The Bahamas boasts a high level of digital access: in early 2025, internet penetration reached 94.8%, with 381,000 users, and mobile broadband coverage stood at 99% of the population. The country’s fixed internet speeds average around 74 Mbps, up from 59 Mbps the previous year. Telecom operators BTC and Aliv lead broadband and LTE services nationwide, supported by submarine fibre links and regional disaster-connectivity initiatives such as Starlink.
Under the IDB‑supported digital transformation, the Bahamas is centralising e‑government services through the DTU’s MyGateway portal, digitising hundreds of services and modernising public-sector ICT with data centres and disaster recovery systems. The Sand Dollar CBDC, launched in 2020 as the world’s first national digital currency, has been progressively scaled and integrated into the broader financial system to promote inclusivity and secure digital payments.
With a digitally connected population, roughly 62% are active social media users across platforms, and over 87% have mobile connections. ICT services still carry a premium; fixed broadband is about 113% more expensive than OECD averages, while mobile data costs are 24% higher, pointing to untapped opportunities in affordability and rural expansion. Ongoing investment in fibre backbone resilience, PPPs, and digital inclusion initiatives aims to complete the digital ecosystem and further enhance economic impact
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Australia advocates for an open, free, secure, and interoperable internet, managed through a multistakeholder approach involving governments, the private sector, the technical community, academia, and civil society. This collaborative model ensures that shared principles, norms, rules, and decision-making procedures are applied to internet governance. The .au country code top-level domain is administered by the non-profit organization auDA (.au Domain Administration), which plays a crucial role in managing Australia’s internet domain space.
The Australian Government actively engages with international bodies responsible for internet management, such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which coordinates global policy for the Domain Name System (DNS) and Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.
In October 2024, the Australian Government outlined its vision for internet governance, emphasizing the protection of the internet’s core technical infrastructure, the promotion of multi-stakeholder governance, engagement with the Australian stakeholder community, and the advancement of regional interests in the Asia-Pacific.
Additionally, the Australian Internet Governance Forum (auIGF) serves as a national platform for discussions on internet governance and public policy issues, bringing together a diverse community of stakeholders to facilitate dialogue on the internet’s future in Australia.
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Timor-Leste’s internet infrastructure has historically relied on satellite communications, leading to higher costs and latency. To address this, the government approved the installation of submarine fibre optic cables connecting to Darwin, Australia, and Alor, Indonesia, aiming to enhance connectivity and reduce dependence on satellite links. A key project is the Timor-Leste South Submarine Cable (TLSSC), a 607-kilometer subsea cable linking Dili to Australia’s North West Cable System (NWCS), owned by Vocus Group. This connection facilitates high-speed data transfer between Timor-Leste and Australia.
The TLSSC, constructed by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), is designed to support a data transfer capacity of 27 terabits per second (Tbps) and includes seven repeaters, with a branch cable extending to the Greater Sunrise region. The project, estimated to cost between US$40 million and US$60 million, is fully funded by the Timor-Leste government, with financial support from the Australian Government. The installation commenced with a landing event in Dili on 24 June 2024. Additionally, Timor-Leste plans to further enhance its connectivity through the Asia Connect Cable (ACC-1), a submarine cable system that will connect Los Angeles to Singapore, Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines.
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Vanuatu has made notable progress in digital access: by early 2025, internet penetration reached approximately 45.7 %, with around 151,000 users, while social media usage stood at 39.3 % of the population—among the higher rates in the least developed Pacific nations. Mobile connectivity is particularly strong, with 315,000 mobile connections, amounting to 95 % of the population; remarkably, nearly 96.4 % of these connections support broadband (3G/4G) services—placing Vanuatu among the top regional performers in mobile‐broadband diffusion.
From an infrastructure standpoint, Vanuatu benefits from relatively high mobile broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants (66.5) and a high active SIM penetration (82.5 %)—well above regional averages and indicating strong mobile access and digital inclusion potential across urban and provincial areas. While fixed‑broadband remains modest, the widespread mobile broadband adoption positions Vanuatu ahead of many Pacific peers in connectivity resilience and access scalability.
Despite its small scale, Vanuatu’s digital ecosystem is strategically positioned—supported by infrastructure like the ICN1 submarine cable, local digital platforms, and inclusive awareness initiatives. These factors combine to deliver some of the highest mobile‑broadband coverage and active SIM penetration rates in the Pacific.
