Connecting the unconnected to internet

Few days ago Ericsson and the Earth Institute at Columbia University have released a new report highlighting ICT’s role in accelerating achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030

One of the interesting topics addressed in this report was about the considerable gap we still have on connecting people to internet

According to ITU  by the end of 2015, more than 4 billion people mainly from emerging markets were still not using the Internet, predominantly women. In fact  Internet penetration rate is 11% lower for women than for men around the world.

By being left out of the Networked Society, the unconnected represent a huge missed opportunity in not having access to the same technological advancements that are enabling significant global progress towards the SDGs in advanced countries.

Nevertheless the exponential growth of  ICT is paving the way to dramatically alter internet access worldwide. According to this report,  by 2021, around 95% of the world population will be covered by mobile networks. The rapid uptake of mobile technology, and the declining cost of smartphones is changing the situation. In sub-Saharan Africa, mobile penetration move from 50% to 80% in only 5 years, and by 2021 it is expected to reach 100 percent in the region.

Although by late 2015, some 600 million people globally still don't have access to mobile coverage, that figure is expected to drop to 300 million by 2021.

Report shows that the unconnected by 2021 will be characterized by:

• ƒƒ 2 of 3 live in rural areas,
• ƒƒ 2 of 3 are above the age of 25
• ƒƒ 1 of 2 cannot afford a 3G connection
• ƒƒ 1 of 3 are illiterate

It was also highlighted three main barriers  stopping the next 4 Billions to be connected:

• ƒƒ Affordability: Cost of access, including devices.
• ƒƒ Usage and Digital iteracy 
• ƒƒ Infrastructure: technology deployment, spectrum, and  viable business models

The report also highlight clear areas of action for policy makers, goverment and telecommunication stakeholders. 

1. Create new business model
2. Leverage on other infrastructure such roads and power
3. ƒƒ Improve spectrum regulation
4. ƒ Explore new types of public-private partnership.

The role of policy makers and a sustainable framework

Improving regulatory conditions and making harmonized spectrum
available in a planned way  is a key priority for policymakers and regulators. Harmonized spectrum helps to build economies of scale , facilitates
cross-border coordination between countries, ensures, inter-operability, choice and convenience. Moreover it provides  long-term investment assurance
for infrastructure and service providers. Being Spectrum a scarce resource, it needs to be managed in a fair and sustainable way. 

For instance, current cost of spectrum in most emerging markets is quite high. This will affect network roll out decisions from service providers and could slow down the increase of mobile internet coverage in specific areas.  

Policy makers should instead try to create incentives for network operators and service providers to expand population coverage to more marginalized groups  via tax benefits. This is also where  public-private partnerships can step in to address the inequity implicit in the lack of connectivity for the people with less access to these service, mostly in emerging markets. 

MFISH: Example of public-private partnerships

In Indonesia, XL Axiata, Tone, NGOs and several government agencies developed an app designed to improve the productivity and safety of Indonesia’s fishermen by providing information about the weather and tides, location of plankton, wind direction and speed as well as their position at sea.

The ‘mFish’ initiative is an example of public-private partnerships to promote the use of digital technology to improve the performance and productivity of unconnected segments of the society like fishermen.

XL started with the country’s fishing industry and partnered with local application developer Tone. In the first stage, the mFish app runs on the Android operating system and is designed for 3G networks. Using real-time data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the app can detect the presence of fish and provides a detailed map of the sea surface. 

The operator started a six-month pilot project, with launches this week in the Yogyakarta area, where it distributed more than 260 so-called mFish packages that consist of a handset (with the app preinstalled), a prepaid SIM with 1GB of data/month, solar battery charger, waterproof bag and a data cable