 | Issue: | Asia-Pacific II 2003 |
| Article no.: | 2 | |
| Topic: | Building Mongolia’s Future | |
| Author: | Mr Byamba Jigjid | |
| Title: | Minister, Ministry of Infrastructure | |
| Organisation: | Mongolia | |
| PDF size: | 160KB |
About author
Jigjid Byamba is Mongolia’s Minster of Infrastructure. Mr Byamba served previously as the General Director of the Governmental Implementation of the Agency of Urban Services of Mongolia, as Mongolia’s Minister of Energy, Geology & Mining, as Minister of Fuel and Energy and as Vice-minister of Urban Services. Earlier in his career he worked as the Chief-engineer and Director of the Heating Authority for the city of Ulaanbaatar. Mr Byamba, a heating engineer, earned his degree from Russia’s Ural Polytechnics Institute. Mr Byamba also completed the management course at the University of Technology in Sweden.
Article abstract
Mongolia has adopted broad-scale reforms to improve its economic efficiency and accelerate growth in telecommunication services. Recognising that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has an important role to play in the nation’s development and in its transition to a market economy, Mongolia is modernising the country’s information infrastructure and introducing new, advanced communications services. Mongolia has no restrictions that limit the participation of foreign legal entities in communications businesses except in cases that might impact national security or interests.
Full Article
Mongolia is a landlocked North East Asian country, with an area of 1.6 million square kilometers and a population of 2.4 million. Mongolia is bordered by China and Russia. (Figure 1) Mongolia’s Ministry of Infrastructure (MOI) is responsible for the country’s infrastructure including the energy, construction, urban development, road, transport, tourism, info-communications and postal sectors. The Government of Mongolia places high priority on telecommunications development due to the sector’s impact upon overall development, improved living standards, increased foreign investment, tourism and private sector development. Mongolia’s policies and strategies for the privatisation, economic frameworks, regulation and the introduction of competition into the telecommunications sector are contained in the Mongolian Government Communications Sector Policy Statement. Mongolia has been working to develop its ICT sector and knowledge-based industries, to promote the widespread application of ICT and to build capacity and human resources. Value-added services, run by the private operators, such as data communication, paging and cellular telephony, are well established. National Development and the ICT Sector Rapid development of Mongolia’s infrastructure is needed to accelerate the country’s social and economic development. However, this requires large amounts of capital for a country like Mongolia. The ICT sector’s contribution to the country’s economic development is increasing rapidly; its contribution to the GDP rose from 1.99 per cent in 1995 to 6.7 per cent in 2002. The government’s Action Plan for 2000-2004 calls for new ICT applications and services and a high speed digital backbone network between city and provincial centres, among others, to reduce the digital divide between city and rural areas. This will benefit government administration and, as well, public and social services. Mongolia considers ICT as a competitive industry with an important role to play in the reconstruction and renovation of its economy as a whole. ICT Development and the Legal Environment The Ministry of Infrastructure’s role is to formulate policies and strategies for ICT development and also to lead and arrange the implementation. Since Mongolia joined the WTO in 1997, it has maintained a liberal trade regime and liberalised its telecommunications and IT sector, existing laws have been amended in line with the WTO agreements and a comprehensive framework of laws has evolved. Today, Mongolia has no ownership or participation restrictions for those investing in telecommunications and no restrictions that limit the actuation of foreign legal entities in communications businesses except in cases of national security or interest. In 2000, Mongolia’s parliament adopted its Concept of Information and Communications Technology Development up to 2010. The Master Plan Study for Rural Telecoms Development up to year 2020 and Postal Sector Improvement Plan to 2010 lists high priority projects and feasibility studies some of which are already being implemented. Mongolia’s Communications Law of 2002 established an independent Communications Regulatory Commission to regulate the information technology and telecommunications industries, promote fair competition, liberalisation and universal service. The Government of Mongolia established the National ICT Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister of Mongolia, to implement its comprehensive policy framework and ensure the widespread, equal, participation of public and civil society. The following steps guide Mongolia’s policy making and guarantee the stable development of the information and communications industry: improve the legal environment continuously promote foreign and domestic investments create fair competition by establishing an appropriate policy and regulatory environment establish an open, liberalised and accessible service environment establish universal communications services for rural areas. In addition, the Medium Term Development Strategy for the ICT Sector and an Action Plan for its implementation were adopted by the government in 2002. The Policy & Coordination Department for ICT was established within the Ministry of Infrastructure in January 2003 to implement this strategy, set objectives, develop investment plans, integrate all sector plans and coordinate these activities. The mid-term strategy identifies ICT as a key