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Uruguay has one of the highest internet penetration rates in Latin America, with over 90% of households connected to the internet. This widespread connectivity results from initiatives like Plan Ceibal, which provided laptops and internet access to students nationwide, helping bridge the digital divide. Uruguay’s government has implemented comprehensive e-government platforms that allow citizens to access a wide range of public services online. The Agencia de Gobierno Electrónico y Sociedad de la Información y del Conocimiento (AGESIC) oversees these efforts, ensuring that digital services are user-friendly and secure.
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The digital economy in the US accounted for approximately $2.41 trillion in current-dollar value added in 2021. This figure highlights the substantial contribution of digital activities to the nation’s GDP, demonstrating the sector’s robust growth even during challenging economic periods. The digital economy’s growth rate significantly outpaced the overall U.S. economy, with real value added growing by 9.8 percent from 2020 to 2021, compared to the overall GDP growth of 5.7 percent in the same period.
The United States is a global leader in the development and application of artificial intelligence (AI). The 2024 Government AI Readiness Index, produced by Oxford Insights, ranks the United States as the top country in terms of AI readiness. The AI landscape in the US is characterized by a robust ecosystem that includes pioneering research institutions, leading technology companies, significant government initiatives, and a strong regulatory framework. This ecosystem fosters innovation and positions the US at the forefront of AI advancements.
Key components of the AI landscape
Research and development
Academic institutions: Renowned universities such as MIT, Stanford, and Carnegie Mellon are at the cutting edge of AI research, contributing to breakthroughs in machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and robotics.
Big Tech leaders: Companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, IBM, and Facebook are leading the development of AI technologies. They invest heavily in AI research and development, producing cutting-edge innovations and deploying AI in various products and services.
Startups and innovation: The US is home to a vibrant startup ecosystem, with numerous AI-focused startups driving innovation in areas such as healthcare, finance, autonomous vehicles, and cybersecurity.
Government initiatives and policies
The National AI Initiative Act of 2020: This act established a coordinated federal program to accelerate AI research, development, and deployment across the U.S. government.
AI research institutes: The establishment of AI research institutes by NSF focuses on multidisciplinary research to address societal challenges and advance AI technologies.
The American AI Initiative: Launched in 2019, this initiative aims to ensure American leadership in AI by promoting investment in AI research, unleashing AI resources, removing barriers to AI innovation, and preparing the workforce for the AI era.
US President’s Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (2020): This executive order emphasizes the importance of developing AI that is safe, secure, and trustworthy. It mandates federal agencies to prioritize AI research and development that aligns with these principles and to ensure that AI systems are designed and deployed in ways that are ethical and protective of civil liberties and privacy.
Public-private partnerships
Collaborations between government agencies, academia, and industry are crucial for advancing AI. Initiatives such as the Partnership on AI bring together stakeholders to address AI’s ethical, social, and economic impacts.
Ethics and regulation
Ethical frameworks: Organizations like the IEEE and the Partnership on AI develop ethical guidelines to ensure responsible AI development and deployment.
Regulatory approaches: The US government is working on developing regulations that balance innovation with the protection of privacy, security, and civil liberties. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and other regulatory bodies are involved in crafting policies for AI governance.
Zambia’s digital profile is shaped by fast-growing networks, early next-gen rollouts, and strong payment rails for a landlocked economy. On connectivity, the country was an early Sub-Saharan adopter of 5G (MTN launched commercially in Nov 2022; Airtel followed in Jul 2023), while overall subscriptions kept climbing in 2024 (23.2 m mobile lines; 13.5 m internet subscriptions, both up year-on-year). Zambia augments east-coast subsea capacity (via SEACOM/EASSy) with west/south corridors (WACS/Equiano) carried over cross-border fibre, diversification that’s been expanding through new routes such as the SADC Highway link toward Livingstone. It also moved early among regional peers to license Starlink (service live since Oct 2023), improving reach for remote sites and back-up links.
In digital finance, Zambia is one of the region’s stronger examples of interoperable instant payments: the National Financial Switch (ZECHL) connects banks, mobile-money providers and other PSPs so users can move funds wallet to wallet and wallet to bank across providers, an architecture highlighted in AfricanNenda’s case study and in recent national announcements.On the cloud side, government-backed INFRATEL operates Tier III (Design)-certified data-centre capacity in Lusaka (with additional sites in Lusaka and Kitwe), giving the public sector and local businesses in-country hosting options uncommon among lower-middle-income peers. Together with steady subscription growth and maturing infrastructure diversity, these features place Zambia near the regional frontier on a few practical indicators, interoperable payments, early 5G readiness, LEO satellite licensing, and government-grade local hosting, without yet matching the continent’s top performers on overall usage levels or speeds.
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