The expansion of information and communication technologies (ICT) in Qatar has taken the country to a leading place in this field among its neighbours in the region.
Qatar has seen particularly strong growth in the number of mobile phone subscribers, which overtook the number of fixed telephone lines in 2001 (see chart). The number of subscribers to mobile telephony services rose by an average of 42 per cent per year between 1999 and 2004 - a considerably higher rate than in most other countries in the region, or the world as a whole. By the end of 2004, some 66 per cent of Qatar's population were subscribers to mobile phone services. In contrast, the number of fixed telephone lines has hardly changed over the last ten years. As in other countries, it seems that people in Qatar are going straight to mobile telephony. Internet and broadband services are growing. Today, 22 per cent of Qatar's population use the internet. By the end of 2004, Qatar had 10 652 broadband subscribers. This was 6.5 per cent of internet users, and 1.4 per cent of the country's population as a whole. Promoting broadband is one of the top priorities of ictQATAR, which plans to establish and manage a "Broadband For All Access Fund." The years to come are likely to see more broadband services in Qatar, built upon what is already a solid foundation of ICT infrastructure and new initiatives. *World
Population Prospects: The 2004 Revision, Population Division of the Department
of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat (2005).
Its mission is to create an advanced information-based society to improve the life of everyone in Qatar and to enhance the social and economic development of the country. "Qatar aims to fully exploit ICT to become a world-leading knowledge-based society," says Dr Hessa Al Jaber, Secretary-General of ictQATAR."
Based on international best practices, ictQATAR has adopted a comprehensive national ICT strategic plan tailored specifically to the unique circumstances and requirements of the country.
Implementation
of the strategy brings together government agencies, ministries and the
private sector. The strategy aims at fostering an enabling environment
for ICT, increasing readiness, promoting the usage of ICT, monitoring progress
and prioritizing initiatives to achieve early results. ICT use encourages equality for all. Women in Qatar working on computers. Source: ictQatar
State-of-the-art
infrastructure Innovation
and capability building Regulatory
and legal frameworks Local
content and multilingualism is critical for universal access to information
and knowledge. An Arabic keyboard used by Qataris. This critically important programme covers the creation of a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT), with the mission of making Qatar a regional ICT security hub. It also has the task of setting up emergency communications in support of disaster relief operations. Connected
citizens Connected
business Connected
government
e-Health e-Finance e-Tourism
and sports ICT
in other economic sectors ictQATAR is finalizing a comprehensive nation wide strategy for e-Education that aims at enabling the population to use ICT to improve the quality of life and contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. It focuses on universalizing access to ICT and expanding the pool of resources and opportunities while improving the quality of education to nurture a population ready for competing in the information age. The strategy taps on providing services to the education sector per se but extends to the over all community while addressing the governmental needs and partnering with the corporate private sector. In September 2005, ictQATAR initiated the first of many projects that translate the objective of the e-Education strategy into tangible activities and results. The Knowledge-Net initiative was launched to pilot the dissemination of ICT as a platform for teaching, learning and communication in preparatory and secondary schools, while building the capacity of the teaching body to adopt ICT in their delivery of information. This endeavor, which entails the development and implementation of a Learning Management System in schools, will be rolled out nation wide as of September 2006. It is the first step to the development of the national portal for education that focuses on enhancing student's skills and awareness in ICT and its application in the knowledge economy, preparing the community for the market demand, and expanding the teaching professionals' capabilities and resources. ictQATAR has also embarked on the development of the guidelines for ICT curriculum to be adopted for the K-12 community, while it continuously coordinates the ICT standards and requirements across all educational institutions and ensure integration of ICT in the professional development of the education professionals. ictQATAR
will also promote research and experimentation in the world's most advanced
technologies and will pilot opportunities for students to adopt, for example,
tablet PCs and PDAs as the core base of their learning experience wile
supporting e-curricula development and infrastructure upgrades.
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