LET us imagine a world where a small enterprise could make on-line transactions with public bodies in other EU countries, thus saving time and money. A world in which music and films will circulate, in a digital form, legally among EU member states, as easily and quickly as today it is the case only for pirate products. A world where patients will often not have to move away from their beds, as medical examinations could be performed via videoconference, from doctors that work for medical centres elsewhere in Europe.
This world does not belong to the distant future. This is the world of the Digital Agenda for Europe.
The Digital Agenda is a new initiative by the European Commission. A few days ago, at EU House in Nicosia, the Digital Agenda was presented to the Cypriot public by a group of experts who had arrived from Brussels for this very reason.
The Agenda aims at enhancing Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the European Union, so that Europe can create more jobs, promote economic prosperity, improve Europeans’ everyday lives. It should be noted that the ICT sector is directly responsible for five per cent of European GDP, but it contributes far more to overall productivity growth (20 per cent directly from the ICT sector and 30 per cent from ICT investments).
Implementing the Digital Agenda in the next few years is expected to bring positive results throughout Europe. Especially for Cyprus, the Agenda is of particular importance. Cyprus is quite low in the ranking of EU member states according to most indices related to information society. Nevertheless, there has been considerable improvement lately, according to a recent European Commission report. For example, with regard to broadband penetration, there has been an increase in broadband connections in 2009, which now covers 22.2 per cent of the population. Broadband connections of businesses have reached 87 per cent, which is higher than the EU average. This is an important achievement, since it improved Cyprus ranking by 10 positions and brought it to 9th place among 27 member states. It is worthwhile noting that the market in Cyprus is largely dominated by operators already in place (78 per cent of the market, the highest in EU27), while only 22 per cent are new entrants.
In relation to internet usage, Cyprus exhibits below-average rates. Although significant progress was made during the last year in this area as well, almost half of the population has never used the internet. What we should bear in mind is that, while discussion everywhere focuses on increasing productivity through bringing Europeans together, we live in a country where it is impossible to roam between, let’s say, Limassol and Kyrenia if you
have a Cypriot mobile phone number, while you can make calls by using any other European number or a mobile phone number of any other third country. This is a reality that we should all contemplate upon.
Evidence from both Europe and Cyprus show there is reason to hope for improvement. It is important to note that the new digital era affects us all. We all have a role to play in designing and implementing the digital future of Europe. That is why the European Commission calls on all citizens to submit their suggestions, views, remarks to the Digital Agenda website ec.europa.eu/information_society/digital-agenda/survey. Participating in this procedure can make European policies in the digital era even better. Let us all contribute to our common digital future!
Androulla Kaminara is the Head of European Commission Representation in Cyprus
