Robert Buddan, Contributor

It used to be thought that social inequality was to be redressed by redistributing income from the rich to the poor, or by promoting education as the means of social mobility, or by economic growth which, along with education, would expand the middle class and have a levelling effect on society. But as with all the other traditional models of development, the added value of technology now changes the formula.

When Jamaica broke the telecommunications monopoly in 1999, I felt it was the most important negotiations over operating rules since the bauxite levy negotiations of 1974. In his sectoral presentation (June 6), Minister of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce, Phillip Paulwell, referred to it as a revolution. The result, quoting from the 2007 Report of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) of the United Nations, is that Jamaica is "the first middle-income nation to break the theoretical 100 per cent mobile telecommunications penetration barrier". This is a phenomenal achievement in eight years.

Tool for training

The revolution, of course, is more than in the fashionable use of mobile phones.

Telecommunications, wisely used, makes people more enlightened, delivers education more widely, becomes a tool for training, and new means by which people can do commerce or access government services. There is no 'digital divide' in the mobile market in Jamaica, which gives the country a special advantage over many others. If people can apply Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to the productive areas of their lives, they can overcome many of the socio-economic constraints they encounter in accessing opportunities. The ICT revolution can create the social revolution that equalises people's power to live better lives.

Technology can drive a new social revolution. Average per capita income is often used as a measure of standard of living and this standard is used as a proxy for expectations of how well people can make their lives. But Jamaica's mobile penetration rate is much higher than one would predict from its average per capita income, and according to the ITU Report, Jamaica has a higher mobile subscription rate than Japan! If the image of the Japanese is that of someone who always has his camera, that of the Jamaican should be one who always has his cellphone.

Social mobility

Minister Paulwell's mission, as he understands, is how to use Jamaica's ICT infrastructure to have more people accessing education, training, and business, which will then improve average per capita income and general standard of living. It is in this sense that newer concepts like e-commerce, e-learning and e-governance are very important for e-powering Jamaicans. Information and knowledge are still critical means for social mobility, but now we have the technology for an information and knowledge society through which to achieve social and economic development.

In fact, when the future story of Caribbean development is told, we should turn once again to the ITU Report. It says that other Caribbean countries have watched Jamaica's liberalisation of its ICT sector closely and have followed its lead. Minister Paulwellcould claim to have started a Caribbean revolution.

The revolution is changing people's lives already. Jamaica is to be the first e-learning centre in the Caribbean. Jamaica is ranked second by K.T. Kearney business consultancy among 50 countries in Central America and the Caribbean for services location. E-governance is thriving too. The website of the Jamaica Information Service, according to the Minister of Information and Development, gets a staggering 5 million hits per month on average. That website is also a model for the Caribbean. In a few weeks, we ought to be able to go to the website of the Electoral Office of Jamaica to confirm our names on the voters list. That's e-democracy.

Infrastructure and development

The Minister of Information and Development, Donald Buchanan, believes that development still means raising the standard of living. His twin portfolio - information and development - testifies to the relationship between the two.

What is true for information is true for infrastructure more generally. They all empower. The Minister of Housing, Transport, Water and Works, Robert Pickersgill, puts it best in his sectoral presentation: "The volume of infrastructure stocks has a positive effect on long-term economic growth. In other words, the more infrastructure a country has, the higher the prospects for growth. The higher the level of infrastructure, the lower the level of income inequality. In other words, with more roads, a better public transit system, quality housing, all families in Jamaica have better access to jobs, health care and education." All of these are interrelated and all of them must be integrated into planning.

The old model of development is no longer valid. Trickle-down economics, paternalistic politics, and elitist education were all based on the same top-down principle. The premise was that those at the bottom would benefit from the decisions made by those at the top (in market, state and social sector). The new model of development is that all people must have the tools that enable them to make their own decisions. It fosters self-reliance.

Even the democratic model presumed wrongly. It presumed that if people had rights and freedom, they would make the choices that are best for their development. This is only true to a point. There was a Jamaican in the 1800s who walked from western Jamaica to Kingston to testify in court. On his way back, he died from fatigue and starvation. He was obviously a good citizen but didn't have the means of speedier travel or of food and water to keep himself alive while exercising his freedom, ironically, to see that justice was done.

Internet philosophy

We associate the information revolution with the Internet. The Internet is not just a technological wonder. It represents a philosophy of self-reliance. This super-highway gives people a global freedom that compresses time and space to a letter on your keyboard. The hippie generation of the 1960s actually makes claims to have gone on to innovate the use of the personal computer and Internet to suit its philosophy. Its counter-culture rejected centralised authority and the PC and Internet today represent self-reliant and democratic control over and access to information.

That generation paraphrased John F. Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you. Do it yourself." Now more than ever, people can do things for themselves. They have better infrastructure and middle-income countries must build more of it. The '60s generation also wanted greater decentralisation and, as part of its distrust of large centralised systems of authority (like those of corporations and governments), had great faith in small business. The Internet represents all of these things: access to information and knowledge, decentralisation of control, and if used properly, a small business itself or an essential part of small business.

Not everything can fly through cyberspace. Physical infrastructure to move people and goods depend on good roads and ports and means of transport. What this now means is that ministries responsible for infrastructure are key ministries to create the conditions for reducing income and social inequality, ending poverty, and strengthening economies. They are important social levellers.

Robert Buddan lectures in the Department of Government, University of the West Indies, Mona campus. Email: Robert.Buddan@uwimona.edu.jm