UN Report on Broadband

I recently read the UN report on broadband use across 177 countries  (http://www.broadbandcommission.org/work/documents.aspx). The extent of coverage of Internet connections is now staggering. The number of internet users is now 2.26 billion at 2011 and no doubt already greater.The report analyses the economic impact on growth particularly in developing countries and the impact of the spread of broadband. The authors identify the substantial increases to GDP which can be attributed directly to access to broadband, and emphasise the substantial contribution that smartphone technology has made to Internet access particularly in Africa. The report as a work of considerable importance although curiously there is little mention of ICANN and its role in the domain name system, which is essential to internet usage, and considerably more so as the numbers of internet users increase. The importance of the IDN system enabling countries to use their own characters rather than Roman script is discussed, but without mentioning the role of ICANN in developing such a powerful and enabling tool. The sole reference to ICANN as a footnote on page 63 referring to an ICANN report on IDN domain names. I thought this was a curious omission in an otherwise comprehensive and interesting report.