Over the past two decades, the development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) - mobile telephony, computers, and the Internet, including high - speed Internet-has influenced economic and social processes in almost all countries of the world, and has led to significant changes in the international division of labor.

Countries can participate in the information and communication revolution (ICR) both as producers of ICT goods and services and as users. The use of ICTs makes significant changes in the life of Eastern countries, creates new opportunities for employment growth, and solves social problems in these countries. The latest ICTs have a significant impact on the Eastern society, influencing people's worldview, and finally, their behavior. Today we can also talk about the impact of the information revolution on the socio-political situation in Afro-Asian countries, taking into account the events of the "Arab Spring" in 2011.

Many publications are devoted to the problems of participation of Asian and African countries in the currently unfolding ICD, the impact of new ICTs on economic and social processes in these countries. Among the works of Russian Orientalists, one can mention, for example, the book and article by A. I. Kuprin, which deals with the problems of the spread of ICT and its impact on socio-political processes in North African countries, especially in Tunisia (the works were written before the "Arab Spring", but turned out to be very relevant) [Kuprin, 2011; Kuprin, 2009], an article by V. N. Ulyakhin on the economic security of Asian countries, which analyzes the problems of the production of ICT services in Eastern countries [Ulyakhin, 2009], and chapters of the monographs of the author of this review, which deal with the production of goods and services in the ICT sector [Tsvetkova, 2004; Tsvetkova, 2011].

Among the literature on the problems of the impact of ICTs on society and people, it is impossible not to mention M. Castells ' monograph "The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture", published in 2000 in Russian and which has become a kind of classic, which is devoted to a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental civilizational processes caused by the fundamentally new role of information technologies in the modern world. This work is considered in sufficient detail in the Russian literature (see, for example, [Galich, 2011]).

In the context of ICR, the so-called tradability of services revolution took place. Many services that previously could not take part in international exchange, thanks to the development and, importantly, significant reduction in the cost of ICTs, have become an export item. The development of these new ICT services in developing countries, especially in the East, is the subject of a detailed analysis in the International Investment Report 2004 entitled " The Shift towards Services "[WorldInvestment..., 2004].

Already in the 1990s, French authors became interested in the problems of ICTs and their possible impact on the international division of labor and on the process of labor organization. Thus, the monographs " Info-revolution. The use of information technologies" [Info-revolution..., 1990], "The New division of labor" [La nouvelle division..., 1999], monograph by D. A. Kolesnikov. Ettighoffer's "Virtual Enterprise, or new ways of organizing labor" [Ettighoffer, 1992]. The possibilities of developing ICT-enabled services are analyzed in the article by the American researcher L. Idei " Went for the sake of costs, estimated at cost? An economic approach to transfer prices of offshore business services "[Eden, 2005]. Shifts in the international division of labor are discussed in the article "Measuring Success in the Global Economy: An International Perspective" by American scientists T. Sturgeon and G. Jereffi.

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trade, industrial upgrading and outsourcing of commercial activities in global production chains" [Sturgeon, Gereffi, 2009].

Among foreign publications on ICT issues in Eastern countries, a special place is occupied by reports issued by UNCTAD once a year or every two years since the mid-2000s under the general title "Reports on the Information Economy". They are the main focus of this review, especially " Prospects for development "(2006)," Science and technology for development: a new paradigm of ICT "(2007-2008)," ICT, enterprises and solving the problem of poverty " (2010). Sometimes, along with the problems of production of goods and services, the role of foreign capital, TNCs in the development of production of goods and services in the ICT sector in the countries of the East is analyzed [World Investment..., 2004]. The problems of foreign investments of Asian ICT companies in developed countries are considered, in particular, in the article of a group of authors, which includes S. Yang (one of the authors of the well-known monograph on TNCs), as well as K. Ibeh, Young, and Hui Chu Lin (2004). Finally, a large number of materials on this issue can be found on Internet sites.

Recent publications ("Information Economy Report 2010") focus on the social impact of the development of ICT goods and services in developing countries, and on the opportunities to use ICTs to combat poverty, which continues to be a major problem for many of these countries. The problems of ICT from the point of view of sociology are analyzed in detail in the book of the famous French sociologist D. Wolton "Information does not mean communication" [Wolton, 2009].

