Leaders TalkX 1 - From Access to Impact: Leading ICT Infrastructure Development

WSIS Forum 2026 Leaders' Talk: Bridging Digital Divides Through Infrastructure, Financing, and Governance

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Session Overview and Framing

The first leaders' talk of the WSIS Forum 2026 was moderated by Valeria Betancourt of the Association for Progressive Communications, a global civil society network working with digital technologies for the well-being of people and the planet . Betancourt opened the session by invoking the foundational purpose of the WSIS process, noting that it had made the world aware of how large the digital divides are and that these divides remain unresolved . Her framing was deliberately urgent: unless these divides are closed, she argued, the collective work being done to ensure that the benefits of new and emerging technologies reach everyone will fail . The session was structured around confronting the policy barriers, financing gaps, and governance challenges that persist in bridging all digital divides , with six speakers drawn from government, regulatory bodies, and the technical community each given three minutes to intervene within a 30-minute session.

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Japan: From Access to Impact and Regional Cooperation

Japan's Vice Minister Takuo Imagawa organised his contribution around two distinct but related concepts: access and impact . On access, he described Japan's long-standing commitment to developing high-speed, high-capacity broadband infrastructure, noting that both optical fibre networks and 5G mobile networks now achieve nearly 100% nationwide coverage, providing fast, affordable, and reliable connectivity throughout the country . He attributed this achievement to a dual policy approach: promoting competition between incumbent dominant operators and new entrants through asymmetric regulation, while simultaneously supporting telecom operators serving less commercially viable areas through mechanisms such as the Universal Service Fund and subsidy programmes . This balanced combination, he argued, is essential as a basic policy approach for delivering affordable, high-quality services nationwide and realising universal and meaningful connectivity .

On impact, Imagawa made the case that once access is ensured, a single smartphone can enable not only communication but also digital payments, healthcare services, education, and access to government services - precisely the social impact that connectivity can bring . He further observed that digital infrastructure has evolved well beyond optical fibre and mobile networks into a broader digital ecosystem encompassing data centres, submarine cables, satellites, and AI systems . Crucially, he stated that such a digital ecosystem cannot be built by any one country alone , which provided the conceptual foundation for his announcement of Japan's Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Digital Corridor Initiative. Announced by Japan's first female Prime Minister, Takaichi, in May, the initiative aims to promote regional cooperation in infrastructure development, including open-RAN 5G networks, data centres, submarine cables, satellite communications, and optical photonic networks, with the goal of strengthening trusted connectivity throughout the Indo-Pacific region . Imagawa envisioned the corridor not merely as a platform for connectivity but as a foundation for trust, resilience, and inclusive growth generating positive social impact across the entire region . He concluded by emphasising that infrastructure development must be accompanied by human resource development, research and development, and the creation of local digital content .

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United States: Technology Neutrality and Market-Driven Innovation

Arielle Roth, representing the United States, focused on the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) programme, which she described as a success story in technology-neutral approaches to ensuring universal broadband availability . She explained that the Trump administration's NTIA had reformed the programme around three principles: avoiding waste of taxpayer dollars, preventing distortion of the competitive broadband marketplace, and ensuring universal access . The previous administration, she argued, had imposed an extreme fibre mandate that threatened to leave certain areas behind and run out of money, producing exorbitant costs of up to $200,000 per location in some cases . Beyond the fiscal problem, she contended that the deeper issue was warping the course of innovation and distorting the very dynamic broadband marketplace at a critical time of intermodal facilities-based competition among fibre, wireless, and satellites .

Roth argued that some of the most significant breakthroughs in connecting rural parts of the United States had not come from subsidies but from technology innovation itself . By restoring technology neutrality and removing burdensome mandates - including rate regulation, unionised labour requirements, and climate change regulations, which she characterised as diverting resources away from the primary goal of closing broadband gaps - the programme achieved significant results . These included large increases in competition and provider participation, and savings of $21 billion . Faster access was also achieved by leveraging technologies such as unlicensed fixed wireless, without compromising performance . She highlighted the rapid evolution of satellite technology, noting new generations of satellites with continuous launches, more efficient payloads, expanded spectrum access, increased throughput, lower latency, and higher capacity, with speeds having doubled in just the past few years . The United States shared these lessons through the ITU Partner2Connect initiative, including a training held in Ghana on how market access for non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) providers can close broadband gaps and how positions at the World Radiocommunication Conference can impact satellite innovation . Roth concluded by noting the importance of ensuring that participating companies were financially and managerially viable, evidenced by a 40% match rate in the programme, and cautioned that the experience is an example of why the government should be humble in predicting the course of technology .