driver of development; it is supported by four pillars: establishing the appropriate policy and legal framework developing the key telecommunications and information infrastructure for reliable and affordable connectivity establishing an economic and business framework for ICTs in government and other applications developing human resources to effectively utilise ICTs. In order to develop the information infrastructure in Mongolia, the government places priority on: developing the government’s capacity to lead and implement a national ICT programme establishing a policy and regulatory frameworks to provide competitive, affordable and reliable telecommunications and services establishing a legal and regulatory framework for e-services further privatising Mongolia’s telecom sector digitalising networks to enable IP connectivity establishing institutional and regulatory frameworks for public-private partnerships to provide rural access to ICTs to increasingly utilise ICTs, especially the Internet, for social services, focusing on education and health. The medium-term ICT priorities include: implement the priority projects of the Master Plan for Rural Telecommunica-tions implement economic/fiscal/tax policies and provide incentives for the use of ICTs establish tele-community centres for telephone, Internet and IT to improve rural accessibility digitising the transmission network throughout the country utilising donor aid to improve and expand rural communication network, access and coverage digitalise the TV broadcasting network establish a centre for radio frequency management and monitoring. Building an Information Infrastructure The government has been working to improve Mongolia’s backbone network for voice and data. Mongolia has made considerable progress developing its ICT information infrastructure in recent years, particularly in the availability of modern basic services / applications and cellular services (Figure 2). Mongolia is taking a wide range of measures to attract foreign and private sector investment in its ICT sector. It has received foreign aid investments for the renovation and expansion of its backbone network from donor countries, international banks and organisations. Between 1991 and 2002, almost 30 ICT projects have been implemented using foreign soft loans and assistance. The aid used for these purposes is equal to 14 per cent of all such aid for infrastructure projects. Using foreign and domestic investment, we have completed a backbone network. Our system – reaching from the capital, Ulaanbaatar, to all provincial centres – including the switching and cable facilities and renovated radio broadcasting network, is almost 100 per cent digital. The nation’s information and telecommunications backbone network consists of over 1,800 km of analogue lines; about 2,100 km of digital microwave links and more than 2,200 km of optical cable. A VSAT satellite network connects Ulaanbaatar to provincial centres. The Mongolian railway company provides fixed line telephone service in the settlements along the railway. This network can provide affordable bandwidth and increase returns on state owned assets and investments. A number of licensed VSAT service providers also provide various value-added services such as managed network services, which allow businesses to utilise ICTs. Today, all provincial centres are introducing cellular mobile services. The number of subscribers is increasing rapidly. Mobile phones already exceed the number of fixed telephones; cellular penetration is 11 per 100 inhabitants. The number of fixed lines has grown from 3.5 per 100 inhabitants in 1996 to 5.4 in 2002. Cellular subscribers grew from 1,800 in 1996 to 235,000 in 2002, with two licensed operators. The Internet service market is fully liberalized. There are seven Internet Service Providers in Mongolia. The total speed of outgoing lines is approximately 30 Mbit/s; incoming lines handle 25.5 Mbit/s. There are now over 40,000 Internet subscribers and more than 120,000 users. Mongolia opened an Information Technology Training Centre in 2002 and a National Information Technology Park in 2003. The Challenge Ahead Mongolia recognises the need to harness ICT for development. However, ICT uptake has been unequal. Both government and private sector must work together to address the digital divide. ICT is changing the course of history and we must organise to join the digital revolution. ICT is a competitive industry and participates in the development of the Mongolian economy; it has an important role in the reconstruction and renovation of other segments of the economy as well. Mongolia faces the challenge of improving the IT sector’s legal environment to facilitate new applications and services. A working group, with representatives from the private sector, NGOs, academe and government, was organised to improve the draft law that the ICT Department is preparing to regulate Information Technology and Information Security. As a competitive measure, Mongolia needs also to implement a comprehensive Information Technology training programme for the general public. Conclusion Mongolia recognises the need to harness ICTs for development. However, the ICT uptake has been largely unequal. The digital divide is a problem that both government and private sector must work together to address. The ongoing process of telecommunication sector reform must deal with the lack of infrastructure, large territorial size and small, widely dispersed population. Improved telecommunications will enable the government to deliver more efficient administrative and social services. Mongolia is implementing a comprehensive set of policies to foster continued rapid development of its telecommunication and information infrastructure. Mongolia is reforming its public sector to facilitate the use of ICT for sustainable development in today’s rapidly changing telecom environment.
