All hands on deck to connect the next billions | IGF 2023 WS #198

Joe Welch

Disney Plus is a platform that focuses on creating and distributing amazing content to drive demand. One of their key strategies is to bring local, in-country content to their platform, recognizing the importance of cultural relevance. This approach has been successful in regions such as India and Asia, where Disney has been able to produce vibrant content specifically tailored to the preferences and interests of local audiences. For example, the Korean show “Moving” has gained popularity across Asia and on Hulu in the US, showcasing the effectiveness of adding local content to platforms like Disney Plus.

In addition to emphasizing local content, Disney Plus also places a strong emphasis on being a good partner in the communities it enters. They do this by actively cooperating with in-country telcos, creative industries, and policymakers. By forming partnerships with these stakeholders, Disney Plus aims to integrate itself into the fabric of the community and contribute positively to its development. This approach not only helps them establish a strong presence in the market but also fosters collaboration and mutual benefit.

Furthermore, Disney Plus is actively engaged in projects that support digital literacy and online safety. They work with governments and NGOs in 20 countries to fund and implement initiatives aimed at improving digital literacy skills and promoting online safety practices. One notable example is their partnership with Indonesian NGO ganara, where they use old-school art techniques to teach digital literacy. Another example is the Latin American project Chico net, which trains teachers in imparting digital literacy to their students. Through these projects, Disney Plus demonstrates its commitment to advancing education and ensuring that individuals are equipped with the necessary skills to navigate the digital landscape safely and responsibly.

Joe Welch, the speaker, highlights the effectiveness of hands-on projects like those undertaken by Disney Plus in increasing digital literacy. He acknowledges the importance of engaging directly with communities and utilizing creative approaches to impart knowledge and skills. This approach not only enhances learning outcomes but also fosters active participation and empowerment among individuals.

Additionally, Joe Welch affirms the value of a multilateral, multistakeholder approach. He emphasizes the need for collaboration and participation from various sectors, including academia, civil society, and industry. Through active involvement and open dialogue, this approach allows for a holistic and comprehensive understanding of issues, enabling more effective solutions to be developed. Joe supports the idea that all stakeholders should have a voice and actively participate in decision-making processes.

Furthermore, Joe Welch emphasizes the importance of inclusion and self-representation in decision-making processes. He shares a South African quote, “Nothing for us without us,” which signifies the need to include and empower all individuals, particularly those from marginalized groups. Joe plans to incorporate this principle into his future presentations, recognizing the transformative power of inclusivity and the valuable insights that can be gained by giving everyone a seat at the table.

In conclusion, Disney Plus is a platform that not only focuses on creating and distributing amazing content but also prioritizes bringing local, in-country content to its platform, being a good partner in the communities it enters, supporting digital literacy and online safety projects, and advocating for a multilateral, multistakeholder approach and inclusion. Through these initiatives, Disney Plus demonstrates its commitment to providing high-quality entertainment while positively impacting the communities it serves. Joe Welch, in his analysis, highlights the importance of hands-on projects, active participation from all stakeholders, and the value of inclusion and self-representation in decision-making processes.

Audience

Disney is driving global demand for its content through its streaming service, Disney Plus, by offering a wide range of content from renowned franchises such as Lucas, Marvel, Pixar, Disney, and Nat Geo. This strategy aims to captivate audiences worldwide and cater to diverse preferences and interests. Additionally, Disney recognizes the value of creating local, in-country content to enhance its global reach. In India, Disney operates under the Star brand and produces vibrant content specifically tailored for Indian viewers. This approach has contributed to Disney’s strong presence in the Indian market. Moreover, the success of local content is evident in other regions, such as Uganda, where positive audience response highlights the significance of local language production. The audience resonates with content produced in local languages, emphasizing the importance of representing and embracing local culture. Disney’s strategy of combining global and local content has been effective in driving global demand and fostering cultural diversity and inclusivity. Disney continues to strengthen its position as a global entertainment powerhouse by delivering compelling and culturally relevant content.

Michuki Mwangi

Expanding internet connectivity is a complex task that requires innovative approaches, responsive to the needs of local communities. Traditional models face challenges, particularly in terms of business operations and return on investment. To bridge this gap, it is necessary to establish connectivity based on the realities of people living in remote and underserved areas.

Community networks, owned and developed by local communities, are a viable solution for expanding connectivity. A portion of the fees paid for connectivity is reinvested within the community, promoting further development. These networks have the flexibility to adapt to any technology that best serves the community’s needs.

For community networks to succeed, a supportive policy and regulatory framework is essential. Countries must develop policies and regulations that recognize new models and access solutions. Access to funding and rights-of-way for infrastructure construction are key considerations.

Relevance of internet services is another crucial aspect of expanding connectivity. Addressing low incomes and ensuring the value and relevance of available content is important for individuals considering investing in connectivity.

Efforts to increase internet access have already been identified, and now it is crucial to scale up these efforts. The Internet Society is willing to support this movement, as solutions to connect more people already exist. Increasing funding for deployment is an essential step towards scaling up efforts and achieving widespread connectivity.

Partnerships and collaborations are also necessary for success in the mission to connect everyone. Almost every panelist agrees that this mission cannot be accomplished individually, highlighting the importance of increased partnerships.

In conclusion, the 2030 vision of universal internet connectivity is achievable. By implementing innovative approaches, supporting community networks, developing a supportive policy framework, ensuring relevance of internet services, scaling up efforts, and fostering partnerships, significant progress can be made towards achieving universal connectivity.

Rose Payne

Almost one-third of the global population, approximately 2.6 billion people, is still without internet access, highlighting the persistent digital divide and connectivity gap. Moreover, the disparity between men and women in terms of online access is actually increasing, which is a concerning trend.

Meaningful connectivity goes beyond having the necessary infrastructure and devices. Factors such as the availability of relevant services and content, users’ digital skills, and security and safety while using technologies play a crucial role.

Various stakeholders agree on the urgent need for practical solutions to bridge the digital divide and facilitate universal connectivity for all. This necessitates finding actionable and concrete measures rather than just discussing problems. A panel discussion involving experts in policy and technology aims to identify and implement such solutions.

Governments have a significant role in addressing the digital divide by improving digital skills for individuals and themselves. Special attention should be paid to rural areas, which often face greater connectivity challenges.

It is important to emphasise and defend the multi-stakeholder model, which encourages collaboration and partnerships between various sectors. This model has proven effective in achieving connectivity goals.

Adopting a holistic ecosystem approach is crucial in addressing the underlying causes of the digital divide. By considering all aspects of the ecosystem, comprehensive solutions can be developed.

Improving “cyber hygiene” skills is also important, which involves educating individuals on safe and secure internet practices. Governments have a critical role in promoting and supporting such initiatives.

In conclusion, the statistics highlighting the lack of internet access for almost one-third of the global population underscore the urgent need to bridge the digital divide and ensure universal connectivity. Achieving meaningful connectivity requires addressing various factors such as relevant services, digital skills, and security. Governments, policymakers, and stakeholders must collaborate to find actionable solutions and adopt a holistic ecosystem approach, creating a more inclusive digital future for all.

Giacomo Persi Paoli

Digital technology has the potential to drive significant economic, social, and societal transformation, helping to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One speaker highlights the importance of using digital technology responsibly and safely to harness its transformative power. It is emphasised that responsible and safe use of technology is explicitly linked to the potential for digital technologies to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. This indicates the need for individuals and organisations to be mindful of the ethical and security considerations associated with digital technology.

Trust in technology, companies, and the government is identified as a critical factor for effective engagement with digital technology. Building trust is particularly important in fostering digital inclusion. By instilling trust in users, it becomes easier for them to engage with technology and leverage its benefits.

Another area of concern is government preparedness against cyber threats. A report by the Economic Commission for Africa reveals the high cost of unpreparedness in cybersecurity, estimated to be as high as 10% of national GDP. This highlights the importance of governments prioritising cybersecurity measures and investing in necessary infrastructure and expertise to mitigate potential threats.

Investments in skills training, especially in the field of cybersecurity, are deemed necessary. Such investments are not only crucial for enabling users to engage safely online but also help address the global shortage in the cybersecurity workforce. By equipping individuals with the necessary skills, they can effectively navigate the digital landscape and contribute to a safer and more secure online environment.