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Armenia: Regulatory Progress and Expanding Coverage

Armenia's representative Mesrop Mesropyan presented a detailed account of his country's progress in mobile and broadband coverage over the past decade. He described a staged approach in which 4G coverage was first extended to more than 80% of settlements and interstate car highways, before achieving coverage from at least one operator in all settlements . At the time of the session, 4G was available from at least one operator in all urban areas, from two operators in 94% of urban areas, and from all three operators in approximately 84% of urban areas . Mobile communication services were available to more than 95% of interstate car roads, including 4G coverage for approximately 80% of those roads . On 5G, Mesropyan noted that all three operators' networks were available in the capital and the two largest cities, as well as in international airports, with 5G coverage from at least one operator reaching approximately 50% of the population, including all cities where about 85% of the country's population lives . Since 2025, Starlink has been providing fixed satellite communication services throughout Armenia on the basis of a licensed service . Internet traffic, both fixed and mobile, had increased significantly, reaching 4.42 exabytes, and the share of fixed-connection subscribers using fibre optic technologies reached almost 90% at the end of 2025 . Mesropyan concluded that Armenia's experience demonstrates that effective regulation, development of the competitive environment, and development of infrastructure are able to significantly accelerate digital transformation and ensure the availability of modern technologies for citizens throughout the country .

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Mauritius: Universal Service Funds as Investments in People

The Chairman of the Mauritius regulator, Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum, addressed both the domestic experience of Mauritius and his role as the new Chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organisation (CTO). He described the Mauritian government's ambition to make the internet a right for all citizens and to build a digital society that is fairer, more accessible, and more equitable, where every citizen regardless of region or social condition benefits from the same opportunities, services, and respect . He acknowledged that this responsibility extends beyond Mauritius to other islands such as Rodrigues, Agaléga, and Saint-Brandon, where connectivity is not always commercially viable but remains essential . Commercial operators, he noted, are not interested in serving these islands precisely because the projects are not commercially viable .

Chedumbrum described Mauritius's approach as resting on a simple principle: the Universal Service Fund intervenes only when the market cannot respond to the needs of the population . Each project is guided by rigorous governance, transparent procedures, and a single objective - to concretely improve the lives of citizens . In Rodrigues, the USF enabled connectivity through free public Wi-Fi and high-speed satellite before the arrival of the submarine cable . In Agaléga, the Fund financed migration to LTE Advanced, access to high-speed connectivity, and the connection of public schools, demonstrating that universal service concerns not only infrastructure but also education and opportunities . The government is now extending this vision to the island of Saint-Brandon, one of the most isolated territories under Mauritian jurisdiction, through new technologies to strengthen communications resilience and digital inclusion . Chedumbrum articulated a powerful principle: universal service does not only consist of connecting territories but more importantly consists of creating opportunities for people who live there .

In his capacity as CTO Chairman, Chedumbrum described the organisation's history of supporting members through policy advice, capacity building, and technical assistance, including support for establishing Malawi's universal service framework under a World Bank-funded programme . His priority going forward is to help member states strengthen governance of the Universal Service Fund, invest in projects that deliver measurable public value, embrace innovative technologies, and learn from one another's experience . He delivered what became one of the session's most memorable formulations: universal service funds are not meant to sit idle but are meant to deliver results, because a universal service fund is not a bank account but an investment in people, and digital opportunities should never depend on geography .

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Senegal: Combining Infrastructure Extension with Digital Inclusion

Ndeye Fatou Ndiaye of Senegal's Universal Telecommunications Service Fund described an approach that closely paralleled the Mauritian model while reflecting Senegal's specific geographic and developmental context. She explained that the Universal Telecommunications Service in Senegal aims to ensure that all citizens, including those in isolated rural areas, can access telecommunications services and the internet at an affordable cost . To reduce the digital divide between urban and rural areas, several actions have been taken, including the extension of network coverage and the development of high-speed mobile through the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure in what she called white areas or underserved areas . The Fund finances access to telephony and internet in localities where private operators do not invest due to low profitability .

Concretely, the Universal Access Project plans to cover 974 localities with a minimum of 4G and to migrate many areas from 2G to 4G by the end of 2029 . This project is co-funded by the World Bank . In addition, approximately 5,000 satellite kits are planned for deployment by the end of 2027, which Ndiaye described as having a decisive impact for internet access throughout the country . Beyond infrastructure, Senegal's approach encompasses capacity building and innovation, including the provision of digital tools to schools and centres for people with disabilities, training in digital professions, and raising awareness among the population through a project called Digital EDUC, ensuring that infrastructure is deployed and actually used . The Living Lab Project introduces digital technology into priority sectors of the economy through co-creation with universities, entrepreneurs, and the population, organised around territorial poles to solve and improve living conditions . Ndiaye summarised Senegal's approach as combining infrastructure extension projects from high-speed access to equipment to institutions, training people, and building a community and responsible internet .

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IEEE: Engineering Inclusion, Safety, and Sustainability into Digital Systems

Dorothy Stanley, President of the IEEE Standards Association - though introduced by the moderator as IEEE President, Stanley clarified that her position is IEEE Standards Association President, with Mary Ellen Randall serving as IEEE President - shifted the discussion from deployment metrics to design philosophy . She noted that as connectivity expands and AI systems become essential, the answer is not simply to add safeguards later but to design digital environments intentionally from the outset, with inclusion and safety engineered into infrastructure . IEEE, as the world's largest technical professional organisation with over 500,000 members from 190 countries, brings together engineers, industry, policymakers, and civil society through global consensus-based standards processes to translate high-level principles into practical technical requirements .

