As the world attempts to rebound from the COVID-19 crisis, national ICT policies, broadband plans and digital strategies are required to fully embed and integrate digital infrastructure, ensuring adoption and use of Internet services and applications in order to best leverage the potential for digital transformation to help transform society and ensure no one is left behind and left offline. The IMF is estimating that, compared with pre-crisis forecasts, incomes per person in 2022 will still be 20 per cent lower in emerging and developing countries (and 11 per cent lower for advanced economies). A crisis prolonged by additional waves of COVID-19 outbreaks, particularly in developing countries, would impact income levels even further and require even more effort and measures to build back better. Policies that focus on the impacts of digital at the individual level and address end-user challenges and needs may prove to be the most effective in order to spur investment, innovation, improve affordability of access and devices, and achieve digital inclusion.

Key elements of any policy focused on digital transformation must ensure prioritization of people, inclusivity, fundamental rights and equality of opportunity; focus on core development issues such as agency, power, and structure in this digital age; employ a comprehensive ecosystem approach recognizing spillovers; be inclusive, leaving no one behind and prioritizing the protection of the most vulnerable; be integrative, not additive; and require leadership and ownership.

Increasing convergence between high-speed digital infrastructure and all other sectors

Due to the ubiquity of digital infrastructure across business, government and at the individual level, approaches to policy on broadband are increasingly incorporating other sectoral issues, and vice-versa. The increasing reliance on digital infrastructure, services, and applications in nearly every sector and facet of economies and societies is made clear by the overlaps and engagements in policy issues between sectors and the subsequent government departments and ministries responsible for the sets of issues in those domains. Organizations around the world are developing their own internal digital transformation strategies as well as incorporating digital infrastructure advisory into their project work. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has introduced its first organization-wide digital strategy. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has also begun to develop a digital strategy, and, as part of the UN Secretary-General’s 2030 Roadmap, is developing a specific working group on digital inclusion of forcibly displaced people. Similarly, USAID launched its Digital Strategy in April 2020, taking a systems-level approach to understanding and responding to the opportunities and risks of digital technology internally and externally.

Investments in agriculture, health, education, and finance, among others, not only rely on digital connectivity but in some cases are spurring direct investment in digital infrastructure to support investments and service delivery in other sectors. For example, legislation focused on agricultural development that also builds investment for high-speed broadband to support rural communities. And some efforts, such as ITU’s Smart Villages project in Niger alongside the World Bank take a comprehensive approach to development, underpinned by connectivity.

Ensuring public confidence in broadband

Ensuring trust, security and confidence in engaging online is critical for encouraging more participants to join the digital economy. The continuous increase in cybersecurity incidents is a growing negative trend that requires more action. In the first quarter of 2020 alone phishing scams increased by 350 per cent globally as more individuals shifted more of their activities online and criminals took advantage of people’s fears and anxieties. Several large-scale attacks on critical infrastructure have also occurred recently, such as the ransomware attack that shut down half of the United States’ gasoline pipeline. Vulnerabilities in systems can be far-reaching and allow malicious actors to exploit systems undetected. In these cases, more robust tools, more assistance and coordination between public and private agencies could be impactful. MNOs are providing tools to their customers to generate confidence in digital engagement, and provide a safe, secure cyber experience, e.g. Airtel’s ‘Secure Internet’ subscription for its fibre customers or offering Kaspersky security solutions for PC and smartphones via Airtel’s Thanks app.

Greater government investment in capacity building to increase systemic cyber resilience could also be coupled with incentives, and private and public investments to fuel cyber defense initiatives and projects at international, national and individual levels.

Issues of targeted misinformation, undermining of public trust and civility can sow societal discord. Malicious actors have demonstrated an ability to leverage technology and social media to subdue opponents and gain (or exert) political power. Misinformation has been particularly rampant in the anxiety surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, and even some unfounded conspiracy theories, such as the safety around 5G, have reached more audiences online. Toolkits of counter actions, such as the 23-step tool to assess disinformation responses, as presented in the Broadband Commission’s 2020 report “Balancing act: Countering digital disinformation while respecting freedom of expression”, as well as public trackers, along with coordinated responses can help in this regard. To counter such myths propagated around new technologies like 5G, it is important that the governments and industry work together in advocacy and awareness campaigns, e.g. in India, the Ministry of Communications recently highlighted there was no link between COVID-19 and 5G. A user-centric approach means that it is critical that users are equipped through capacity building and digital skills training (at all levels of education) with the right tools to address online risks and safety issues. The European Union has proposed a Digital Services Act which introduces regulatory supervision for very large online platforms. The UK has introduced an Online Safety Bill which would introduce a duty of care for digital services in respect of illegal or harmful content they host.

Additional investment policy options

Recent estimates by the ITU suggest that at least USD 428 billion is required to reach universal broadband connectivity by 2030. These investments span mobile infrastructure investments (capital expenditures), metro and backbone fibre networks, network operation and maintenance, supporting device affordability, rural and remote deployments, policy and regulations, and ICT skills and policies. Other analysis by the Boston Consulting Group suggests it could take USD 2 trillion to halve the digital divide and bring 2 billion more people into the digital age. In addition to the significant funding levels required, issues of fragmentation (of funding, legislative and regulatory frameworks, investment and distribution) and coordination across regions, government levels, and between public and private sector entities exist, and innovative funding models and partnerships may be required to overcome these challenges.

Investment needed to achieve universal access to broadband connectivity by 2030 (ITU, 2020)

Source: ITU. 2020. "Connecting humanity."

Furthermore, strategic policy initiatives and investments should also aim to expedite 5G networks deployment (by reducing 5G deployment obstacles), enhance SMEs’ digitalization, promote the industrial data economy (including industrial data sharing) and unlock Industrial IoT. In developing and large markets where affordability of connectivity and services is a prime concern along with the need to attract investments into network rollouts, it is important that policy-makers continue to find approaches to keep the input costs for network operators low.

Innovative partnerships

Inclusive, innovative partnerships that leverage the unique strengths of each participant in digital infrastructure development are required to translate roadmaps and action plans into concrete achievement by the United Nations’ 2030 target date. As shown above, Internet user growth rates are slowing while the digital divide, in some respects such as in gender, is widening. As such, the global community is at an inflection point in our shared mission of connecting the world to bring the power of digital transformation to every community.

As the pandemic surfaced and amplified inequalities in education, UNESCO rapidly mobilized support to launch the Global Education Coalition in March 2020 to ensure the continuity of learning around the world. Working around the three central flagships of Connectivity, Teachers and Gender Equality, the multi-sector Coalition now brings together 175 institutional partners, representing the UN family, civil society, academia, and the private sector, including numerous members of the Broadband Commission. The Coalition uses a mission approach to achieve large-scale targets and as a way to operationalize actions. As of March 2021, the Coalition’s Global Skills Academy had reached 142 000 beneficiaries through training on skills for employability and resilience; the Global Teacher Campus delivered free training on quality and inclusive remote, hybrid and in-presence teaching to 30 000 educators; and the Global Learning House reached 149 000 learners, with a special focus on STEM.

These innovative approaches include public-private collaboration to connect the unconnected as well as ‘coopetition’ whereby seemingly competitors in the private sector can benefit by working together, with a higher vision of jointing impacting efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.