This review focuses on the following aspects: the spread of ICTs in Afro-Asian countries, the participation of Afro-Asian countries in the production of ICT goods, the development of ICT services in these countries, and the social aspects of the dissemination and use of ICTs.

Dissemination of ICTs in Afro-Asian countries

The "Report on the Information Economy 2006" indicates that to assess the spread of information technologies in the country, an indicator such as the index of the state of the information technology sphere developed by the Canadian organization Orbicom (Info-state Orbicom index - ICT intensity) is used. This index consists of two indicators: the ICT density (info-density), which includes the volume of production capacity for the production of goods and services in the ICT sector (availability of qualified labor (ICT skills), ICT infrastructure (ICT infrastructure)) and the percentage of ICT use (info-use) in households, firms and government agencies.

The Information Economy Report 2010 provides a detailed analysis of the spread of ICTs in Afro-Asian countries as of 2009.The real revolution was the development of mobile telephony in Asia and Africa. The number of mobile phones per 100 inhabitants was highest in the countries that are capital - surplus oil exporters: 232 in the UAE, 199 in Bahrain, 174 in Saudi Arabia, 107 in Brunei, 100 in Kuwait (for comparison: in Russia-163, in the USA-95). The number of mobile phones per 100 people in the first-tier newly industrialized Asian countries was significant: 173 in Hong Kong (PRC), 117 in Taiwan (PRC province), 140 in Singapore, and 99 in the Republic of Korea. These two groups of countries with a high level of GDP per capita are also distinguished by a large number of Internet users per 100 inhabitants: 82-in the Republic of Korea and Bahrain, 80-in Brunei, 77-in Singapore, 61-in Hong Kong (in the USA-76, in Russia-42).. The spread of new information technologies in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa was quite widespread. In Iran and Saudi Arabia, 38 of the 100 people were Internet users, 34 in Tunisia, 32 in Morocco, 28 in Qatar and Jordan, 24 in Lebanon, 20 in Egypt, 18 in Syria, 13 in Algeria, 6 in Libya, and 1 in Iraq. mobile phones and increased Internet access in major Asian countries. In 2009, there were 56 mobile phones per 100 people in China, 44 in India, 69 in Indonesia, and 101 in Vietnam. In China, 29 of the 100 residents were Internet users, in India - 5, in Indonesia-9.

The most remarkable thing, as shown in the "Information Economy Report 2010", is that mobile communication is becoming quite widespread not only in dynamically developing countries, but also in the least developed countries with low per capita GDP, including in the poorest and most backward countries in Africa. There were 51 mobile phones per 100 inhabitants in Laos, 38 in Cambodia, 47 in Bhutan, 31 in Bangladesh, 63 in Ghana, 47 in Nigeria, 49 in Kenya, 55 in Senegal, and 35 in Guinea - Bissau. Mobile telephony partially compensates for the weak development of telephone communication in the country. For example, Cambodia had 0.4 landlines per 100 people, Nigeria and Ghana - 1, Kenya, Laos and Senegal-2. Constant Internet access

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in the least developed countries, few have. In 2009, 28 out of every 100 people used the Internet in Nigeria, 10 in Kenya, 7 in Senegal, and 5 in Ghana [Information Economy..., 2010, p. 128-131]. Thus, by 2009, the majority of Asian countries and a number of African countries were characterized by a fairly widespread use of mobile communications. The only exceptions are North Korea and countries affected by civil war or military operations (Somalia, Myanmar). There is a clear correlation between the level of GDP per capita and the number of mobile phones per 100 people; in poor countries, it was low (16 in Yemen, 26 in Nepal, 31 in Bangladesh). At the same time, mobile communication was available, and several people could use one mobile phone (including for a fee, this is a kind of small business in the poorest countries). In 2009, the largest number of Internet users per 100 inhabitants was registered in developed countries, in the oil-rich countries of the Persian Gulf, in the first-tier NIS. Broadband Internet, which makes it possible to develop information services, was available on one scale or another in many countries. It was absent in the least developed and poorest countries, mainly in Tropical Africa: Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Sierra Leone, and Eritrea [Information Economy..., 2010, p. 128].