Connectivity is identified as a catalyst for new discoveries, innovations, and learning opportunities. The transformative potential of connectivity is emphasised, suggesting that it should be seen as a new beginning rather than the end of the journey. However, the importance of preparedness and investment in connectivity is emphasised, as changes brought about by connectivity must be anticipated and adequately addressed.

The need for upskilling is highlighted, particularly in the context of the anticipated influx of 2.4 to 2.6 billion new internet users. These individuals may lack the necessary skills for safe and responsible internet use. Therefore, efforts should focus on upskilling them to ensure that they can make the most of the opportunities provided by digital technology while staying safe and responsible online.

Governments are encouraged to improve their digital literacy and knowledge skills. As digital transformation affects not only citizens but also governments, it becomes crucial for governments to be digitally literate and engage with other governments on an equal footing. This highlights the importance of collaboration and partnerships in achieving the SDGs.

The importance of skills development is emphasised as a key pillar of preparedness for a more connected world. Addressing skills gaps is seen as essential in effectively navigating the challenges and opportunities presented by digital technology and connectivity.

Overall, responsible and safe use of digital technology, building trust, government preparedness, investments in skills training, connectivity, upskilling, and government engagement are crucial in harnessing the power of digital technology to drive positive change and contribute to sustainable development.

Onica Makwakwa

The Global Digital Inclusion Partnership aims to advance meaningful connectivity, especially in rural areas, through collaboration among stakeholders at national, regional, and global levels. By leveraging multi-stakeholder partnerships, the partnership seeks to bridge the digital divide and enhance digital inclusion.

The digital gender gap remains a significant obstacle, with an estimated cost of a trillion dollars in GDP over 10 years in 32 low and middle-income countries. Addressing this gap is crucial for economic growth and reducing inequality.

Affordability of internet access is another key challenge, with the current standard of 2% for one gig per month considered inadequate. Ensuring daily internet usage and affordable devices, particularly in Africa, is essential for achieving meaningful digital connectivity.

Supporters of the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership advocate for a policy approach to tackle these issues. They emphasize the need to raise standards of affordability and speed, invest in digital skills, and promote public-private partnerships. Mainstreaming gender in ICT policies using frameworks like REACT is also crucial for inclusivity.

Improved connectivity and digital skills have a positive impact on women. Internet access enabled women to transition their businesses online during the COVID-19 pandemic, preserving their income. Women with internet access were also more likely to complete online courses to upgrade their skills. Bridging the digital divide empowers women economically and improves their financial stability.

Promoting a broader conversation on digital skills, including coding, online business management, and mobile money operations, is vital for work and economic growth in the digital era.

The existing gaps in digital connectivity are a result of policy choices. Collaborating with policymakers to enact corrective measures and narrowing these gaps is essential. Engaging rural communities in the development of broadband policies ensures an inclusive approach.

Embedding meaningful connectivity indicators with key ICT statistics helps monitor progress and evaluate the impact of digital inclusion initiatives. Public access solutions play a crucial role in providing affordable resources to rural and remote areas, contributing to reducing inequalities in connectivity.

In conclusion, the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership, through its multi-stakeholder approach and policy interventions, aims to advance meaningful connectivity and bridge the digital divide. Addressing the digital gender gap, improving affordability and speed, fostering digital skills, engaging policymakers and rural communities are crucial steps for achieving equitable and inclusive digital development.

Atsuko Okuda

The analysis emphasises several significant points regarding the digital divide and internet connectivity. Firstly, it notes that the rate of connecting the unconnected is slowing down, which is a concern. It is estimated that by 2023, approximately 2.6 billion people will still be without internet access. This highlights the need to accelerate efforts in bridging this divide and ensuring universal internet access.

Another important issue identified is the affordability of broadband services. In some countries, the cost of accessing the internet is too high, acting as a major barrier to its adoption. Affordability is measured using a 2% GNI per capita benchmark, and many countries fall short of this benchmark. This finding emphasises the importance of addressing the financial constraints faced by individuals and communities in accessing the internet.

To address the digital divide, a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach is advocated. Initiatives are being implemented in various countries to provide essential services such as education, health, and commerce. These initiatives are based on common building blocks, such as national identification systems, which facilitate the delivery of these services to underserved populations. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is leading this approach, with approximately 15 countries already participating in the initiative.

The impact of technological developments, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics, is also highlighted. These advancements are rapidly transforming both connected and unconnected communities. For instance, the new normal includes AI solutions and data-intensive decision-making in areas like e-commerce, traffic management, and mobile banking. Consequently, there is a demand for new knowledge and skills to effectively navigate this evolving technological landscape.

The analysis underscores the need to reassess the concept of digital literacy and digital skills in the new normal. With jobs becoming redundant or created due to technological advancements, individuals without the necessary digital skills may face difficulties in the job market. This finding suggests that a comprehensive approach to education and training, focusing on digital literacy and skills, is crucial for individuals to thrive in the digital era.

Lastly, the analysis highlights that partnerships play a critical role in addressing challenges related to digital skills. Collaborative efforts between various stakeholders, including government, the private sector, and civil society, can contribute to the development and implementation of effective strategies in closing the digital skills gap.

In conclusion, the analysis underscores the urgent need to bridge the digital divide and ensure universal internet connectivity. Affordability remains a major obstacle, while a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach is necessary to address this issue. The rapid pace of technological advancements calls for new knowledge and skills to adapt and thrive in the digital era. Additionally, it is crucial to reassess the concept of digital literacy and skills and foster partnerships to tackle challenges related to digital skills. By addressing these areas, we can work towards a more digitally inclusive society.

Takashi Motohisa

Amazon’s Project Kuiper is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at addressing the global issue of limited broadband access. The project plans to achieve this goal by deploying over 3,200 satellites in low-Earth orbit. These satellites will provide internet connectivity to underserved and unserved communities worldwide. Project Kuiper’s mission is to ensure that these communities have access to internet speeds and latency that are on par with terrestrial networks, thus bridging the digital divide.

Additionally, Project Kuiper aims to assist wireless carriers in extending their LTE and 5G networks to new regions. This collaboration will enhance network coverage and enable more people to connect to the internet.

Engineers at Amazon have also introduced three innovative customer terminal models as part of Project Kuiper. The largest model can deliver speeds of up to 1Gbps, while the smallest ultra-compact model provides speeds of up to 100Mbps. These terminals will play a crucial role in providing reliable internet access to customers in remote and underserved areas.

The project is progressing steadily, with the recent launch of the first two prototype satellites. Service delivery to customers is expected to begin in late 2024, bringing internet access to communities that have long been left without.

Recognizing the importance of partnerships, Amazon has invested $10 billion into Project Kuiper. This investment highlights Amazon’s commitment to bridging the digital divide and expanding internet access. Key partnerships have already been formed, including with Vodafone and Vodacom, with more expected in the future.

Takashi Motohisa, a prominent advocate for bridging the digital divide, strongly supports Project Kuiper and emphasizes the significance of technological advancements in addressing the issue. Motohisa’s endorsement reinforces the project’s dedication to its mission and underscores the importance of initiatives like Project Kuiper in creating a more connected and inclusive world.

In conclusion, with the deployment of thousands of low-Earth orbit satellites, Amazon’s Project Kuiper aims to revolutionize global broadband access. The project’s commitment to providing comparable internet speeds and latency to terrestrial networks is crucial in bridging the digital divide. Through partnerships and the support of leaders like Takashi Motohisa, the project represents a significant step towards a more connected and inclusive world.

Pablo Barrionuevo

The focus of the conversation on digital inclusion has shifted from the connectivity gap to the usage gap. Currently, around 3.2 billion people have access to mobile broadband connectivity but remain unconnected to the internet. This lack of connection can be attributed to factors such as affordability, lack of skills, lack of trust, and gender disparities.

Addressing this issue requires forming partnerships, as no single entity can connect the unconnected on their own. An excellent example of a successful partnership is Internet para todos, a collaboration between Telefonica, Meta, and the Inter-American Development Bank in Peru. Such partnerships bring together different stakeholders and resources to bridge the digital divide.

Additionally, there is a belief that we have the necessary technologies to connect everyone. Technological barriers do not pose the main obstacles to achieving digital inclusion. However, it is crucial to acknowledge that what works in one location may not work in another. Adaptability and flexibility are essential in finding the right solutions for each specific context.

