Let’s Do More Than Just Talk About Bridging the Digital Divide

In recent years, many governments have launched programs to help close the connectivity gap and bring digital technologies to the previously unconnected. But even with such significant strides forward, much of the world remains unconnected, especially in remote areas. Almost 37 percent of the world’s population – 2.9 billion people – are still completely offline. The focus, however, can’t be only on addressing the lack of physical infrastructure to connect these regions, although that remains a priority. In tandem with these initiatives, community-led education drives must be encouraged to inform the unconnected of the genuinely transformative power of digital technologies. Rural communities’ use of digital technologies remains complex. To deliver socially transformative digital inclusivity, governments must help create ecosystems in which core infrastructure improves quality of life. 

1. Establish high-speed broadband access and wireless connectivity everywhere.
2. Create imaginative, new, rural-use cases with meaningful, scalable benefits, such as e-tutoring, investing in agritech, and using “send to email” conversations in WhatsApp.
3. Humanize technology with a community model of using digital services closely with a set of local digital champions, to help demystify technologies in these communities.

[Paul Atkinson is the CEO of optical network business for STL]