Production and export of ICT goods and services

The rapid development of ICT contributes to the deepening of the international division of labor (MRT) and further development of globalization. This is stated in the monograph "The New Division of Labor" edited by Zh. Beaulieu [La nouvelle division..., 1999], in an article by T. Sturgeon and G. Gerefii [Sturgeon, Gerefii, 2009]. On the one hand, R & D creates prerequisites for dividing production processes into an increasing number of stages. The firm identifies operations and production processes that are specific to itself and in which it has a competitive advantage. The main company remains the backbone of production. Non-core, auxiliary operations may be transferred outside the company, transferred under contract to independent third parties or special branches of this company. On the other hand, the very sphere of production of ICT goods and services is globalizing, and individual stages of production are moving to countries with lower production costs.

As defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2002) The production of ICT goods, which is often mentioned in the reports of international economic organizations, includes a number of articles of the International Standard Commodity Classification. As indicated in the "Report on the Information Economy 2010", this is the production of office, computer, computing equipment, wires and cables, vacuum tubes, electronic components, transmitting equipment for radio broadcasting, television, telephone and telegraph communications, televisions and radio receivers, video recorders and sound reproducing equipment [Information Economy..., 2010, p. 40].

Reports on the information economy show that the importance of the ICT sector in the world economy and in world economic relations is increasing: in 2004, the ICT sector accounted for 9% of all value added (world GDP), 13% of world trade [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 100].

According to the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA), the share of developing countries in the global production of electronic equipment (including computer and telecommunications equipment) increased from 25% in 1995 to 45% in 2005, the share of developed countries decreased from 75% to 53%, the share of developing countries in the global production of electronic equipment increased from 25% in 1995 to 45% in 2005. transition countries (CIS and South-Eastern Europe) accounted for less than 1%. In 2006, total expenditures on the purchase of ICT goods and services reached about $ 3 trillion worldwide. Software acquisition costs increased particularly rapidly, but telecommunications accounted for the largest share of expenditures [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 103].

The ICT sector itself is included in the process of globalization, ICT products (electronic and computer equipment) are produced in different countries of the world, the process is divided into a number of stages, and different stages of the production process can be located in different countries. The production of ICT goods is moving to developing countries.

Asian countries have become leading exporters of ICT products. In 2005, developing countries in Asia accounted for 49% of global ICT exports. In the list of leading exporters of these products in 2005, China ranked first, significantly ahead of the United States ($155 billion) and Japan ($121 billion) in terms of its exports ($235 billion). Hong Kong (PRC) was fourth, Singapore was fifth, followed by Germany. The top ten exporters included the Republic of Korea (7th place), Taiwan (8th place), Malaysia (10th place), the Netherlands (9th place), and the United Kingdom (11th place). Thailand is among the top ten exporters of ICT products (14th place).

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first place) and the Philippines (16th place). Indonesia ranked 26th, India 38th (its ICT exports totaled $ 1.2 billion). usd). In 2005, Russia ranked 41st in terms of exports of ICT products ($1.2 billion), behind Estonia.

If in 1996 the PRC ranked 11th in the world in terms of exports of ICT goods, then since 2004 it has been doing so. It became the leading exporter of these goods, ahead of the United States, and in 2005 it accounted for 15.5% of global exports. Exports of ICT products from China increased 16-fold in 1996-2006, while China's total exports increased 6.4-fold. Share of ICT products (electronic, computer, communication equipment) in China's exports in 1996-2006 increased from 12 to 31% [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 124-125].

The Information Economy Report 2010 notes that the production of ICT products and their exports are concentrated in a small number of countries. The top 20 exporting countries accounted for 91.3% of the value of world exports in 2009. Among them were 9 Asian countries and territories: China (1st place, 22.6% of world exports), Hong Kong (China) (3rd place, 8.3%), Singapore (4th place, 6.4%), the Republic of Korea (5th place, 6.1%), Japan (6th place, 6.0%), Taiwan (8th place, 4.3%), Malaysia (11th place, 2.7%), Thailand (14th place, 1.8%), Philippines (16th place, 1.4%). In total, developing Asian countries among the top twenty exporters accounted for 52% of world exports of ICT products, and together with Japan-58% [Information Economy..., 2010, p. 46].