Collaboration is also vital in connecting the unconnected. Collective efforts and cooperation can have a significant impact on digital inclusion globally.

Pablo Barrionuevo, an advocate for broader connectivity, supports the idea of flexible and localized solutions. He emphasizes the importance of collective efforts in addressing this issue. It is evident from his stance that a combination of technology, flexibility, and collaboration is fundamental to establishing inclusive and sustainable connectivity for all.

In conclusion, the conversation on digital inclusion has evolved to consider the usage gap as well as the connectivity gap. Approximately 3.2 billion people lack internet access despite having access to mobile broadband connectivity. Partnerships, flexible solutions, and collective efforts are necessary to connect the unconnected. While the required technologies are available, they need to be adapted to suit specific contexts. By working together, we can ensure that no one is left behind in the digital era.

Rose Payne:
Great. I think it’s time to kick off. So first of all, thank you, everyone, for joining us. I’m Rose Payne. I’m the Digital Policy Manager at the International Chamber of Commerce. We represent 45 million businesses worldwide. So that’s everyone from your huge multinational corporations down to MSMEs. So I’m from pretty much every single sector. So just first of all, some housekeeping. As you can see, we have two mics. In traditional IGF fashion, I’ll ask you to queue up behind them when we have the Q&A session, which will be towards the end of this panel. Great. So this panel, which is entitled All Hands on Deck to Connect the Next Billions, will take a deep dive into connectivity and digital divides. Today, almost a third of the world, some 2.6 billion people, remain offline. We’ve made huge strides in expanding connectivity, but clearly, we still have a long way to go. So this issue has deep-rooted causes. And it’s important to understand that it’s not just a matter of people being able to connect. So earlier in the conference, Doreen Bogdan-Martin, the Secretary General of ITU, mentioned that the proportion of women relative to the proportion of men who are offline is actually increasing. The persistent gender digital divide shows that the reasons for digital exclusion are complicated. This is as much of a social problem as a technological challenge. Do people have the skills to use digital technologies? Are there relevant services and content that they want to use that motivates them to be online? What are their experiences like when they use technologies? Do they feel safe and secure? That’s why we often refer to meaningful connectivity. Infrastructure and devices are really one part of the puzzle. So we’re going to start with an exploration of where we are today. Where does the connectivity gap actually stand, and why? Why is there this persistent digital divide? This session isn’t just about discussing problems. It’s also about finding actionable solutions. So that’s what we’ll discuss next. We’ll identify the right policy environment that encourages investment and how to create cross-sector partnerships. This workshop brings together experts in policy and technology who are dedicated to delivering universal connectivity using various technologies, economic and business models, and policy and regulatory approaches. Our goal is to learn from their experiences and discuss concrete solutions that can be applied or scaled up. to ensure meaningful connectivity for everyone, everywhere. We’re very lucky to be joined by these experts who work with the technology actually delivering connectivity, people who are carrying out essential research to help us understand barriers, and people delivering programs that help to overcome them. So, without further ado, I’m going to introduce you to our panel today in the order that they will speak. So, joining us online, we have Atsuko Okuda, who works for the International Telecommunications Union, Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, where she is the Regional Director. We have Takashi Motohisa, Manager of International Regulatory Affairs for Project Kuiper at Amazon. We have Pablo Barrio Nuevo, Public and Corporate Affairs Manager at Telefonica. We have Joe Welsh, Vice President of Global Public Policy for the Walt Disney Company, who focuses on the Asia-Pacific. We have Machuke Mwanga, Distinguished Technologist for Internet Growth at the Internet Society. We have Anika Makwakwa, Co-Executive Director at the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership. And finally, we have Giacomo Persi-Paoli, Head of the Security and Technology Program at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research. Great. So, to begin, Atsuko Okuda, who’s joining us online, will begin with a presentation on the state of digital inclusion today. Atsuko, I hope you can kick us off now.

Atsuko Okuda:
Thank you very much. First of all, I would like to thank our appreciation to invite ITU to this very important session, and I hope that we can support and contribute with the statistics and analysis that we have done for this session. Now, next slide, please. I would like to start with a very short presentation on what ITU is. ITU, as many of you may know, is the oldest UN agency specialized in information and communication technologies, and we have three distinctive areas of specialties. One is the radio communication, dealing with the spectrum allocation as well as satellite orbit. Second, standardization, supporting the SMEs and industry to develop the technologies, including emerging technologies. And third, assisting member countries to connect the unconnected and meaningful digital transformation. Next slide, please. So I would like to start with the bigger picture on SDGs, and I’m not sure if participants have seen this slide in the previous sessions, and this is the highlight of where we are in terms of achieving the SDGs by 2030. In Asia and the Pacific, we have passed already 2022, but we are nowhere near, and it’s unlikely that we can achieve all SDG goals by the time. One SDG goal, we are seeing even the regression. So there is a high expectation that digital technology and connectivity will really accelerate not only the connectivity part, but through connectivity, the achievement of socioeconomic development. Next slide, please. So to answer your question in terms of where we are, according to the latest statistics, it is estimated that there will be 2.6 billion people still offline as of 2023. Now, for some of us who have been following the numbers, there have been steady improvement in the numbers. The previous number last year was 2.7. So you can see a significant progress. However, the two years before that, during the COVID, we have seen a much, much faster progress. Almost 800 million people joined during the short period of two years under COVID. So we can see that this pace of connecting the unconnected is slowing down. And I believe that this is one of the concerns that we have and we share across the globe. Next slide, please. So the next slide goes a little bit deeper into the digital divide and how it could look like. As you know, ITU collects the various aspects of ICT development globally and time series. So this is one presentation on the data analysis that we have done. We can clearly see that these regional variation globally, as well as gender gap between men and women and how many internet users are there in each group, as well as the affordability gap. These are some of the prominent features of our digital divide that we have. Next slide, please. We also have a very clear urban-rural divide as well as generational divides. And this is the granular view of internet users and what’s the percentage of internet users in each region, as well as per income groups. And you can clearly see that low-income countries have much, much less internet users. And the same applies to LDCs and LLDCs, which is the least developed countries and landlocked developing countries. Next slide, please. And I would also like to go a little bit deeper into the affordability. As you may know, the broadband service affordability is measured. There’s a benchmark, 2% GNI per capita. And over and above that, it is considered not affordable. And below that, a number of population can access and enjoy the service. And this is a snapshot in terms of which countries have affordable and unaffordable mobile broadband baskets as of 2022. And we can see that those countries with unaffordable broadband services have much, much less internet users. Next slide, please. So we believe that the challenges of connecting the unconnected, as you have seen in the slide, in the previous graphs and charts can be summarized in this problem and solution trees. Of course, this is a high-level summary. You may have different perspectives as well as the elements, but from where we see to connect the unconnected in remote and rural areas, we believe that their actual investment, physical connectivity issue, affordability issue on the part of consumers, as well as digital skills and the lack of services and applications that can bring the concrete digital benefits to the communities and population. Next slide, please. So in order to turn those challenges into opportunities, we believe that perhaps, and in the context of slowing down of our progress in connecting the unconnected, perhaps we need a qualitatively different approach to the issue to narrow the digital divide. And one of the approaches that we have been advocating is this whole-of-government approach and whole-of-society approach, because what is plaguing the smaller economies in particular is a siloed approach that to connect the unconnected schools or hospitals or farmers, we have different initiatives, but we believe that by connecting these different groups and sectors, perhaps we can create efficiencies and economies of scale. And there’s a lot we can gain by collaborating and through partnership. So this slide shows what that means completely as an ICT initiative. And we start with SDGs on the left-hand side. And in the middle, in the capital, in the center, in the government, we believe that we can create a whole-of-government and digital government services that can build to support the education, health, and agriculture without breaking the silos and without creating separate systems and infrastructure. And we hope that that will be delivered to the communities and people through smart cities and smart village and smart islands. And we hope that there will be a smooth transition from SDG to the actual benefit to the communities. Next slide, please. So what does then the smart village, smart island could look like? And this is a very high-level overview and summary. So as I said, we need a whole-of-government approach in the center that can provide education and health and commerce, agriculture, and so forth based on a common building blocks, as you see on the left-hand side, which could be a national ID. It could be one payment mechanisms. One could be a messaging. Now that will be translated into the village in the middle of the slide, which is a low-cost, scalable, and multi-sector collaboration platform that is within the remote village and islands that will provide e-health and e-agriculture and those services to the people. Next slide, please. So in ITU, as an example, we have about 15 countries that we are rolling out this initiative, and I’ll be happy to provide more details later on. Next slide, please. So this is my last slide. I believe that in order to materialize the whole-of-government approach and whole-of-society approach requires also a whole-of-support approach, the partnership among all of us, so that when we see an opportunity for synergies and partnership, we can join hands to make sure that there will be one, perhaps, solutions to address the issue instead of two or three different solutions. And we believe that through this partnership and joining hands, we can provide a qualitatively different support to the member countries and target communities. Next slide, please. So thank you very much for giving me this opportunity, and I have a QR code in case you are interested in knowing these initiatives, and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have. Back to you. Thank you.

