Mongolia: Connecting for growth
Mongolia’s government has marked this year’s 90th anniversary of its telecommunications sector by pledging new ICT services in health, the transport system and emergency management.
Covering 1.6m sq km – roughly the size of Western Europe – yet with a population of only 3m, Mongolia has faced formidable challenges in its computerisation, e-literacy and internet access programmes. However, the industry has seen rapid progress in the past five years.
Government initiatives and the expanding economy have seen the number of internet users rise 16% year-on-year to an estimated 390,000 in 2011, while broadband users have increased from just 3500 in 2006 to 85,000 this year, according to local media. Meanwhile, the government’s “One Home One PC” programme, which provides households with low-cost computers for around $250, increased nationwide PC penetration by 60% by 2009. Also helping Mongolians connect is a 13,000-km long fibre optic cable that links more than 50% of all aimags (province) and 151 soums. There are over 70 internet service providers, which share 11.2 Gbps bandwidth and provide services including xDSL, fiber optic, 3G, and GPRS connections, according to the government’s 2011 white paper on ICT, published in April.
The white paper – a special edition to commemorate 90 years since the installation of the country’s first telegraphic equipment connecting Mongolia with the rest of the world – pledged to build on the country’s ICT advances. The pledges included a number of initiatives in the health sector, with hospitals offering online appointment systems and a national system for the early warning of infectious diseases to be implemented at the National Centre for Communicable Diseases.
Ulaanbaatar is also planning an “intelligent transport system” for the capital using an integrated circuit card and an emergency management information system. In addition, a land and property registration system is being implemented with the funds from the Millennium Challenge Account, which allows placement and marking of properties and land in a geographical information system.
The planned advances in services complement progress in ICT’s contribution to the economy, with total revenues from the ICT industry reaching MNT471bn ($367.38m) in 2010, up from MNT140.4bn ($109.51m) in 2005. Increased access and a proliferation of internet cafes nationwide has also spurred an explosion in the use of social networking websites. As of 2011 the country was home to 1823 blogs and 236,520 Facebook users, while domestic social networking site Biznetwork, developed in the Mongolian language, also now boasts over 70,000 users. In what could further encourage development of local content, Google announced in November that it would be including Mongolian in Google Translation, a website that translates more than 50 languages. The corporation has also emphasised partnering further with the country.
To extend availability across the country’s vast size, the government plans to launch a communications satellite by 2015. In another sign of the country’s commitment to ICT, firms bidding to become involved in the planned satellite have been invited to bid online in a system implemented by the Information, Communications Technology and Post Authority (ICTPA) as part of the country’s e-government strategy.
In September 2011 the ICTPA announced it was seeking a consultancy for a technical and economic feasibility study, as well as a preliminary design for a national communication and remote-sensing satellite. The country announced in February that it hopes to launch the satellite by 2015 with help from Japan for telecommunications and mobile phone services. In e-governance, Mongolia was praised in the UN’s “E-Government Survey 2010” for ”a dramatic rise due primarily by efforts to enhance its national portal and ministry websites to offer more e-services and more online content”. The UN survey placed Mongolia 29 positions higher than the previous year, ranking it 53rd globally. The country also plans to implement an e-procurement system, which is being developed with support from the Korean International Cooperation Agency, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The project aims to have all government contract bids go through an e-shopping and e-bidding system when completed by the end of 2013, according to governance magazine Asia Pacific FutureGov. Officials told the magazine in January that the e-bidding system will increase transparency and efficiency.
“A lot of people do not want to bring in e-bidding because they do not want the system to change. E-bidding will put an end to conflicts of interest and personal interest,” said the general director of the procurement policy department for Mongolia’s Ministry of Finance, Gansogt Khurelbaatar. “This isn’t just about being paper-based; it’s more about transparency and availability of data reaching government.” The government’s white paper also states that the country has carried out extensive work in developing the framework for a Mongolian Silicon Valley in 2011 in a bid to develop the domestic software industry. In April 2011, Sukhbaatar Batbold, Mongolia’s prime minister of Mongolia, met with Yoslan Nur, a programme specialist at UNESCO, and a number of delegates to discuss ICTPA plans to develop “innovation clusters”. “The Mongolian government is paying close attention to implement high technology projects with the cooperation of the government and private entities,” the prime minister said. “I believe that UNESCO and the World’s Technology Park Association will share their experience with Mongolia in implementing many projects including ‘University Campus’, ‘Silicon Valley’ and other projects of high technology, education, research and science.”
Please note that this article has not been written, is not copyrighted and does not in any case represent the views or opinions of M.A.D. Investment Solutions or any of its affiliate individuals or companies. The article above is purely meant for information only to readers and does not constitute a legal or biding agreement in any way, shape or form. For contact and comments directly relating to the above article, please refer to the source as stated below.