China has become the undisputed leader in the production and export of computer, electronic, and telecommunications equipment. But other Asian countries are also actively involved in the production of these products. The Information Economy Report 2007-2008 cites the Philippines as an example of the development of ICT products. Already in the 1970s, the electronics industry began to develop here, or rather, its separate stages-the production of electronic components and devices, in particular microchips, which in 2005 accounted for 75% of the production of electronic products, and components for computers - 20% of the total production of computer equipment. In 2005, the production of ICT products, primarily chips and components for system units, accounted for 66% of all exports of finished products from the Philippines. In 1975, the Philippines ' exports were dominated by agricultural raw materials processing products, accounting for 49% of exports, while electronics products accounted for only 3%. Thus, the development of the electronics industry has contributed to the diversification of exports and the diversification of the Philippine economy [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 105].

The enormous shifts in ICT have contributed to the so-called "tradability of services" revolution. Previously, services were mostly non-tradable, i.e. they could not participate in international exchange, due to their very nature, the need for direct contact between the producer and the consumer. Thanks to the development of telecommunications, the Internet, and computer technologies and the reduction of their cost, many services can be exported and participate in international exchange.

The Information Economy Report 2006 provides detailed information on which services have been targeted for international outsourcing and offshoring related to ICT. First of all, these are computer services. According to the Service Classification (Standard Product Classification, CPC) World Trade Organization, computer services include the following types of services: consulting, related to the installation of computer equipment, assistance to clients in ensuring the functioning of computer systems and networks; software-related ( software) - development of software, software applications, special programs for specific purposes; software-related consulting services, work database management, system analysis, project management, technical coordination and system architecture definition; system design services - search for technical solutions related to methodology, ensuring proper software selection; software testing, preparation of software technical documentation, development of virus removal applications; system support services, code rewriting or modification of existing programs or systems, updating of documentation and manuals on software use, transcoding, data transformation; information processing services - data preparation for input, optical scanning; data processing and tabulation, computer calculations; time-sharing in the field of ICT-not only computer equipment is purchased time, but also telecommunications services, etc. [Information Economy..., 2006, p. 114].

The range of services provided by ICTs is much wider. The International Monetary Fund, which uses balance of payments data, includes ICT-enabled services, not only computer and information services (mentioned above), but also telecommunications, insurance, financial services, transfer of royalties and royalties,

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so-called other business support services, personal, cultural and recreational services. By this broad definition, exports of ICT-enabled services amounted to $ 847 billion in 2003.45.2% of all world service exports, $ 1.1 trillion in 2005, about half of all world service exports.

However, it is possible to distinguish a group of services that are directly based on the use of ICT. This is the outsourcing of services to support commercial activities (business proceedings outsourcing). According to the definition of the Indian NASCOM Association( Indian National Association of IT Companies), the concept of "ICT enabled services "(ITES, information technologies enabled services) or ICT related services is much narrower than the definition of the IMF. NASSKOM includes commercial support services, computer and information services, engineering services, software development and R & D among these services [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 117].

Outsourcing of business support services covers a wide range of services. This is accounting, drawing up the final annual balance sheets of companies, financial reports. Based on the data sent by e - mail or transmitted by phone, various commercial and financial documentation is processed-invoices for transactions, processing offers, working with orders, drawing up insurance policies, issuing various invoices, drawing up documents on claims. Bank and legal documentation is processed remotely, as well as secretarial services are provided, including reprinting recordings from audio media; editor services (for example, preparing materials for publication) to reduce costs and reduce the cost of books; audit documentation for tax authorities, personnel movement accounting, and ticket processing [World Investment... , 2004].