Rose Payne:
Thank you so much. I think that that was a really fantastic framing of not, first of all, why this is so important. Connectivity doesn’t just lead to economic growth. It also can help to achieve global goals and also potentially help us get back on track with the SDGs. We also heard that the kind of complexity of this issue and the need for really innovative solutions, which take an ecosystem approach. So I’m going to ask the rest of the panelists for their reactions, starting with Takashi. So you work for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, who are addressing how to connect some of those really hard-to-reach areas using low-Earth-orbit satellites. What can you share about how the private sector is really innovating technologically to close the gap? Takashi.

Takashi Motohisa :
Thank you. Yeah, first of all, I would like to state that I’m very excited to be part of this session, and then thank you for giving me this opportunity to discuss how to bridge the digital divide globally with the experts from the many variety of the field. That’s a very fantastic chance for me because bridging the digital divide. is exactly the mission of the Project Kuiper that Amazon is working on. And then this is also my personal motivation and then personal reasons that I’m working for in this project. So, yeah, let me talk about the Project Kuiper as an example of the private sector is working for this bridging the digital divide. And I think, yeah, thank you. Yeah, please go back to the, thank you. Oh, that’s good. Please go to the next slide, thank you. And Project Kuiper is, sorry, sorry. Go back to the second slide. Thank you. This is Project Kuiper’s mission. Project Kuiper is an initiative to increase global broadband access through the satellite constellation of these more than 3,200 satellites in low-Earth orbit. Its mission is to deliver fast, affordable connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world. The Kuiper system will deliver fast and latency on par with the existing terrestrial network. And like many other Amazon product and services, Project Kuiper is designed to affordable for the customers because we want to be accessible as many customers as possible. Please. go to the next slide. Project Kuiper will serve individual households as well as school, business, hospitals and other organisations operating in the locations without reliable broadband services. And Project Kuiper will also provide backhaul solutions for the wireless carriers to extend its LTE or 5G network to new regions. We will deploy more than 3,200 satellites in low-Earth orbit at three altitudes over 590km, 610km and 630km. Coverage of Project Kuiper will be 56°N to 50°S of the equator, which allows us to reach about 95% of the world’s population. And then the satellite relay the customer data traffic to our ground infrastructure on the Earth and then connecting to the internet, public cloud and private networks. This is how Kuiper network works. In March, we revealed our three customer terminal models, which are groundbreaking in terms of performance and affordability. These state-of-the-art antennas designed by the Amazon engineers include the most smallest one, ultra-compact one, which has only 80cm2 antennas. I believe it’s very incredible engineering. And then it can deliver up to 100Mbps. And then largest one will deliver up to 1 gigabps speed. Please go to the next slide. Last Friday, our launch partner at the United Launch Alliance successfully launched Kuiper’s very first two prototypes with the Atlas V rocket. This was a very, very one of our key milestones. We are running up our satellite manufacturing facility and will begin launching production satellites next year. So we can start to deliver service to the earliest customer by late 2024. That’s an overview of our project.

Rose Payne:
Thank you so much. So now that we’ve heard a little bit about the technological kind of innovation that can help close some of those gaps, I would like to move to usage and how we can address the usage gap. So Pablo, I think that you’re online. I hope that you have the ability to unmute yourself, if not, send me a message.

Pablo Barrionuevo:
Yes. I think, can you hear me?

Rose Payne:
We can hear you now. Fantastic. Great. So could you share a little bit about what Telefonica is doing to address usage?

Pablo Barrionuevo:
Yes, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity to participate in the panel. I’m very pleased to be in the IGF again. Well, I think that the first idea I would like to transmit is that the, well, the first impression when we talk about digital inclusion is that it is a problem of access. And it is true that the telecommunication networks are the backbone of our societies and economies. And without access, we cannot, we don’t have anything. So the first step are the infrastructure. are not the telecommunication networks. But the truth is that I believe that in the last years we’ve been observing an evolution in this conversation about digital inclusion. And I think that what we are observing is that there is a switch from the connectivity gap to the usage gap. Following the numbers presented by Atsuko at the beginning, the truth is that now we have 3.2 billion people that are under the footprint of a mobile broadband connectivity and do not connect to the internet. And so I think that the question we have to answer is why do we still have people that are under the footprint of connectivity does not connect. And this is the usage gap. And so it is important to understand what are the reasons for these people to not connect. We’ve talked about affordability. That’s one, of course. Maybe they don’t connect because they don’t know how to connect it. And so we have to improve the skills. Maybe they don’t connect because they don’t trust. And so we have to work into the confidence and build digital trust. There are many reasons. Also, the gender gap has also been mentioned. But I would like to underline this idea of a swift interconversation on digital inclusion from the connectivity gap to the usage gap. The second idea I would like to transmit is that I think that one of the learnings of the last years and connecting the unconnected is that none of us can do it by ourselves. This is an idea transmitted by Atsuko also. And this is the idea of partnerships. We need all hands to connect the unconnected. Of course, the telecom operators, but also the governments and other stakeholders. I would like to simply mention an example, which is a use case we’ve put in place in Peru, which is called Internet para todos, IPT, which is a collaboration, a partnership between ourselves and Meta and Inter-American Development Bank. This is just an example of this kind of partnerships. So, as a conclusion, first idea, the conversation on digital inclusion has evolved from the connectivity gap to the usage gap. This is where now is the problem, in my opinion. And second, the idea of partnerships. We need everybody to work in the in the same direction to connect the unconnected. Thank you. Back to you.

Rose Payne:
Great, thank you so much for that. Joe, we’ve covered access, we’ve covered usage, but we’ve also heard that that’s just one part of the puzzle. So how could you could you talk to us a little bit about how partnerships can also address that question of skills?

Joe Welch:
Yes, I can. Is the microphone on? Yeah. First, thank you, Japan, for having us here. It’s just an amazing event. It’s my first IGF, go figure. And the weather is fantastic, makes it even nicer. And thank you, ICC. And thank you, fellow panelists. As Disney, I’m a little bit humbled to be on with with Kuiper. Oh my god, the Leo thing is finally happening. There’s competition for Elon Musk. It’s just amazing. And of course, the ITU presenter framed the problem for us, which was wonderful. Telefonica goes out and actually builds connections, respect. So I’ll just try and do the humble Disney contribution to the discussion. So before I get to partnerships, I’m going to back up and ask the question. You know, what what do we do? We don’t build connections. We’re not a satellite company, or a telco. So what do we bring to the table? Well, it we try to bring the demand side to the table, right? So backing up, that means we try to make amazing content and then put it on the internet and drive demand. That’s our thing, I think that’s why we’re on this panel, is that reason. So enter Disney Plus, which launched in 2019, 20, 21 around the world, Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, etc., and so that’s where we can put our product online and help drive demand in particular. 60 countries plus, the global content is there, the Lucas, the Marvel, the Pixar, the Disney, the Nat Geo as well. And then that takes us to, even better, is when you can add in-country content, right? So then, Disney Plus allows us to bring, sorry, to make local. Kinda hate that word, right? It sounds almost pejorative, so I’ll call it in-country content. Content in the language of that country that we create, we can now do that. We’re playing in that space, we have a Korean show we just made called Moving. It’s a Korean superhero espionage. It’s doing really well all across Asia, it’s doing well on Hulu in the US. So it’s not only Korean content in Korea, it’s exporting Korean content, which is even better, right? Driving demand around the world. India, we do great in India. We had the Star brand in India for a couple decades. I’m sure anyone from India, it’s really vibrant Indian content, Indian people making Indian content for Indian people. We’ve been doing it for a long time. Now we can do it through Disney Plus. We have scale in that market. It’s India’s credit that they’ve let us in, right? There’s another large country that doesn’t let companies like mine in. And there’s a Gandhi quote, which goes, I’ll paraphrase, it goes something like this. It’s, you should have a house that is built strongly enough so that you can throw open the windows and the door. and let the breezes come through, so apply to our industry that we’re allowed to come in and make content in the language. It’s fantastic. All right, I’m now gonna segue into three questions for the room. We can, panelists included, Rose, you too. If you answer the three questions collectively, then, then what? I will give everyone a Disney token or a tchotchke of some source. So I’m gonna read a quote, and if you can identify the quote, this picks up on the in-country language, if you can identify who said the quote, that’s the first question, and then there’ll be two following questions. So the quote is, if you speak to a person in a language they understand, you speak to their head. If you speak to them in their language, their language, you speak to their heart. You don’t have to raise your hand, just shout it out. Anyone? Very famous person. I’ll give you the continent. Africa. Still no one. Mandela. Yes, that’s one. Now that one was easier, the next one’s a little harder, but I think doable. What language was he talking about? For him, for he himself, what language was his first language? Who said that? There you go, Bertram. That’s two. That was the, probably the harder one. This last one’s easy, and it comes back to the Walt Disney Company. Which movie did the character, was Xhosa a significant part? Disney movie. Thank you, Helen. Yes, Black Panther, of course. So that’s our piece of this, is to drive the demand, and if you can do it in the in-country, creating in-country content, then, you know, you’re even more… more home and dry in motivating that demand. I’ll end this part of the panel by plugging another panel. It’s at 5.30, it’s on the main stage. Bertsen, what’s it called again? It’s called the Policy Network on Meaningful Access. Sorry, my voice is gone. And it will feature some producers from Kampala, Uganda.

