ITU poll: Here’s what it will take to connect everyone by 2030

By ITU News

In the last 30 years, the number of Internet users worldwide has surged from just a few million to almost five billion today. But with one third of humanity still offline, huge connectivity potential remains untapped. 

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recently reaffirmed the urgent need to connect everyone, everywhere to the Internet by 2030.

“Leaving no one behind means leaving no one offline,” Guterres said on 17 May in his World Telecommunication and Information Society Day message.

The upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) – set to take place in Kigali, Rwanda, from 6 to 16 June – is a key opportunity to accelerate progress towards a fully connected planet.

But what are the concrete steps that governments, businesses, and society could be taking to achieve truly universal connectivity?

In the run-up to the conference, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) turned to Twitter and LinkedIn to find out what our online community thinks.

We asked poll participants what needs to happen to connect the unconnected by 2030. 

Poll results

Affordable access to the Internet was a clear winner on both LinkedIn and Twitter, with 44 and 49 per cent of the vote, respectively.

Coming in second place for LinkedIn respondents was digital literacy at 24 per cent, while Twitter respondents felt investment was second-most important in the quest for universal, meaningful connectivity with 22 per cent of the vote. 

For some respondents, all four approaches – ensuring digital literacy, affordable access, partnerships and investment – are equally important. For many, they seem symbiotic.

According to LinkedIn commenter Amal Punchihewa, a mix of “partnerships, investments and programmes to enhance digital literacy with some regulatory mechanisms will assure meaningful connectivity.” The mix would vary from country to country, he added.

On Twitter, @Signal_WMT replied that universal connectivity can be achieved through “affordable access by partnerships who invest.” Another user, @carlosrebel, suggested that “WiFi technologies are critical for affordability.”

Pathways forward

An estimated 4.9 billion people were online in 2021, according to ITU’s Facts and Figures report. But many of them only have limited or basic connectivity.

Often, even entry-level mobile-broadband access is unaffordable. In low-income countries, as a percentage of monthly income, basic mobile broadband costs 21 times more than in high-income economies.

The ITU Global Connectivity Report, set for release on 6 June, dives into the data to take stock of such disparities and help chart a path to universal and meaningful connectivity.

At the Partner2Connect Digital Development Roundtable, which will take place during WTDC, ITU member states, as well as entities from the private sector, academia, civil society, and international organizations, will announce their pledges to advance digital transformation and meaningful connectivity for all.

You, too, can do your part to make sure everyone is connected to the Internet by 2030.

Here are four key steps you can take:

• Register to attend the Partner2Connect Digital Development Roundtable at WTDC– open for all to participate, including non-ITU members
• Submit a pledge through the Partner2Connect pledging portal
• Share Partner2Connect assets across your social media channels
• Join the conversation on social media using the hashtag #Partner2Connect