## The United States

The United States has undertaken major national projects in the IT-related field, which the government has been promoting from a nationalistic perspective, projects such as the research and development concerning the infrastructure for the next generation of ultra-high-speed Internet (Information Technology for the 21st Century (IT $ ^{2} $ ), the design of an electronic government (E-Government Project), the development of human resources (strategic proposal by the President’s Council on the 21st Century Workforce in accordance with Workforce Investment Act), the strengthening of national and public security (the establishment of a council on cyber-security based on an executive order, Infrastructure Protection in the Information Age).

In addition, the FCC has been studying the implementation of various policies that would ensure the growth of broadband and the creation of appropriate investment incentives as well as promote an increasingly active deployment of broadband services.

## EU

In June 2000, the Council of European Union approved the eEurope 2002 Action Plan with the aim of positioning the EU as the most dynamic knowledge economy in the world by 2010. In addition, the Council of European Union released in February 2002 the eEurope Benchmarking Report, which evaluated the progress of eEurope-2002 based on data from its member countries.

Furthermore, on April 24, 2002 a new regulatory framework for electronic communications infrastructure and associated services was proclaimed and put into enforcement. This package is aimed at reviewing the existing regulatory framework in the telecommunications field and at further promoting competition in the telecommunications industry, which plays an important role in the European economy. As a result, all EU member countries have been obligated to legislate the above mentioned package under their respective laws by July 24, 2003.

## Asia

After officially joining the WTO in December 2001, China has been undertaking the enhancement of its legal system while opening up its telecommunications market. In September 2000 the Chinese government enacted the Telecommunications Ordinance, which defined the telecommunications business as falling into two categories, namely, "basic telecommunications services" and "value-added telecommunications services." The new law effectively opened up the market to foreign capital in that it allows an up to 49% foreign ownership in the basic telecommunications services category, while there are no restrictions on foreign ownership in the value-added telecommunications services category. In May 2001, Hong Kong announced its IT strategy, called Digital 21, which is aimed at making Hong Kong a leading e-commerce community and a digital city in the globally linked cyber-world. Korea announced in January 2000 its plan to accelerate its plan for national digitization, which is part of Cyber Korea 21, in order to create an environment where by 2005 almost all households in Korea would be able to use a domestic high-speed Internet infrastructure. In India, the National Telecommunications Policy of 1994 was announced in 1994 to accommodate reforms such as the deregulation of telecommunications services and the privatization of state owned businesses, and to date all areas of telecommunications services, including international telecommunications which became deregulated in April 2002, have already been opened up to the private sector. During 2000, Singapore announced its Information Communications Technology 21 (ICT 21) Masterplan, which is a 10-year national plan commencing in 2001 covering the IT field, with the view to making Singapore a world-renown dynamic and vital information and communications center. With its Vision 2020 initiative, which was announced in 1991, Malaysia aims to join the league of developed countries by 2020. Malaysia is driving forward with government-initiated efforts aimed at promoting IT as a key area for national development with the objective of, among other things, enabling the country to thrive on the basis of an expertise in the fields of science and technology.