Humankind is currently experiencing the peak of the fourth Industrial Revolution and going through the third wave of computing. Every country is transitioning from internet-based development to data-based. As a result of this digital transition, we are seeing the formation of digital economies and societies.
Robots now possess artificial intelligence (AI) that allows them to think, learn, and make decisions. So, they can now substitute for human labor. Almost every day we seem to be reading news on cars without drivers, hotels without staff, and stores without shopkeepers. The Internet of Things (IoT) has made our life at home and in the office much more comfortable as it makes devices interconnected through the Internet, significantly improving productivity levels.
The world’s biggest cab company (Uber) doesn’t own taxis, the world’s largest hotel network (Airbnb) doesn’t operate hotels, and the world’s busiest cinema (Netflix) doesn’t have movie theatres. Today Facebook is the world’s largest ‘nation’ with a population of 2.2 billion, followed by China which has 1.4 billion people.
I’ve summarized here how all these changes are impacting Mongolia, and what we should be conscious of. It builds on my conclusions from the Digital Mongolia 2018 conference last week and comprises perspectives on infrastructure, access, and use.
Digital infrastructure
Mongolia’s population today stands at 3.1 million, 73 per cent of which resides in urban areas. Approximately 2.3 million people use social media, and there is a total of 4 million mobile phone owners, 2.8 million of which use mobile data.
The Communications Regulatory Commission reports that Mongolian users have generated 27.3 terabytes of data in the first half of 2018 via 3G and 4G services provided by four mobile network operators – Mobicom, Unitel, Skytel, and G-Mobile. The amount of data generated by Mongolian users has been on the rise by an average of 25 per cent every year. A total of three operators (Mobicom, Gemnet, and state-owned Information Communications Network) transfer data abroad at 140 gigabytes per second.
All this data can be stored and transferred, and some of it is public while some is private. Therefore, it needs to be differentiated and protected. In other words, this whole industry needs constant activity aimed at ensuring data is stored safely, protecting personal data, preventing the government from using personal information without consent, resolving the infrastructure required for storing data, supporting fair competition, and so on.
Facebook has come up with an initiative (www.connectivity.fb.com) to measure how well digital infrastructure is developed by looking at how people are connected, besides assessing the physical infrastructure and facilities. Availability, affordability, and awareness are the three key factors to measure and assess the obstacles to Internet access, which is integral to making digital advancements accessible to everyone.
Internet inclusiveness
There is a growing need for everyone to better understand how they can improve the quality of their livelihood by capitalizing on the opportunity and becoming a digital nation. A recently published report helps us to see how Mongolia’s digital development is measured with the 3i index in comparison to other countries.
Facebook has run its 3i index (Inclusive Internet Index) for its second year in a row and ranked Mongolia at 42nd out of 86 countries. Our rank was a result of combined scores in four categories: Availability (50), Affordability (10), Relevance (38), and Readiness (72). If you break up Readiness, it comprises three subcategories: Literacy (59), Trust & Safety (86), and Policy (48).
When you try to understand why Mongolia was ranked in the last places in Trust & Safety, you will be able to see that we were ranked 71st in Privacy regulations, 85th in Trust in online privacy, 15th in Trust in government websites and apps, 82nd in Trust in non-government websites and apps, 60th in Trust in information from social media, and 81st in e-Commerce safety. It can all be analyzed at https://theinclusiveinternet.eiu.com/
MMCG, who surveyed how Mongolians used digital platforms, reported that 1.7 million people used the Internet in 2017, and 81 per cent used social media. This percentage was doubled compared to the year before. Eighty per cent of social media users use Facebook, 75 per cent use Facebook Messenger, 39 per cent use YouTube, 18 per cent use Instagram, 17 per cent use Yahoo, 14 per cent use WeChat, 8 per cent use Twitter, 4 per cent use Viber, and another 4 per cent use Skype.
However, all these applications are being used mainly for exchanging information, reading news, and speculating over different things. Otherwise, the use of social media for business purposes, at least as a means of payment, is still at its early stages in Mongolia. In China, almost everyone is using WeChat to exchange information via text, audio, and video and to make payments. They are using the application to order food and to make taxi, hotel, and entertainment bookings. Also, they are able to make online purchases via Alipay. Even the beggars are sitting on the street with their QR code ready to be scanned for donations.
Campaign
If we analyze and resolve our weaker areas as revealed by the 3i report, we have a great opportunity to develop apps that can not only optimize personal, day-to-day activities such as making payments and booking reservations but also can streamline government services. Estonia allows mobile phone numbers to be used as personal ID numbers confirmed with e-signature. If we do the same, our election ballots can use mobile phones, which will save tens of billions of tugrugs. Another example is that, if the government published its SME fund information transparently on an app, the authorities would not have had the chance to steal from it.
In preparation for the 40th anniversary of the Democratic Revolution in 1959, Mongolians organized a campaign, commonly dubbed as the ‘insurgence of culture’, to ensure everyone learned the habit of using toothpaste, bedsheets and hand towels. We now need a similar campaign focused on digital culture.
2018.12.05
Trans. by B.Amar