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On September 28, our event series launched with the 6G Summit on Connecting the Unconnected.
Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) shared the stage with a distinguished panel including: Elizabeth Belding, Professor, University of California at Santa Barbara; Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist, Google, Chairman of the Board, Marconi Society; Paul Garnett, The Vernonburg Group; Ida Jallow, ITU; Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO; Milo Medin, Google.
While few dispute the existence of the digital divide, the true character of the divide is often masked by high-level information and false assumptions about exactly where the digital divide lives and the daily and systemic economic problems it creates.
This panel offered rich insights into the digital divide itself and some of the potential solutions for bridging it.
“Over the course of this panel, I heard experts from industry, policy, and academia arguing that we need to make technology work for society,” says Samantha Schartman-Cycyk, Executive Director of the Marconi Society. “Alongside technical observations such as how 1 out of 3 unconnected people worldwide also lack electricity, or that while wireless innovation might provide new ways of connecting hard-to-reach rural areas, fiber backhaul is still needed, I heard themes that could turn our connected economy on its head.
“Panelists suggested that we might need to review the business model for connectivity and recast it as a social imperative. Paul Garnett introduced the idea of ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Investing, hinting at a new form of private-sector-led, honor-system regulation of the technology industry. Panelists also observed that lowering the cost of entering into the network management business and democratizing network building and ownership could solve the overlooked gaps where business models failed to provide the right investment opportunity for traditional Internet Service Providers.
“Taken together, these observations are a call to action,” continues Schartman-Cycyk. “It is up to us to define what we believe to be a basic human right. It is up to us to identify how digital inclusion fits into the concept of corporate responsibility. It is up to us to monitor, report, and recognize action and inaction by the companies we rely on to provide this imperative service. The ball is in our court. How will we choose to lead?”
“Connectivity is vital to a community’s safety, education and economy,” said Jay Brown, Crown Castle’s Chief Executive Officer, a Gold sponsor for The Decade of Digital Inclusion. “We believe in a sustainable, collaborative approach to connectivity, and with our shared infrastructure model we build the foundation using less resources. The 6G Summit on Connecting the Unconnected is a reminder that the innovative future we help create must reach everyone. As a sponsor of The Decade of Digital Inclusion, Crown Castle is proud to make conversations like these possible.”
- The digital divide is never far away
“In order to improve connectivity, you have to know where it isn’t.”—Vint Cerf
As most people likely expect, the digital divide is a critical social and economic issue in Least Developed Countries (LDCs), particularly in land-locked countries, and in Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Underneath the number of 4 billion unconnected, we find disproportionately large numbers of lower income people, women and girls, and rural residents.
What many do not know is that it is alive and well in lower income and rural areas of developed countries. 1.5M New York City residents do not have access to broadband Internet at home.
Measuring connectivity is more complex than it might seem, sometimes producing information that overestimates true connectedness. Elizabeth Belding points out that a number of studies measure a “connected” person as one who has had access to the Internet in the past 90 days. Even if this access is at an Internet café for a short period of time while the person is paying for data or time, they are still counted as “connected.”
2. It’s more than an access problem
“Developing countries have low savings rates, vulnerable institutions and infrastructure, low literacy rates and inadequate capital.”—Ida Jallow
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is a key tool for digital transformation in developing countries and must be resilient to COVID and other problems. As Ida Jallow tells us, SIDS experience a 14% GDP loss in every natural disaster.
Yet the main form of broadband access in Africa is still wireless using 3G and 4G networks. These mobile networks also have a huge coverage gap between urban and rural locations, leaving most Africans outside of cities completely unconnected. International bandwidth usage is very far behind other parts of the world.
Because of this, countries with access points are learning that local content development is key. Otherwise, all Internet traffic is leaving the area and is subject to significant delays and latency. Developing local content and digital literacy is as important as affordable and available connectivity.
3. The problem of the business model
“If you give spectrum to people with limited business models, you get limited options.”—Milo Medin
The digital divide is rooted in a number of causes, including a lack of business motivation, matched by policies that often do not offer the right incentives for investment.
As Milo Medin tells us, spectrum is a scarce resource. Rather than selling it to the highest bidder, as many governments do, policy makers could consider awarding spectrum to organizations who plan to invest in innovative networks that will serve people who are currently un- or under-connected. For example, Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) in the U.S. are using new spectrum-sharing techniques to offer affordable and accessible service to those who have no other options.
4. Investors can change the equation
“We should reward meaningful and measurable efforts to close the global broadband gap.”—Paul Garnett
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria are driving significant investor shifts around climate change. Funds that invest using ESG principles, such as favoring firms that do not rely on fossil fuels, have captured $51.1B of new money from investors in 2020 up from $21B in 2019. Elevating digital inclusion to the top of the policy and investment agenda could result in significant new investment in firms using innovative technology and business models to create digital equity, Paul Garnett tells us.
ESG investing provides a carrot and a stick. It gives companies credit for the good things they do in their business and governance. If a metric like affordable broadband access counted toward an organization’s ESG rating, it would give Wall Street a powerful path to reward and hold accountable companies that are closing the digital divide. These companies could include traditional service providers, as well as companies that are running some of the world’s largest networks, such as Microsoft, Facebook and others.
5. We need relentless advocacy
“The Good Samaritan approach has not worked before.”—Elizabeth Belding
Bridging the digital divide has received more attention in 6G planning than it has in any prior generation of wireless planning. Unfortunately, talk during planning is not enough to change the status quo. Bringing solutions to improve services for the already well-connected into emerging markets will not address these critical gaps. Only through ongoing advocacy and planning that focuses specifically on the needs of the un- and under-connected can we ensure that the opportunities of the network are truly available to everyone.
