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Name :	JAKOVLJEVIC, Dejan
Date :	December 11, 2020
Organization :	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Country :	Italy
Job Title :	Director, CSI
Contribution :	Access to internet is a necessity for economic and human development for countries. The challenges of expanding Internet connectivity to remote and under-served areas include (i) the low return of investment by Operators and Tower companies, (ii) the affordability of internet connectivity in rural areas, and (iii) licensing frameworks and application processes are unclear making operators who venture into business shun remote and under-served areas. The opportunities include, (i) provision of clear licensing framework guidelines that encourage investment in outlying areas, (ii) the potential to simplify and make transparent the application process and conditions for obtaining an operator’s license, (iii) to encourage investment in Internet connectivity, governments or regulatory authorities should consider wavering or removing the minimum capital requirements for Operators. In summary, the greatest opportunities are what internet connectivity brings to remote and under-served areas, essential services such as education and healthcare. Landlocked countries do not have access to undersea cables. Without access to the undersea cables, landlocked countries have to rely on satellite internet connections. As a result, affordability of internet and the return on investment (ROI) in landlocked countries is low. This is mainly due to the geographic remoteness and their further distant to the nearest undersea cable node, implying a cost of laying a transporting cable to the landlocked. There are interventions that can be done to address these challenges. These include, for example providing unused satellite bandwidth (for example to land-locked countries in sub-Saharan Africa). Small community based or non-profit operators can increase the Internet Connectivity, if proper policy regulations allow them to operate. The small operators are usual SMEs with various business models, their being local and being social-purpose operators makes them important for development – their focus might not necessarily be profit oriented. There are other value-added services that small operators can provide to their communities, such as digital literacy training in combination with other developmental partners (or NGOs) like MercyCorps and the Digital Opportunity Trust. Examples includes The Giga Model by UNESCO and ITU and Smart Villages by ITU – in collaboration with FAO, UNESCO and WHO.
Attachments :	AccessibleForm_OpenConsultations_FAO_Submissions.pdf