Global Internet Standards and Developing Countries

Abstract

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Declaration of Principles identified technical standardization as a foundation of the global information society. Specifically, Paragraph 44 of the WSIS Declaration of Principles cited so-called open standards as a precursor to affordable ICT diffusion in the developing world: The development and use of open, interoperable, non-discriminatory and demand-driven standards that take into account needs of users and consumers is a basic element for the development and greater diffusion of ICTs and more affordable access to them, particularly in developing countries. However, the institutional processes and underlying intellectual property arrangements of ICT standards do not always create an opening to reflect the political and economic interests of developing countries. For example, developing country interests often have no voice in standards-setting institutional processes dominated by private western corporations. Intellectual property restrictions can create impediments to later entrant entrepreneurs in developing countries seeking to compete or innovate in products based on entrenched ICT standards. Furthermore, developing countries often lack the installed base of ICT infrastructure inherent in the West and are more significantly impacted by intellectual property restrictions and heightened product costs associated with the standards necessary to build infrastructure. Additionally, as traditional global trade barriers diminish, standards are increasingly emerging as non-pecuniary technical barriers to trade impeding technical interoperability and economic openness between regions. This paper examines ways in which the degree of openness in ICT standards has pronounced implications to developing countries and suggests opportunities for promoting greater openness and interoperability. This paper asks how institutional processes, intellectual property arrangements, and standards adoption policies can provide a greater opening for developing country interests to enter the political and economic decisions made in standards ascent and for encouraging more of a level playing field for economic competition and entrepreneurial innovation. Specifically, this paper recommends that the multitude of institutions that establish Internet-related standards should establish, and would benefit from establishing, policies promoting greater participatory openness in the standards-setting process, greater procedural transparency, and fewer intellectual property restrictions. Finally, this paper describes how developing countries themselves can intervene by establishing government procurement policies that favor open Internet standards.