The "Report on the Information Economy 2010" indicates that the global market for outsourcing information services and providing commercial BPO activities in 2009 was estimated at 785-805 billion rubles. of this amount, international outsourcing accounted for 12%. Two-thirds of the market for international outsourcing of ICT services was made up of information and computer services, and one - third of BPO. From international outsourcing in 2009 India accounted for 35%, Canada for 21%, the Philippines for 15%, Ireland for 4%, China for 3%, and Central and Eastern European countries (Czech Republic, Hungary) for 6%. In 2004, the share of India in this market was 32%, Canada-45%, the Philippines-9%, Ireland-7%, China - 2%, and all other countries-4% (and in 2009, their share increased to 16%, including Eastern European countries) [Information Economy..., 2010, p. 49-50].

BPO services are provided to English-speaking countries primarily in India. There is a large pool of accounting specialists, for example, in the Philippines. They all receive training in the American accounting and auditing methodology, and are fluent in American English. Along with India and Ireland (their European center), BPO services are also provided by developed countries, primarily Canada, Israel, from developing Asian countries - China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, from the new EU member states Czech Republic, Hungary [http:// www.bpo-africa; http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/].

Along with subsidiaries of TNCs, international outsourcing (offshore services provided by ICT) It is also carried out by companies owned by the national capital. But they operate on orders from foreign companies. International outsourcing in the field of IT can be described as "intelligent subcontracts" [Tsvetkova, 2004, p. 59].

The UNCTAD International Investment Report 2004 identifies four types of offshore ICT-enabled services projects that attract significant investment from TNCs: call centers, commercial support operations centers, computer services centers, and regional headquarters. Of the 513 call center projects in 2002-2003, developing countries accounted for 40% of the total number of projects, including 33% in Asia and 12% in India. Of the 139 commercial service center projects, 52% were implemented in developing countries, including 46% in Asia: 31% in India, 6% in Singapore, 4% in Malaysia, 3% in Hong Kong, and 1% in the Philippines. Of the 632 IT service projects, developing countries accounted for 50%, including 45% in Asia and 19% in India. As for the placement of regional headquarters of TNCs in Asian countries, this trend was clearly manifested already in the 1970s in Singapore and Hong Kong. Taking into account the regional headquarters, SEEA countries accounted for 63% of the total number of projects reviewed by the OECD [World Investment..., 2004, p. 160, 162 164]. Companies that provide IT services are located in Asian countries because this helps reduce the costs of parent companies or customer companies, and optimize their revenues. The reduction in costs due to outsourcing and offshoring of ICT services is indicated by data from NASCOM, which estimates that every dollar invested by American companies in offshore services in India,

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brings in $ 1.45. In India, there is still $ 0.33 and $ 0.67 in total value added. This is the cost savings for American companies and $ 0.45-the creation of new value due to the growth of employment released due to the offshoring of labor force services [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 125].

India is a recognized global leader in outsourcing IT services. Bangalore, the center of development of this industry in the country, is by no means the only address in India where foreign branches and national firms engaged in providing intelligent services and remote business services are located. Along with Bangalore in Karnataka, Mumbai and Pune in Maharashtra, Noida in Delhi, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, Chennai in Tamilnadu, and Kolkata in West Bengal have become such centers specializing in IT and business support services. In Karnataka, in 2002/2003, foreign branches accounted for 23% of those employed in ICT - based services and 45% of their exports, while in Delhi, 24% of those employed and 14% of their exports [WorldInvestment..., 2004, p. 170]. In India, IT services have become an important driver of economic growth. The share of the ICT sector (excluding telecommunications) in India's GDP increased from 1.2% in 1999 to 5.4% in 2006 [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 106,125-126].

As an example of successful development of the IT services sector in the 2000s, the Philippines is also cited, which was facilitated by the country's comparative advantages - the presence of a large number of qualified personnel with good knowledge of English. The Philippines has been a colony of the United States for decades, and the higher education system, including medical and legal education, has been greatly influenced by the American system. Hence, Filipino specialists have a good knowledge of the terminology used in the preparation of legal, medical, and commercial documentation adopted in the United States. Among the IT services that began to develop in the Philippines following the example of India, business support outsourcing services predominate: call centers, legal and medical documentation centers, and the Information Economy Report 2007-2008 provides data that the accuracy rate of legal and medical documentation processing in the Philippines is 98-99%. In 2007, the Philippines had 146 call centers with 150,000 employees, 66 firms with 10,000 employees. people who were engaged in remote processing of medical and legal documentation; 62 firms with 22.5 thousand employees engaged in providing remote maintenance of commercial activities (documentation processing, accounting, financial reporting). In addition, there were 300 firms providing information and computer services, whose revenue reached $ 2.7 billion in 2007, and 14 firms providing engineering services [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 105].