Source : Business Council of Mongolia
Covering 1.6m sq km – roughly the size of Western Europe – yet with a population of only 3m, Mongolia has faced formidable challenges in its computerisation, e-literacy and internet access programmes. However, the industry has seen rapid progress in the past five years.
Government initiatives and the expanding economy have seen the number of internet users rise 16% year-on-year to an estimated 390,000 in 2011, while broadband users have increased from just 3500 in 2006 to 85,000 this year, according to local media. Meanwhile, the government’s “One Home One PC” programme, which provides households with low-cost computers for around $250, increased nationwide PC penetration by 60% by 2009. Also helping Mongolians connect is a 13,000-km long fibre optic cable that links more than 50% of all aimags (province) and 151 soums. There are over 70 internet service providers, which share 11.2 Gbps bandwidth and provide services including xDSL, fiber optic, 3G, and GPRS connections, according to the government’s 2011 white paper on ICT, published in April.
The white paper – a special edition to commemorate 90 years since the installation of the country’s first telegraphic equipment connecting Mongolia with the rest of the world – pledged to build on the country’s ICT advances. The pledges included a number of initiatives in the health sector, with hospitals offering online appointment systems and a national system for the early warning of infectious diseases to be implemented at the National Centre for Communicable Diseases.
Ulaanbaatar is also planning an “intelligent transport system” for the capital using an integrated circuit card and an emergency management information system. In addition, a land and property registration system is being implemented with the funds from the Millennium Challenge Account, which allows placement and marking of properties and land in a geographical information system.
The planned advances in services complement progress in ICT’s contribution to the economy, with total revenues from the ICT industry reaching MNT471bn ($367.38m) in 2010, up from MNT140.4bn ($109.51m) in 2005. Increased access and a proliferation of internet cafes nationwide has also spurred an explosion in the use of social networking websites. As of 2011 the country was home to 1823 blogs and 236,520 Facebook users, while domestic social networking site Biznetwork, developed in the Mongolian language, also now boasts over 70,000 users. In what could further encourage development of local content, Google announced in November that it would be including Mongolian in Google Translation, a website that translates more than 50 languages. The corporation has also emphasised partnering further with the country.
To extend availability across the country’s vast size, the government plans to launch a communications satellite by 2015. In another sign of the country’s commitment to ICT, firms bidding to become involved in the planned satellite have been invited to bid online in a system implemented by the Information, Communications Technology and Post Authority (ICTPA) as part of the country’s e-government strategy.
In September 2011 the ICTPA announced it was seeking a consultancy for a technical and economic feasibility study, as well as a preliminary design for a national communication and remote-sensing satellite. The country announced in February that it hopes to launch the satellite by 2015 with help from Japan for telecommunications and mobile phone services. In e-governance, Mongolia was praised in the UN’s “E-Government Survey 2010” for ”a dramatic rise due primarily by efforts to enhance its national portal and ministry websites to offer more e-services and more online content”. The UN survey placed Mongolia 29 positions higher than the previous year, ranking it 53rd globally. The country also plans to implement an e-procurement system, which is being developed with support from the Korean International Cooperation Agency, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The project aims to have all government contract bids go through an e-shopping and e-bidding system when completed by the end of 2013, according to governance magazine Asia Pacific FutureGov. Officials told the magazine in January that the e-bidding system will increase transparency and efficiency.
“A lot of people do not want to bring in e-bidding because they do not want the system to change. E-bidding will put an end to conflicts of interest and personal interest,” said the general director of the procurement policy department for Mongolia’s Ministry of Finance, Gansogt Khurelbaatar. “This isn’t just about being paper-based; it’s more about transparency and availability of data reaching government.” The government’s white paper also states that the country has carried out extensive work in developing the framework for a Mongolian Silicon Valley in 2011 in a bid to develop the domestic software industry. In April 2011, Sukhbaatar Batbold, Mongolia’s prime minister of Mongolia, met with Yoslan Nur, a programme specialist at UNESCO, and a number of delegates to discuss ICTPA plans to develop “innovation clusters”. “The Mongolian government is paying close attention to implement high technology projects with the cooperation of the government and private entities,” the prime minister said. “I believe that UNESCO and the World’s Technology Park Association will share their experience with Mongolia in implementing many projects including ‘University Campus’, ‘Silicon Valley’ and other projects of high technology, education, research and science.”
Please note that this article has not been written, is not copyrighted and does not in any case represent the views or opinions of M.A.D. Investment Solutions or any of its affiliate individuals or companies. The article above is purely meant for information only to readers and does not constitute a legal or biding agreement in any way, shape or form. For contact and comments directly relating to the above article, please refer to the source as stated below.
Source : Business Council of Mongolia
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