Audience:
Yes, two female, young female producers, two sisters have been producing local content in the region for the region in local languages, including Luganda, and of course, Swahili.

Rose Payne:
All right, so that’s a way better story than I could think of, and it’s just a nice happenstance. It’s coming up at 5.30 on the main stage. Back to you, Rose. There we go. Oh, yeah. Great. You may find that a lot of people suddenly turn up in the room at the end. Great, so you actually just lined up really perfectly the next person who can join us. So Michuki, I hope that you are able to unmute yourself. So you just touched on the idea of, or the importance of adapting content to the local context. And Atsuko began by breaking down the state of connectivity across countries. That makes it really clear that connecting the unconnected means very different things in different places. I was hoping that you could speak to us a little bit about how we ensure that efforts to expand connectivity are responsive to local specificities and needs. Thank you, and I hope you can hear me. We’re all good, we can hear you.

Michuki Mwangi :
Great, all right. First, I’d like to start by thanking the ICC for inviting us and the Internet Society to this session because it’s a key area of interest for us and a focus area for our work because it’s very much aligned to our vision that the internet is for everyone. Now, to the question on expanding connectivity and the need to make it more aligned to the needs of people in rural and underserved areas. The one thing that we’ve come to realize is that there is a need for innovative approaches that can complement the traditional models for providing access. And because it’s evident that connecting people in rural, remote and underserved areas, and even in some cases, low income areas, presents a challenge to the traditional models that provide connectivity, especially from a business operations perspective and more specifically on the return on investments. So it makes it much harder for the traditional models to extend connectivity to these areas. Now, I’d like to set a perspective or sort of reset our thinking to understand what we mean when we talk about connectivity and what the internet is. Most of us understand that the internet is a network of networks. Essentially, what this means is that we have networks or individual networks that are using different technologies that come and interconnect together to make what we know as the global internet. Now, if we look at this from the context of those people who are living in remote and underserved areas, the way to do this in a sustainable way is to anchor the network or to build a network from those communities and then interconnect with the existing internet. And by doing so, it means that we are having to establish or anchor that connectivity based on the realities of people living in those areas. And that means that we have to consider the various social, economic, and other factors that exist or prevail in the areas that they are in. There was a study that was done or paper produced going back to 1998. And it sort of said that, or the headline here was that the first looking at those areas or the underserved areas as the first mile of connectivity. So today, over years, those areas have been looked at as the last mile, but essentially, if we were to look at them as the first mile, means we’re building from the community outward. Now, there’s a lot of work that has been gone into developing and piloting this kind of approach where you’re looking from the community outbound. There’s been, and those approaches have done deployment and tested this kind of deployments in different environments, topologies, settings, both rural and urban, and as high as 3,800 meters above sea level on the foothills of Mount Everest, where there are some villages that need connectivity. And there’s some work we’ve done there and are trying to learn from that experience. The objective here is to understand the challenges and the opportunities and how we can refine these models to be able to bring connectivity to those who need it the most and make sure that it’s sustainable and scalable. There are a few things that we’ve faced and in helping to design this model to make sure that it is basically adapts to those areas or to those communities that are being connected. And I’ll just like to touch on a few of them. First, we make sure that the model looks at technology from an agnostic perspective. It’s technology agnostic, meaning that it can use and adapt any technology that best serves the needs. It also adapts a non-profit approach in order to address some of the challenges that hinder the adoption. And I think the issue of use has been mentioned by a previous speaker, and basically issues like digital literacy and the need for digital tools and that training, technical support, and so on. So the model that we use when we talk about community networks really helps to address some of these local issues. Affordability is another challenge. And so the model that they use for charging fees is one that’s designed to be beneficial to the community. An important aspect of this is that these networks are less extractive in connecting people. Because the network is owned by the community, it means only a portion of the fees that are paid for connectivity are actually used to extend, to pay for a backhaul capacity. The rest of the funds are actually kept within the community. And then they are used for other elements that are needed for developing the community to be able to take advantage of that connectivity. And most importantly, it is anchored within the social economic pillars of that community. So schools, health facilities, the local government, the local institutions, cultural institutions, and also addressing the arts and entertainment that are key to that community. Now, there are some opportunities that we need to look at going forward. Key to this is policy. There’s a need for many countries and many places around the world to develop policy and regulation that recognizes these new models or complementary access solutions like community networks because it empowers them to be able to go and engage with licensed operators, to be able to connect to the rest of the Internet. They need to be able to build infrastructure, so they need rights of way. This makes it much easier. And in some situations, access to financial services, once they are recognized, it’s much easier for banks and other financial institutions to pay attention to these solutions and give them funding. Of course, access to funding is a critical issue, and right now there are emerging conversations around how the use of Universal Service Fund can help support the initial deployment and extension of complementary access solutions. Backhole still remains to be a challenge. We are very much excited about the deployment of new technologies like Lios because the cost and availability of backhole has been one of the big challenges that make community and complementary access solutions be less sustainable. So we are hoping that is going to change. So I’d like to conclude by saying, of course, and before I conclude, the content element is key. Most important is making the content relevant to those people that are actually getting connected for the very first time. Why should they spend money to get connected when they have low incomes? And so they have to draw a balance between the money they have to spend on other things and money that they have to use for access. So as I conclude, at the Internet Society, we are very keen to see information about developing and deploying community networks and other complementary access solutions becoming common knowledge. In the very same way that it’s common knowledge for many communities around the world who don’t have access to potable water to know that they can collaborate and find partners to support them in digging a borehole to get access to the water. In our experience, and we are working collaboratively with other partners, we are planning to produce a do-it-yourself toolkit in 2024 that is based on all the experience we’ve gained in the deployments that we’ve had across the world. And we are hoping that that will sort of help anyone who wants to support or living in a community to know the path to take to build, own, and operate an Internet infrastructure and connect it with other networks for the benefits of those communities that are yet to be connected. Thank you very much.

Rose Payne:
Thank you so much. So, Anika, I’m going to turn to you next. Michuki just spoke to us about the challenge that connecting people in rural areas particularly creates for traditional business models. The Global Digital Inclusion Partnership leverages multi-stakeholder partnerships as a way to kind of deal with this. Can you talk to us a little bit about the role that those partnerships play?