UNCTAD reports and materials posted on Internet sites show that by the end of the 2000s, international outsourcing of IT services began to develop in a fairly wide range of Asian and African countries: Egypt, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Ghana and Senegal [http://www.bpo-africa; http://www.vanguardngr.com/2010/]. In Sri Lanka, the total number of people employed in IT services reached 16,000 in 2003 and more than doubled to 38,000 in 2007. Of this number, 25% were programmers, 16% were technical support specialists, 12% were software product testers, 7% were financial analysis and system integration specialists, 6% were system administrators, and 5% were database management specialists. Some of the specialists left Sri Lanka and emigrated to India. There was a shortage of qualified IT service professionals. Egypt has adopted a State program for the development of ICT. The country is developing cooperation with India's NASSKOM to acquire know-how and has set a goal to become a hub for Indian IT services companies in the Arab world [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 108,129].

Interesting are the calculations made by L. Idei based on data from the American research company A. T. Kearney. It has compiled ratings for countries that can participate in the provision of remote business support services for 2004. The first place was given to India (7.3 points), the second - to Canada and Mexico (6.2 points each), the Russian Federation received 6th place (5.6 points), which is higher than the PRC (7th place, 5.2 points) and not much lower than the points of Ireland (4th place, 5.8 points). Philippines (7th place, 5.7 points), which successfully develop outsourcing of ICT-enabled services. In terms of costs, the Russian Federation ranked second (2.7 points for labor costs, India - 2.9, Canada - 0.8), but in terms of infrastructure development (intellectual property protection, cultural compatibility, infrastructure, risks) - only 8th, 1.4 points (but the PRC, for example, had 9th place and only 1.1 points) [Eden, 2005, pp. 8-9].

The share of ICT (goods and services) in the value added of the private corporate sector in 2003-2007 was 21% in the Philippines, 17% in Malaysia, 13% in South Korea, and 13% in Mauritius.-

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cii-7, Egypt - 6, Hong Kong - 5, Russian Federation-4%. In China, the "information industry" generated 7.5% of GDP in 2004 [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 101, 106]. As can be seen from these data, the production of ICT goods and services has developed significantly in many Asian countries. For China, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines, it is primarily about manufacturing electronic, computer, and telecommunications equipment; for India and the Philippines, it is about developing ICT - based services.

Social aspects of the dissemination and use of ICTs

The Information Economy Report 2010, entitled "ICTs, Enterprises and Addressing Poverty", focuses on the social dimensions of the dissemination and use of ICTs, which examines the contribution of the dissemination of ICTs and the production of ICT goods and services to employment in developing countries and to the fight against poverty. Mobile telephony is certainly the leader among new ICTs in Afro-Asian countries, including in the poorest countries. The report analyzes the use of mobile phone communication by small and medium-sized enterprises in Afro-Asian countries. A new type of microenterprise is emerging - "selling by phone call time". The report analyzes the examples of Bangladesh, where in 2008 there were 350 thousand "telephone ladies" selling such mobile communication services, Ghana, and Uganda. However, as the cost of phones decreases, the demand for such services may decrease. A network of small businesses is being developed that repair mobile phones, sell accessories, new and used phones, and pay for mobile communications. In Bhutan, farmers selling dairy products in local markets have been able to increase their incomes thanks to mobile communications [Information Economy..., 2010, p. 56, 60, 69].

