Bangkok--28 Aug--Huawei Thailand
Huawei will help 500 million people directly benefit from digital technology over the next five years, said Michael MacDonald, CTO of Huawei Southeast Asia, at a United Nations ESCAP event Monday in Bangkok, Thailand.
The third session of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway (AP-IS) Steering Committee and WSIS Regional Review kicked off Monday at the United Nations Conference Centre (UNCC) in Bangkok.
According to ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), the session is planned to review the latest research findings, current implementation of the AP-IS Master Plan and Regional Cooperation Framework Document for 2019-2022 by member countries, ESCAP and partner organizations and discuss emerging trends and technologies which affect the implementation.
"According to GSMA, more than 1 billion people are not covered by mobile broadband services. And 3.8 billion people are still offline. That's half of the world's population," said Mr. MacDonald in his speech "Redefining Inclusion."
The Huawei SEA CTO also called on governments, industry organizations and business partners to act together to promote digital inclusion for all.
"We need to take immediate actions. Through joint effort, we can bring digital skills to all people in society," he said.
"At Huawei, we believe that technology is good, and it should be used for good. To promote full digital inclusion, we have put together an action plan," Mr. MacDonald said, "We call it Tech4ALL, which focuses on the three priorities: connectivity, applications, and skills."
Huawei, the world's leading provider of ICT infrastructure and smart devices, vowed to continue to lower the barriers in terms of cost and coverage through technological innovation, help developers to create more applications for different communities and industries, and work with governments, local communities, and other industries to enhance awareness of digital skills and provide necessary help.
"For example, through our Seeds for the Future program, in the past ten years, we have helped more than 30,000 students from more than 100 countries to enhance their digital skills."
In Thailand, Huawei's "Seeds for the Future program" had sent dozens of students from local universities to go to China to study Chinese culture in Beijing, and study cutting-edge ICT technologies in Shenzhen.
In 2018, Huawei organized "Huawei ICT Competition Thailand", to cultivate new generations with high capabilities in ICT field to drive the development of Thailand 4.0 and digital inclusion.
"But this is just the beginning. Over the next five years, our goal is to help another 500 million people directly benefit from digital technology."
"This is our mission, and we hope you will join us. Together, we can bring digital to every person, home, and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world," said Michael MacDonald.