Onica Makwakwa:
Certainly. Good afternoon, and thank you so much for hosting this important conversation. So, Global Digital Inclusion Partnership, we work on policy and regulatory frameworks to advance meaningful connectivity for the global majority specifically. And we do this by bringing together different stakeholders at national level as well as at regional and global levels to bring government as well as private sector and civil society to begin to look at an opportunity for building this. So, as an example, we obviously use research to inform the policy frameworks that we want to gain support for. So, I’ll give you an example with the 2% target that the first speaker spoke about on affordability in terms of how that was built. And it basically is a target that is one for two, meaning that one gig of data should not cost more than 2% average monthly income. And that was actually informed through research that was done in 2012 and 2013. In 2014, were able to get multiple stakeholders in Ghana and Nigeria to actually get their governments to endorse this as a minimum standard even before ITU adopted this as a minimum standard. So that’s sort of been our model. But apart from that, I just want to just divert a little bit from how we get to that to talk a little bit about why it’s important for us to be inclusive even in our solutions. Because multi-stakeholderism is about making sure that everyone has an opportunity to contribute and have a voice in this. One of the missing conversations in the digital divides conversations we’ve been having has been the economic impact of leaving certain stakeholders behind in our digital development. And I’m going to highlight in particular women. What is it costing governments and economies to leave women behind? A simplistic view is for those of you who love soccer, let’s say rugby because we’re in the World Cup and I was very disappointed a few days ago that I couldn’t find anyone willing to watch the game with me a couple of days ago. But rugby World Cup, who’s your favorite team? Say South Africa, please. We’re the best. Okay. So your favorite soccer team, rugby team. If we were to take half of the team and bench it, could you still win? Doesn’t matter whether it’s your best players or worst players, just half the team bench it, your chances of winning are actually nonexistent at that moment. That’s actually what is happening with us not paying attention to the digital gender gap that every conversation we’ve had here at IGF has told us it’s actually growing. So there is an economic impact. actually done a study working with different communities to look at what is the economic impact of leaving women behind. So the digital gender gap is actually estimated to be costing a trillion dollars in GDP over 10 years in about 32 of the low and middle income countries that we studied. In 2020, this represents $126 billion lost and about $24 billion in tax revenue that is lost. You know, when a woman is unable to use the web to get an education, to access healthcare, to build networks, she has fewer opportunities and everyone pays a price for that. So I think it’s really critical for us as we continue to talk about closing the gaps to really also think about how are we being inclusive even in that process. One of the common sayings I love from civil society in South Africa is nothing for us without us. The importance of engaging those stakeholders when we are building for them. And I think, you know, we’ve had examples and good hard knock lessons, the digital centers that were built because we thought people in the rural areas needed digital centers. And so we applied to build it and there will come approach and we built and the digital centers are now just kind of sitting there and not being heavily utilized. And I think now we are beginning to slowly start talking about this usage gap because while infrastructure is important and we still have a long ways to go, addressing the demand side issues is equally important because we want people to connect to the internet to do what? It’s not for the vibes. We want them to connect to the internet so that they’re able to use it in a way that they can help transform their lives. One of my favorite stories was a young boy who was a beneficiary of a public Wi-Fi program in the city of Twane in South Africa, who when he was interviewed, why it was important for him to walk so far to the nearest hotspots to connect, his response was that he lives in a shack and when he’s online, he no longer lives in a shack. Let that sink in. We have an opportunity and a tool to really empower people in a way that’s transformative. The people who need this kind of transformation in their lives the most are the 2.6 billion people who are actually offline at the moment. So I don’t wanna be too preachy about this, but where do we go from here and how do we build forward? I think the biggest thing we have to come together and agree on both private sector, government, and civil society is that we need to raise the bar on affordability. We’ve been working on affordability since 2014 for some of us and others much longer. You saw the graph showing how many countries have actually achieved affordability. And we are talking about 2%. But let me remind you of something that’s even said about this 2%. We are talking about 2% for one gig per month. What meaningful activity can any of us do being able to only afford one gig per month for connectivity? Certainly not the things that we’re required to do during the lockdowns of COVID. You cannot take a course and actually finish with one gig per month. You cannot attend meetings. There’s just so much that cannot be done. So we need to raise the bar from a policy point of view on this standard for affordability. And look at the meaningful connectivity standard, which tells us that we need to aim for people being able to have daily use of the internet if they want to. At the moment, we are still defining a connected person as someone who accesses the internet once every three months. So we are doing all of this, but our standards are so, so low. And we are calculating the gaps based on very low standards, which means that the picture is actually even worse than it really is if we were to use a meaningful connectivity standard. So daily use and limited access to data is a standard we should be pushing for. Adequate skills for connectivity, investing in the skills. A minimum standard on a device that is suitable for meaningful connectivity, a smart device. Let’s just say that, we won’t say phone, but a smart device that is affordable. One of the studies we also did was device affordability. In the continent of Africa, we are still spending 40 to 60% average household income on one device. So device affordability is a big issue. A lot of the solutions that have been introduced are financing of devices. That is not affordability. It’s, you can’t afford it now, but over six months you will afford it. We need people to be able to afford, so we need to really work around innovative solutions, whether it’s local assembly, or reducing of digital taxation on the devices themselves as a way to really spare uptake of digital technologies. And skills I’ve already mentioned, and an adequate speed, at least 4G level. If we truly are talking about people being able to do the things that Joe was enticing us about, the content that is dynamic and vibrant, we need to admit that we have to raise the bar on the standards, and this requires policy approach for us. And lastly, we have to mainstream gender in ICT policies. It is not acceptable that we continue to have a gap that is growing, and how do we do that? We do that by a framework that was actually developed by women called the REACT Framework. We need a rights-based approach towards ICT development. Rights-based approach because women experience violence online. There’s safety issues, there’s privacy issues, and some of the gap is caused, yes, by lack of affordability, but also by women censoring themselves out of participating because of the experience that they have when they connect online. We need to invest in education for the digital skills so that everyone is able to truly participate at minimum level, and maybe define what is a digitally literate person, the same way we did with the ABCs education. Digital education, what is a digitally literate person, and how do we define that, and how do we work towards achieving that? We need to really double down on access. I joked the other day saying that the running theme here at IGF is we are running out of time, but usually that’s because the sessions are always running late. We are running out of time, but we truly are running out of time. You saw the SDGs and the schedule. We are running out of time of connecting everyone. We are running out of time of making sure that we reach universal access. Over $400 billion is estimated for infrastructure that’s still needed for infrastructure investment to connect everyone. Even if private sector could put up half of that, we still need government to prioritize investment in digital development and infrastructure in particular. So it’s going to take the public-private partnerships, it’s going to take everyone actually contributing to this. So access and affordability. And affordability, we have to also admit that there may be communities that might never be able to afford even at the 2%, and so initiatives like the one that the previous speaker was talking about of community networks are really important. We have to be open to different digital models as well as different financial models for connecting the unconnected. We have to focus on content, so that’s part of the REAC, R-E-A-C, so content for C. content, but content in languages that people can understand and can operate in. Like, seriously, we don’t want to connect everyone for them to read English online. Most of the content right now is in English. I come from a continent where majority of the population does not speak English. So content is really important and it has an economic opportunity as well because content economy is quite a thing, right? We don’t want to only just be consumers online. We also want to be innovators and produce and develop content as well. And last, the T in the REACT framework is about setting targets. We can’t measure something that we did not set a target, we did not benchmark. We need to set targets and be intentional about closing, especially the digital gender gap. It exists because of the inequalities that already exist in our society. It’s not just a divide that is an online or an ICT divide. So we have to be intentional about fixing those. So a good starting point is looking at national broadband plans and seeing if they specifically address any gender issues. Quite a number of broadband plans are still quite mute on gender or women or just actually going the extra mile to ensure that women are included in the digital economy that we all are talking about now. So I will just pause there to say REACT, rights-based education, access and affordability, content and setting realistic policy targets to actually connect those who are not connected is where we need to be.

Rose Payne:
Thank you so much. So next we have Chiakomo who’s joining us online. I hope that he can unmute himself. Onika, we’ve just heard quite a lot about the gender digital divide and the fact that when people go online they may not feel safe. And that may have a chilling effect. And the other aspect of this is also security online. If they don’t feel like the online space is secure, they may just not engage with it. Chiakomo, I would really love for you to speak a little bit about how we make sure that a lack of security doesn’t have that kind of chilling effect.

