be in place for a society to fully benefit from new IP networking technology. Such issues include open economic policies with fair taxes, proper regulatory approaches that lower the burdens on small businesses, reduced bureaucracy, and other related systemic governmental issues. If a country's leadership is committed to these types of reforms, that sets the stage for us to develop a blueprint of the country's network infrastructure development, mapping the technology to the economic and social objectives of improving a country's living conditions, job opportunities, etc. To implement these plans, we tap into our extensive global experience to use replicable business models for different applications of network technology. For example, we have business models for developing "digital cities" or for networking a country's healthcare system. Once all of this planning is in place, then our local account teams collaborate with public and private sector entities to put these networks in place. We also team with countries to help develop their citizens' technology expertise through the Cisco Networking Academy Program or ITU-Cisco Internet Training Centers, which teach the business and technical skills needed to run modern networks.

Some might argue that advanced communications will not help with the massive poverty and other difficult conditions in many of these developing countries. What is your response to that concern?

Paul Mountford: Our experience throughout the world is proving that, indeed, IP networks can help. First of all, because they are based on globally accepted standards, the expertise to run IP networks is much easier to come by. Also, because they are based on standards, IP equipment is far more affordable than previous types of communications technologies. IP network equipment has also become quite resilient and flexible. Networks, via wired or wireless connections, can operate in virtually any environment. Cisco equipment, for example, is helping run the world's highest Internet cafe at the base camp on Mount Everest. We have also created a router that can run a network while traveling in a car or other vehicle through extreme temperature and climatic conditions.

So IP technology can work just about anywhere under any condition with relatively modest investments. That's a practical matter. But more to the point, the key to making new communications networks useful for impoverished populations is finding the right model to sustain and support the communications infrastructure. While Cisco is involved in many different philanthropic activities, the key to success in developing countries is to create sustainable models using free market concepts. We don't believe that just giving handouts works, or that simply installing an IP-based network is going to help by its mere existence. We believe that the best approach is to carefully examine each circumstance and figure out how networking technology could be used to solve a specific problem. Let me give you an example. Cisco recently worked in conjunction with the World Economic Forum and its partner organizations on their Information Technology Access for Everyone initiative. For one project, we focused on the favelas, or slums, of Brazil. The big issue there is joblessness. After conducting extensive interviews with the local people, we found a perfect opportunity for IP networks to help. It focused on job training and job search services. Even though these services were for a very poor population group, we found that since the network connection would save both the workers and employers money and time, both parties would be willing to pay small fees to use this service, which then created the sustaining financial support and profit-motive for the local network operator. Certainly, IP networks can now run giant communications infrastructures, but they can also help in a million small ways as demonstrated by our experience in Brazil.