Fair Digitalisation for Everyone around the World

Developing countries consistently place last in the E-commerce index of the UN organisation “UNCTAD”; in particular, they lack the necessary infrastructure. For instance, 75 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa have no Internet access, while as many as 95 percent lack access in Niger, Burundi and Chad. However, there are other countries that have seen success.

Although India and China are exceptional cases in terms of digitalisation, their impressive achievements are the result of massive state support rather than a self-regulating market. The rise of Bangalore as India’s Silicon Valley is clearly based on supportive economic policies such as the development of technology parks, export incentives and tax breaks.

Back in the 1990s, China was still a nobody in terms of the production of digital goods. With a market value of around 13 billion US dollars in 2017, it is the undisputed leader when it comes to the export of intangible goods, far ahead of Germany (8 billion US dollars) and the USA (6 billion US dollars). The country protected itself from foreign companies, built its own digital infrastructure and successfully created Chinese Internet platforms.

Policy-based backing already made the difference between winners and losers in analogue trade. That is why we urgently need a cooperative trade and economic policy that creates equal opportunities in digital competition. Whether industrial products or digital goods are involved, trade relationships must become fairer. This involves the following (among other things):

• Establishing a country’s own digital economy
• Protecting the data sovereignty of each country
• Modern and adapted IT infrastructure for developing countries
• Providing equal Internet access for everyone
• Funding domestic start-ups
• Supporting traditional companies with their digital transformation process

This would give developing countries the same policy-based backing as Germany.

We examine the current impact of digitalisation on the Global South and provide policymakers with proposals for a forward-looking and fair digitalisation process. Together with our project partners, we put our ideas forward at both the national and international level. Our partner SEATINI from Uganda, for example, advises the government on trade agreements and warns them not to accept a ban on national regulations on data exchange. In India, “IT for Change” is working, among other things, on frameworks for controlling digital monopolies from the USA and China. The Just Net Coalition is a global network that has been working successfully for years to improve the social participation of disadvantaged groups and nations. It cooperates with the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), a multi-stakeholder forum hosted by the United Nations.