On responsible AI, Stanley described the IEEE 7000 series of standards, which addresses transparency, bias considerations, governance, and human oversight in system design, operationalising trust rather than treating it as an afterthought . On child safety and vulnerable communities, she argued that protection requires age-appropriate design principles embedded at the architectural level, including privacy by design, data minimisation, risk-aware system development, and accountability mechanisms . IEEE's growing family of standards in age-appropriate design and age verification, as well as its responsible AI for children certification programme, provide globally applicable yet locally adaptable frameworks . Digital literacy was identified as an essential component of AI safety, with the IEEE 3527.1 standard, published in 2020, providing a framework for evaluating content applicable to digital literacy skills and readiness . On sustainability, Stanley argued that it must be built into the lifecycle of digital systems, with energy efficiency, resilience, and interoperability critical as AI workloads and connected devices increase, supported by IEEE standards in networking, smart grids, and system governance . She concluded that IEEE's open development model enables participation from experts across regions and sectors, strengthening legitimacy and reducing fragmentation, and that designing connectivity and AI systems with inclusion, safety, and sustainability at the core can build systems that leverage technology for the benefit of humans .

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AFNIC: Open Standards as Foundational Infrastructure

Pierre Bonis of AFNIC, the French Internet Registry, broadened the conceptual scope of the discussion by arguing that infrastructure is not only about physical access but also encompasses a layer of open standards and logic . As an internet registry managing more than 4.51 million domain names, AFNIC's work centres on the Domain Name System (DNS) and IP addressing - open standards that are themselves part of the infrastructure . Bonis argued that through the DNS and IP addressing, communities can assess their infrastructural dependencies and understand how the internet is decentralised and who can have access to the open switchboard . He highlighted AFNIC's cooperation with counterparts in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the .SN registry in Senegal, which shares a desire to popularise internet standards and is rooted in Senegalese research and university life . His closing message was direct: access to infrastructure requires that this infrastructure remain open, and for these infrastructures to remain open, standards must be deployed on them - and must be .

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Synthesis and Conclusions

Across the session, a high degree of consensus emerged on several core principles. All speakers agreed that digital divides persist and require urgent, coordinated action combining policy, financing, and governance . There was broad agreement that Universal Service Funds are essential instruments for reaching commercially unviable areas, but must be actively deployed with rigorous governance rather than accumulated . Satellite technology emerged as a cross-cutting solution endorsed across all national contexts - from Japan's ecosystem vision to Armenia's Starlink licensing , Mauritius's pre-submarine-cable satellite connectivity , Senegal's planned satellite kit deployment , and the United States' emphasis on NGSO competition . Several speakers, including Roth and Chedumbrum, emphasised that public funds should target areas where the market cannot respond, rather than replacing or distorting competitive markets . There was also convergence on the principle that physical connectivity must be accompanied by capacity building, digital literacy, and human development .

Beneath this surface consensus, however, substantive divergences were evident. The most pronounced was between Roth's market-liberal, technology-neutral, deregulatory approach and the more interventionist, regulation-positive approaches of Japan, Armenia, Mauritius, and Senegal. A notable contrast emerged between Roth's removal of climate change regulations from the BEAD programme as burdensome and Stanley's argument that sustainability must be built into the lifecycle of digital systems , reflecting differing perspectives on the relationship between environmental considerations and digital inclusion goals. Imagawa presented state-directed regional infrastructure planning as essential , while Roth cautioned that the government should be humble in predicting the course of technology . Bonis introduced a qualitatively different conception of infrastructure - one encompassing the logical layer of open standards - that other speakers did not engage with, implicitly challenging the exclusive focus on physical connectivity metrics .

The session produced several concrete commitments: Japan's FOIP Digital Corridor Initiative , the United States' continued sharing of BEAD lessons through ITU Partner2Connect , the CTO's commitment to strengthening USF governance across Commonwealth member states , Senegal's Universal Access Project targeting 974 localities by 2029 , IEEE's ongoing standards work on responsible AI and child safety , and AFNIC's continued cooperation with Sub-Saharan African counterparts .

Several important questions remained unresolved. The financing gaps for the least developed countries and most remote communities were acknowledged but not fully addressed. The tension between technology-neutral approaches and the need for long-term performance and reliability was noted but not reconciled. The governance challenges of AI integration into critical infrastructure, the sustainability of digital systems as AI workloads grow, and the mechanisms for ensuring that digital literacy programmes keep pace with rapidly evolving technologies were all raised but not explored with concrete solutions. The moderator closed by affirming that all insights shared would be essential in addressing the remaining and persisting challenges and gaps, before inviting participants for a group photo .