The crucial role which information and communication technology (ICT) will have to play in boosting European Competitiveness was discussed by the European Council of Ministers last week in Luxembourg.

This discussion took place as part of the European i2020 plan. The i2010 initiative will look for fast and visible results, building on the optimistic outlook for ICT industries and markets. It will encourage fast growth built around the convergence at the levels of networks, services and devices. Its objective will be to ensure that Europe’s citizens, businesses and governments make the best use of ICTs in order to improve industrial competitiveness, support growth and the creation of jobs and to help address key societal challenges.

The objectives outlined in i2010 provide an adequate basis for the member states to enact policies in the ICT field that will further the goal of achieving the Lisbon objectives.

Furthermore, widely deployed, information and communication technologies have transformed the way we work, live and interact. The convergence of media, information services, networks and devices is providing unique opportunities for our economies to foster and become more productive.

Such a transformation has only been made possible because of the existence of widespread fast communications networks, which connect users around the globe together, removing the distance barrier.

Today our businesses are upgrading their business processes to deliver a wider range of services to a wider customer base than ever before. Home users are able to experience a vaster range of new media and content services while governments are able to offer more efficient and user-friendly public services. While every effort is being done to promote the sector, this is never enough and we need to boost even further investment in information and communication technologies through comprehensive strategies and policies.

Proactive policies are required to respond to the fundamental and continuous developments in technology. Digital convergence requires policy convergence, that is, the need to adapt existing regulatory frameworks so that they are consistent with the emerging digital economy and address new technological developments.

Malta welcomes the European Information Society 2010 initiative and its goals to develop an integrated approach towards information society and audio-visual media policies. Malta believes that the measures under the three pillars of this strategy will make possible the creation of the an open and competitive single market for information society and media services within the EU in line with the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy. Most of the objectives set out in the communication have been already integrated in our National ICT Strategy, which the government has drafted for the period 2004-2006. Malta will also include its progress towards the i2010 in its National Reform Programme.

The need for a coherent framework for audio-visual and information society services is highlighted with the increased uptake of Digital Terrestrial Television across Europe. Malta has recently awarded spectrum to two DTTV operators.

Malta is party to these developments and has been working hard to boost information and communication technologies investments. Membership in the European Union has been a further spur to achieve parity with the best. Malta has already achieved a lot. Nonetheless, there is a strong impetus on our part to continue achieving better results.

The continuous increase in accessibility to broadband is clear proof that the government’s policy is achieving its desired goals. Internet subscriptions have multiplied and it is now calculated that over 75 per cent of the population have access (at home or otherwise) to this means of communication. Our challenge of course is to continue improving access to the internet by making broadband more accessible and affordable. Government’s insistence on increasing broadband take-up is already bearing its fruit with a substantial continuous growth in broadband subscribers. In fact, in Malta there are now over 38,000 broadband connections which is equivalent to 10 per cent of the population. This even exceeds the EU 25 average of nine per cent. Further take-up is expected with the roll-out of UMTS and Broadband Wireless networks envisaged in the near future.

With a state of the art telecommunications sector in place, Malta within the EU has added value to actively compete even more within the sector and thus foster further prosperity and socio-economic stability. Malta is confident that it can play a more active role in the evolving global economy in the years to come.

During the Council discussions, the European commission also suggested that EU investment in IT-related, research and development should be increased by 80 per cent, from e1 to e1.8 billion.

European Ministers agreed that r&d in IT should increase. Such views were reinforced by empirical research presented to the Council which suggests that for every e1 invested in IT within the EU, it resulted in an eventual net gain of e7.

Censu Galea is Competitiveness and Communications Minister