Enterprises that produce goods and services in the ICT sector are also called upon to contribute to solving poverty problems. India has become a world leader in the export of ICT services since 2006. The share of this industry in total exports of goods and services from India increased from 4% in 1998 to 16% in 2008. The total turnover of information services and ICT-enabled enterprises increased from less than $ 1 billion in 1990 to $ 60 billion in 2009 [Information Economy..., 2010, p. 51]. In the reports on the information economy 2007 2008 and 2010 The problems of employment in ICT services are analyzed. In India's ICT sector, the total number of employed professionals (graduates) increased from 284,000 in 1999 to 830,000 in 2003/2004 and 1.6 million in 2006/2007. According to NASCOM, from 2003/2004 to 2006/2007 FY (ending in March), the number of people employed in information and computer services in India increased from 215 thousand. up to 562 thousand people, in the field of business support services based on ICT - from 216 thousand to 545 thousand people, in the field of engineering services, R & D and software development - from 81 thousand to 144 thousand people, in the field of software development and IT services intended for the domestic market-from 318 thousand to 378 thousand people [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 106, 125-126]. In 2009, the total number of people employed in the ICT services sector in India was estimated at 2.2 million. In the total economically active population of a country with a billion inhabitants, the share of employees employed in these enterprises is not so large. The industry is mainly in demand for specialists with a fairly high level of education and good knowledge of the English language. The authors of the 2010 Report assess the contribution of the ICT sector to solving employment and poverty problems in India as rather modest. There is an opinion that the development of ICT services contributes to the growth of property and social polarization. However, there is another point of view. It is estimated that due to the multiplier effect, each new workplace in the information industry contributes to the creation of 3.6 jobs in other areas (public catering, shopping, transport, domestic workers). In China, migrant workers employed in the electronics industry and assembly plants send a significant part of their earnings home to the countryside, which contributes to income growth and poverty reduction [Information Economy..., 2010, p. 51].

Another social aspect associated with the spread of ICTs and the corresponding shifts in MRI, which is already causing considerable concern in developed countries, is the loss of jobs as a result of the placement of production facilities in Asia (and today in Africa). The extent to which the electronics industry is moving to developing countries is highlighted in the Information Economy Report 2007-2008, which shows a decline in employment in some countries and an increase in employment in others. In 1997-2004, the number of jobs in the electronics and electrical industries in the United States decreased by 550 thousand, Japan - by 400 thousand, and Germany - by 100 thousand. In the same period, the number of people employed in these industries in Thailand increased by 167 thousand, in Indonesia - by 65 thousand. [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 110 111]. In the EU countries in 2005, losses due to the development of international outsourcing of IT services amounted to 1,570 jobs, 14% of the total number of employees in the country.

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all jobs that were reduced due to the development of international outsourcing. Due to the development of international outsourcing in the manufacturing industry in 1996-2004, job losses in Western Europe reached 2 million [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 112].

Trade unions in Western countries are sounding the alarm. "The combination of internationalization of the economy and the development of ICT has led to the fact that some segments of the labor market have become more open. Today, TNCs can get away from the requirements for social protection of workers and paying them high wages, simply by moving production to developing countries, " according to the authors of the collection "Trade Union Movement and Globalization" [Le syndicalisme..., 2000, p. 60].

Speaking about the social aspects of the spread of ICTs, we should especially mention the book by D. Volton, where the issue of ICTs is considered from the point of view of the theory of social communication. Volton notes that new ICTs, of course, contribute to maintaining connections between groups of like-minded people via the Internet, facilitate interaction within diasporas, ethno-confessional communities, fellow countrymen, and mobilize participants in public actions. However, Volton believes that one should not fall into scientism, fetishize the meaning of ICT. The main thesis of his monograph is that today "information" (new ICTs) does not so much facilitate as complicate social communication in multicultural societies (Wolton, 2009).

* * *

Many Asian countries have successfully integrated into ICR. The conclusion reached by the authors of a significant number of publications is that the successful development of the ICT sector and the involvement in the R & D process became important factors in the economic recovery of China and India, and generated the economic shifts that formed the basis for the new stage of globalization. China has become the world's leading producer of ICT goods, while India has become the world's leading producer of ICT services. In 1995-2003, China accounted for 22% of global GDP growth, while India accounted for 11%. Thus, a third of global GDP growth was generated by Asian giants [Information Economy..., 2007-2008, p. 123]. With regard to the 2000s, many authors even speak of a new stage of globalization, which is characterized by an increased role of emerging market countries.

list of literature

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