Giacomo Persi Paoli:
Thank you. Thank you very much. I hope you can hear me. I’ll assume you can unless you tell me otherwise. Thank you so much to the ICC for inviting me. It’s really an honor and a pleasure to be here today and speak on this great panel. It’s always challenging to be the last speaker because I had prepared a bunch of notes and, you know, as speakers were, you know, previous panels were presenting I had to kind of delete points to avoid repetitions. But I still hope that I can add some some value here. And I actually want to go back to to where we started if you want to tackle your question about the links between connectivity, digital technology and and the SDGs. And I will start with, you know, a quote by the UN Deputy Secretary General that at the opening of the Sustainable Development Goals Digital Day in New York about a month ago. Said that digital technologies when used safely and responsibly can be catalysts for economic, social and societal transformation by creating efficiencies at scale and expanding the reach of existing solutions to support more people. Now, I find this very a very interesting quote because we’ve heard so many times how digital technologies can have this catalyst effect that can be accelerators for SDGs. But this was the first time that I saw so clearly and so explicitly a reference to responsible and safe use. And what does, you know, responsibly and safe and safe actually mean in this context. First and foremost, we should take this as applicable to all stakeholders that are part of the connectivity ecosystem, from users to companies to governments. This is really a shared responsibility, and everyone should really take its own part of the bargain here and make sure that they deliver. But what does actually being responsible and being safe mean? Going back to something that I believe Pablo mentioned earlier, it’s about earning and building digital trust. People have to trust in order to connect. They have to trust the technology itself, they have to trust the companies that are behind the technology, and they also have to trust the governments that in their roles both as regulators and as service providers have to create a safety net, a protection net around users. Without this combined effect, it’s going to be very difficult to, in a way, build that trust that is needed and kind of mitigate the chilling effect. Because the chilling effect can occur in two ways. It can occur if users and people feel unsafe and unprotected on the internet, but it can also be on the other side of the coin. They might not be willing to connect if they feel that there is an abuse or a misuse of the powers of companies or of governments that in a way take, in this asymmetric kind of power distribution, they may perceive, users may perceive threats to respect of their own rights. They’re uncertain about what’s going to happen to their personal information and data. So security is a very important point, but it’s also a very delicate one that needs to really be taken into consideration from the beginning. I want to focus on, because we’ve heard about the importance of affordability, of access, of inclusivity, and reducing the gap. I want to add another important parameter here, which is the parameter of preparedness. So, I believe that it is very important, if we focus on the role of governments, that governments not only invest in ensuring the connectivity, so the ability of people to connect, but they do so without overlooking, or without taking shortcuts when it comes to really developing the preparedness of the whole system, to be able to absorb this innovation and increased connectivity. I just want to reference, there was a recent report by the Economic Commission for Africa that highlighted how, relatively speaking, for the African continent, the low level of preparedness in cybersecurity costed about 10% of national GDP. So, that is a significant number, if you think that, on one hand, connectivity can boost social and economic development, but, on the other hand, the lack of preparedness, the lack of an appropriate cybersecurity ecosystem at the national level can actually slow down, or potentially even reverse, the positive effect that connectivity and digital technologies can actually bring. So, what does preparedness actually mean in this context? I think that we have to look holistically at the whole of government, like it was mentioned at the very beginning, and that’s why I said I would like to finish from where we started. All of government approach is important. It means, fundamentally, intervening at, I would say, five different levels. The policy and regulatory part is key. Governments need to have policies and regulations that enable and support innovation. same time create the safety and security regulatory ecosystem that allows the responsible and safe use of these technologies. The other layer that follows policy and regulation is a layer of processes, of operations. We’ve heard how public-private partnerships are incredibly powerful tools that can be leveraged to really boost connectivity and development and absorption of these digital technologies. These public-private partnerships have to be structured, they have to be in a way put within a framework that allows them to work. You cannot wait until you need a public-private partnership to work, to worry about establishing the frameworks that allow you to start with to have these partnerships. Structures are also an important layer, so we’ll go back to safety and security. You cannot really think in 2023 to invest heavily in boosting your connectivity if you’re not equally ready to invest in building your own capacity to deal with incidents and emergencies that happen in the digital domain. So being able to build computer emergency response teams or computer incident response teams that can work at the public level, can work in cooperation with private sectors, etc. It’s key, so you really need to invest in building these structures that ultimately deliver that feeling of safety and security to individuals. If you’re asking me to trust e-banking because it’s safer than traditional banking and you’re asking me to put all of my savings online, I want to be sure that those savings are protected from criminals. malicious actors that maybe want to take advantage of me, of my perhaps lack of skills or knowledge. But I also want to make sure that there is someone that I can rely on that protects that critical infrastructure and critical services. And then, of course, it was mentioned skills. Skills is important. Globally, there is a shortage of cyber skills and cyber security skills, so it’s going to be hard. But nevertheless, it is important that significant investment is done in skills, not only to enable connectivity and teach and develop the skills that would allow people to meaningfully engage with services and content online, but there is also the need to invest on developing basic digital security or cyber hygiene skills to really, through public campaigns, through education already in schools, making sure that we invest in building that foundational knowledge that would actually enable people to safely and securely engage online. And last but not least, it’s technology. Now, technology has always been considered as a potentially kind of a high barrier for some developing countries and the idea that it would put a lot of pressure on them to be able to equip themselves with the technological solutions that are needed to protect and monitor and keep the digital environment safe. However, it is important that we do not let the challenges, in a way, prevent us from even engaging on the discussion of how important it is that potentially, by leveraging some public-private partnerships, governments equip themselves with the technological capabilities to be able to protect and monitor and protect their own networks. Because digital connectivity is fundamental, is key, can have so many positive effects, but it also, in a way, expands significantly the attack surface or the entry points for malicious actors to really target individuals or societies at large. So it is really important that we do not consider security as a cost line that needs to be minimized, but it’s actually an asset. It’s an investment that ultimately we need really to take seriously in order for it to pay dividends and make sure that people and institutions and companies can enjoy the benefits of an open, safe and secure online environment. Thank you.

Rose Payne:
Thank you so much. So I’m just going to let the panellists know, I think we’re a little bit behind our schedule, so I’m going to deviate from the plan and actually begin straight away with the Q&A. I’m going to cheat a little bit and take advantage of my role as moderator to ask the first question. So I’d like to kind of go back to Giacomo’s point about structuring partnerships. Every speaker today has agreed that one way or another, we can’t work in silos, we need to work together. Every stakeholder, be they government or private sector, has a role to play. The whole-of-society approach, ecosystem approach. Can you talk a little bit more about the way that we need to structure those roles and structure those partnerships? And I think I will hand the mic to you first of all, Takashi.

Takashi Motohisa :
Thanks. Actually, I would like to talk about Kuiper. We are paying a lot of efforts for the successful project launch and the service start in the near future. Amazon is investing $10 billion. The number is a little bit smaller than $400 billion. But we are investing a lot. But we believe that we will be more successful if we can get more partnership. from the both of the private sector and the public sector. We are perfectly committed to working with the partner of those who can share our common concept of bridging the digital divide. So we believe, we think partnership will take many variety of forms. For example, for the private sector, it can be the partnership with the wireless carrier to extend its LTE and 5G networks to the new regions. It is one of the form of the partnership. Actually, last month, we announced the partnership with the Vodafone and Vodacom. They are going to use Kyber services to extend their network in the region of Europe and Africa. And yeah, we are very excited to see how the partnership can improve the network in those regions. And we are looking forward to, of course, partnering with others. And then for the public sector, yeah, our ability to connect to customers requires access to the cable and radio frequency and regulations that enable modern satellite technology. We expect public sector support in both of country level and international level. From the spectrum access and the necessary licenses in each country to the international radio regulations update, which can enable modern satellite, like a customer, to fulfill its potential ability to bridge the digital divide. Thank you.

Rose Payne:
Thank you so much for that. I’m going to ask if anyone has a question, to please come forward to the mic. And we’ll actually start with one online. So I have in mind someone to answer this. But please, after I ask that person, any of the panelists should jump in. So the question was, when we’re talking about skills to engage with digital technologies, what skills do we mean? Joe, I think that it would be great if you could give the opening answer to that. Sure, I’ll jump in on that. But I’ll turn my mic on first.

