In case you didn't get enough of Ars Technica's coverage of our Federal Communications Commission's National Broadband Plan, you'll be pleased to know that lots of other countries have them too. In fact, it turns out that there's an NBP for the whole world, just released by the United Nation's International Telecommunications Union.

"In this brave new world of 'digital opportunity', we believe the burning issue is what price will be paid by those who fail to make the global, regional, national and local choices for broadband inclusion for all—choices which must be made sooner rather than later," the "Outcomes" section of ITU's world Broadband Report warns.

Tipping point

ITU estimates that there are now over 1.8 billion Internet users and over five billion mobile device subscribers, most located in the developing world. All governments should build upon this to extend broadband to half the world's population by 2015, the organization says (the current human population of the globe is getting close to 7 billion folks, by the way).

In an accompanying press statement, the survey asks global leaders to make broadband access a "basic civil right."

“Broadband is the next tipping point, the next truly transformational technology," declares ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun Touré. "It can generate jobs, drive growth and productivity, and underpin long-term economic competitiveness. It is also the most powerful tool we have at our disposal in our race to meet the Millennium Development Goals, which are now just five years away."

Here are the top five of the UN's Millennium Development Goals. Numbers one and two are just a bit ambitious, we're sure you'll agree.

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger Achieve universal primary education Promote gender equality and empower women Reduce child mortality Improve maternal health

How will broadband help the world get to the end of "extreme poverty and hunger" by 2015? The ITU estimates that broadband network construction will generate over 300,000 jobs in Germany over the next four years, and another 237,000 jobs between 2015 and 2020. All told, these build-outs will produce almost a million Internet-related jobs in Germany alone between 2010 and 2020—968,000 to be more exact.

On the national level, an investment of £5 billion into broadband in the United Kingdom could "create or retain" about 280,500 UK jobs for a year, the survey says. Overall, broadband has added a little over one percent to the overall growth rate of employment (such as it is these days), the document claims.

Successful adopters

About a quarter of the world's population uses the Internet, this report estimates. Getting to 50 percent global broadband access will be a challenge, but it's doable, ITU thinks. The Commission is pretty vague on key questions like a kbps-based definition of high-speed Internet. It does recommend a "market-led approach" to deploying high-speed Internet, however, one that promotes investments in backbone networks and direct line access.

But the bottom line is having a resource-filled national broadband plan in the first place.

"The most successful adopters of broadband (including Japan, the Republic of Korea and Scandinavian countries) were quick to recognize broadband as a national priority needing separate and steady investments," the document notes, "in addition to investments in the broader telecommunication domain."

ITU highlights three countries whose national broadband plans it sees as effective.

Malaysia

Malaysia launched its National Broadband Plan in 2004. Four years later its government signed a deal with Telecom Malaysia to roll out a broadband network for 11.3 billion ringgit (about $3.64 billion). The government will contribute MYR2.4 billion to the project. Telecom Malaysia will front the rest.

The plan is expected to take ten years. The first phase will connect big cities and towns, with a hoped for penetration rate of 50 percent by the end of 2010.

It's still unclear to what extent the content of Malaysia's national broadband network will be regulated by the government. Last year Malaysia retreated from a controversial plan to block pornography websites. The plan was widely denounced by bloggers and Internet advocacy groups.

Instead, government officials will scour their 'Net for "instances of sedition, fraud, and child pornography," one official told Malaysian newspaper The Star. "We will then provide the relevant law enforcement agencies with the necessary particulars for them to take action."

Morocco

Four years after its introduction by Maroc Telecom in 2003, over 40 percent of Morocco's 1.3 million fixed phone line users had subscribed to DSL. That year carriers also began rolling out 3G wireless, which now serves about 65 percent of the Moroccan broadband market.

All this is part of the "Maroc Numeric 2013" initiative, which hopes to get one in three Moroccan households hooked up to broadband by 2013, along with 400 computer centers built in low-income towns and rural areas.

Sweden

Sweden was the first country in Europe to come up with a National Broadband Plan in 1999. From 2009 through 2013 the government is committing about SEK4.4 billion (about $628 million) in grants to cities and ISPs to roll out fiber-optic cable. These grants cover 50 percent of the costs, with municipalities and private investors providing the rest.

Perhaps the most famous beneficiary of this policy is Stockholm's Stokab open-access fiber-optic network. Stokab is now over 4,500km long and connects to various competing ISPs who serve business and government broadband subscribers. Almost 100,000 low-income public housing residents also get their fast Internet access from the provider.

ITU estimates that 161 countries and territories now have national broadband plans, with another 14 in the process of cooking them up. But what clearly stand out for the authors of this report are plans that include network line-sharing and hefty chunks of government investment.