The seven 2025 Advocacy Targets of the Broadband Commission reflect ambitious and aspirational goals and function as a policy and programmatic guide for national and international action. From the initial four connectivity goals established when the Commission was first organized, the targets were expanded to five in 2013 with the addition of the gender equality goal. In January 2018, at its Special Session during the Annual General Meeting of the World Economic Forum, the Broadband Commission extended and updated the five broadband targets to a total of seven targets focusing on 2025 target date. This chapter focuses on progress towards the 2025 Advocacy Targets, including a review of the progress made since the start of the Commission in 2010.
The seven 2025 Advocacy Targets represent connectivity baseline targets and goals, and map onto the UN Secretary-General’s Digital Cooperation Roadmap areas of actions, particularly universal connectivity, ensuring digital inclusion of all including the most vulnerable, digital capacity building, digital public goods, and digital trust and safety. The voice of youth is also pertinent in ensuring progress and ownership of these targets. ITU has launched Generation Connect, its overarching Youth Strategy that aims to engage global youth and encourage their participation as equal partners alongside the leaders of today’s digital change, empowering young people with the skills and opportunities to advance their vision of a connected future, in alignment with the vision and objectives of the United Nations Youth Strategy: Youth 2030 – working with and for young people.
Where are we on the 2025 Advocacy Targets?
Click a target below to find out.
Universal broadband policy
Target: By 2025, all countries should have a funded National Broadband Plan or strategy or include broadband in their Universal Access and Service (UAS) Definition
165 countries worldwide now have a national broadband plan of some sort, with several countries currently in the process of adopting one, up from 102 countries in 2010 and 151 in 2016. However, work must be done to monitor and evaluate implementation of these national plans.
Make broadband affordable
Target: By 2025, entry-level broadband services should be made affordable in developing countries at less than 2% of monthly Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.
Some way to go. In 2020, 56 developing economies (including 4 LDCs) achieved the target for mobile broadband while this remained unaffordable in 84 countries (45 per cent). 23 developing economies only achieved the target for fixed broadband while 111 countries (56 per cent) did not.
Getting people online
Target: 2025, Broadband-Internet user penetration should reach: a) 75% worldwide b) 65% in developing countries c) 35% in Least Developed Countries
Latest data shows i) 51 per cent penetration worldwide ii) 44 per cent in developing countries iii) 19.5 per cent, well below target. There remains a significant gap between uptake and target – which underlines an urgent need for policies that prioritize demand-side challenges and address barriers to Internet adoption.
Digital skills and literacy
Target By 2025, 60% of youth and adults should have achieved at least a minimum level of proficiency in sustainable digital skills
The shift to remote work and learning underline the importance of Digital skills. One UN estimate forecasts 230 million ‘digital jobs’ in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030, requiring training to enable the transition. In LMICs, lack of literacy and digital skills remains the barrier to mobile Internet use. This is also the case for rural population in general.
Digital financial services
Target: By 2025, 40% of the world’s population should be using digital financial services
Digital financial services have seen heavy use during the COVID-19 pandemic for transactions and remittances. E-commerce has substituted for in-person shopping. E-logistics, entertainment, remote healthcare and other forms of FinTech have surged in use. In Sub-Saharan Africa there are over 469 million registered mobile money accounts, as against 298 million traditional bank accounts. Governments have increased direct payments to citizens – those receiving government-to-person payments increased four-fold from September 2019 to June 2020. We have also seen the rise of digital currencies enabling low-income and vulnerable groups to send small value remittances and avoiding high transaction fees.
Getting businesses online
Target: By 2025, overcome unconnectedness of Micro-, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs) by 50%, by sector
The pandemic hit micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) hard. Almost two thirds of smaller businesses were strongly affected. One in four micro firms expected to shut down permanently within three months. The uptake of digital technologies by MSMEs will determine the extent of overall Internet economy growth, particularly in developing countries. Accenture estimates that by 2025, the Internet economy could contribute 5.2 per cent of Africa’s GDP, depending on the intensity of digital technologies usage by businesses.
Achieving gender equality in access to broadband
Target: By 2025, gender equality should be achieved across all targets
In 2019, global estimates put use of the Internet at 55 per cent of male population and at 48 per cent of the female population. Growth rates of Internet adoption may be faster for men than women as the gender gap in Internet use appears larger in developing and least developed countries. In mobile Internet use, particularly in LMICs, gaps have been declining in the past three years. However, women in LMICs are still 20 per cent less likely than men to use mobile Internet, meaning around 300 million fewer adult women than men use mobile Internet