Joe Welch:
Yeah, I mean, I. forgive me for defaulting to just giving a little bit of a what you know what we do answer to that which is well we’ll enter any given market with the service that Disney Plus mentioned and we’ll just try and be good partners as we as we come in with the service we’ll partner with the in-country telcos be a good partner to the creative industry the part of the ecosystem with the policymakers and just so that we have the reputation of like all these these guys are part of the fabric of our of our community that’s good for our business and it’s and it’s good for the for the country in question and then we try and do a little more on top of that that’s just like the threshold so the more part would be to actually do projects so we’ll fund an NGO or work with the government to do we’ve got projects in 20 different countries and we’ll do digital literacy projects or online safety projects with the NGO or with government so I’ll give you two examples one would be in Indonesia we partner with a firm called NGO called ganara and they go around to schools and they train that they work with the kids in the classroom to do the digital literacy so the the bullying and issues like that and they do it through art like pen on paper you know old-school art as a way to bring the Indonesian children up the curve on digital digital literacy matters and then a related one for us is in Latin America where we have Chico net which works across the region training the teachers to then do the similar thing as I described for Indonesia so those are two two different approaches that we take that’s responsive thank you

Rose Payne:
that’s fantastic would anyone else either in the room or online to pick up on this question just as a reminder that was when we’re talking about skills to engage with digital technologies what skills do we mean

Onica Makwakwa:
let me just humanize that question a little bit and share what we have learned about what people do online when they have the right connectivity the speed and then the know-how to to utilize these and this is all part of our course of exclusion study where we took several countries and we did qualitative research and ethnographic studies to really dig deep and humanize the economic impact of the exclusion so this is from the women who are online who were included and what we learned in West Africans in particular the women were using the Internet three times you know the Internet for every three men that reason the Internet only two women were but those who were these are the things that are accomplishing they were able to utilize the Internet and the reports that during kovat 19 they did not lose income because they were able to convert their mic their business of selling on at the market by being able to create our whatsapp groups and sell their goods online as well those were online reported seven times more than those who are not online having completed an upgrade upgraded their skills by taking a course online and being able to improve their job skills by being able to be connected and a lot of the uses were really connected to their financial ability to be able to take care of themselves and their families so I think you know I’m gonna just answer it from that point of view to say yes it’s about digital skills but maybe we need a broader conversation around is that coding is that skills to be able to operate mobile money is that a skill to be able to run your business online but you know with the right device the right connectivity and the skills what the theme we are seeing is that women in particular are able to preserve economic an ability to end economically in during periods of crisis such as the one we’ve recently had with the pandemic great thank you so much so

Rose Payne:
I’m aware that we’ve got about 10 minutes left only just under so I want to give everyone the chance to kind of make a final a final statement because I kind of cut you off from your previous content which uses to share so I’m actually going to start with at Sukho if that’s okay and if I can request that people keep their comment to about one minute that would be fantastic thank you

Atsuko Okuda:
perhaps I can combine my contribution to answer the skills question as well as the closing remarks and I think this question on what skills is very important I earlier mentioned about connecting the unconnected but in fact the days are very dynamic and fast moving of technological development such as AI and data analytics and it’s going to affect these connected and unconnected communities alike so the knowledge and skills perhaps we need to address the reality in front of us would be different from what we anticipated let’s say five years ago just very quickly give you an example there are already jobs which maybe may become redundant or the jobs that may be created and without the necessary a new digital skills perhaps the people would have tough time so I believe that we would need to revisit what are the digital literacy and digital skills that will be required in the new, new, new normal that we are seeing in front of us. And I hope that that includes the AI solutions as well as the need for data and data intensive decision making which we are surrounded with in e-commerce or the traffic management or asset management and the mobile banking as earlier a speaker said. So I hope that this will leave a question and the cautious optimism that perhaps together in partnership we can address in and move forward. Thank you. Back to you.

Rose Payne:
Thank you so much. So next I’m going to go to you, Takashi.

Takashi Motohisa :
Yep. Thank you. Maybe, yeah, I can state that, yeah, we are going forward to bridge the digital divide strongly. Yeah, just we will do that. Fantastic. Thank you.

Rose Payne:
Next on the list, I have Pablo.

Pablo Barrionuevo:
Yes. Thank you, Rose. Well, I’d like to congratulate all the panelists and you, Rose, because we have identified everything. We have all the ingredients on the table. And for example, the technologies, we now have the technologies to connect everybody. It is not a problem of technology. We’ve mentioned a structure. I think that it is maybe not the thing. I mean, we have to understand that what works somewhere may not work somewhere else. And maybe that is the thing. We have to find the flexibility to find the correct solution for the correct place. And maybe this is the case. We have all the ingredients. And what is maybe the common ground? The common thing is that we have to work all together to connect the unconnected. And this is the solution. We have the ingredients. We have the reside. And what we have to do is to work all together to connect the unconnected. That’s the thing, in my opinion. Thank you.

Rose Payne:
Thank you so much. So, Joe. Yeah, thanks. I’ll end with an affirmation of the multilateral,

Joe Welch:
multistakeholder approach. 9,000 people here this week and dealing with existing issues and new ones like AI. And it’s my first. And it’s been amazing. And it’s a real treat. And then this panel, academia, civil society, industry, different parts of industry. history, coming together on an important issue like this. And I learned a famous South African quote today that I’ll use in future presentations, which is, nothing for us without us.

Rose Payne:
Thank you. Machuke, can I ask you to come in next?

Michuki Mwangi :
Yes, thank you. I think, in conclusion, as Pablo has rightfully noted, the solutions are there. Now we need to go to the next step. And the next step is that we need to scale up the efforts, meaning that we need to be able to scale these up to have the impact that it needs to have. And that’s going to be possible by increasing the funding that’s available towards the deployments of the solutions that have been identified. It’s not the technology. It’s about getting more people connected. And so that needs to start happening. We also need to increase the partnerships, because it’s an essential component, an ingredient for the success, as almost every other panelist here has rightfully noted, that we cannot individually do it alone, and it needs a lot of collaboration and partnerships to be able to achieve that goal. And so if we’re able to scale, make sure that we get the funding, the partnerships, I believe that it’s possible to achieve the 2030 vision of having everyone connected. And we, as the Internet Society, are pretty much here to support and collaborate with everyone to help achieve that goal. Thank you very much.

Rose Payne:
Thank you so much. I’m now going to ask Annika to give her summary.

Onica Makwakwa:
So the gaps that exist today are actually a consequence of policy choices that we either make or don’t make. So I’m going to challenge us that we must work with policymakers to look at narrowing the gaps. And one that we didn’t talk much about is rural v. urban divide. So engaging rural communities in the broadband policy agenda to make sure that we are not leaving people in rural and remote areas behind. Embedding meaningful connectivity indicators with key ICT statistics so that we are going beyond basic access to actually make sure that we are measuring based on meaningful connectivity. And lastly, we need to leverage public access solutions in order to provide affordable and meaningful resources to rural and remote areas in particular. Thank you.

Rose Payne:
Great. Thank you. And then, Giacomo, can I ask for your summary now?

Giacomo Persi Paoli:
Absolutely. And I’ll be very brief. I think it is important that we consider connectivity not as the end of the journey or the point of arrival, but a point of departure and a new beginning. And to do that, it is important that we invest in preparedness. Again, stressing the importance of being prepared to what connectivity is actually going to mean and bring to society. And skills, as was mentioned, it’s a big part of that. I don’t think there is a single answer to what are the right skills, depending which community you’re talking about. Those needs will be different, but definitely basic cyber regime skills for all users are going to be needed. We’re going to have potentially 2.4, 2.6 billion new people connected that were not connected before. And these people have to be upskilled to make sure that they do so safely and responsibly. But at the same time, governments have to improve their digital skills and their digital knowledge skills so that they can engage with other governments on par. And really, skills is a very complex effort that should be taken forward as a key pillar of preparedness. Thank you.

Rose Payne:
Great. Thank you so much. I think it would be impossible to summarize everything, but just to kind of quickly run through the last takeaways. I think that the message for all of us is that we need to go fast, be flexible. We need to defend and uphold the multi-stakeholder model. We need better indicators, and we need to focus on rural areas. And then there was also a bit of a challenge to governments as well, because obviously skills is something that can be delivered by many different people, but particularly it would be great to see a focus on cyber hygiene, I think was another thing that came up. And then finally, it’s clear that really what everyone is asking for is the whole ecosystem approach for everyone to move together. So I guess that that’s a bit of a call of action to all of you. Thank you so much to all of our panelists today. That was fantastic. And thank you to everyone in the audience for participating. Thank you.