Focus Area 1 – ACCESS: Connecting people everywhere
Affordable, resilient, and trustworthy connectivity for all
Objective: Facilitate attainment of universal and affordable connectivity through resilient infrastructure deployments that ensure ubiquitous network coverage including “last mile” and hardest-to-connect uneconomical areas.
ITU estimates that in 2021, approximately 4.9 billion people were using the Internet.[1] That means roughly 63 per cent of the world’s population is now online – an increase of 17 per cent since 2019 – with almost 800 million estimated to have come online since 2019. Internet penetration increased by more than 20 per cent on average in Africa, Asia-Pacific, and the UN-designated LDCs.
As the world collectively navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic, it became clear that connectivity is today an even greater priority. The pandemic exposed different types of inequalities within and across countries and regions, including those related to quality of access, affordability and use of the Internet. It also showed how under-prepared LDCs are for a digital world. Uneven connectivity within this group translates into many people and businesses not being able to avail themselves of high-speed networks for remote learning, access to e-government services and online trade.