[kictanet] Fwd: [Internet Policy] Connectivity for All: Insights from the 2018 Inclusive Internet Index

Tue Mar 13 10:17:46 EAT 2018

A lot of the telecoms related data in this report was drawn from 2016 ITU
reports, which in turn were produced with 2014 data - anybody's guess at
how accurate these findings are...

On Thu, Mar 8, 2018 at 2:15 PM Barrack Otieno via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Listers,
>
> Might be of interest.
>
> Regards
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Ayden Férdeline <ayden at ferdeline.com>
> Date: Mon, Feb 26, 2018 at 7:16 PM
> Subject: [Internet Policy] Connectivity for All: Insights from the 2018
> Inclusive Internet Index
> To: ISOC INTERNETPOLICY <internetpolicy at elists.isoc.org>
>
>
> This is really an excellent report (in my opinion) that Facebook has
> commissioned. Sharing in case it is of interest...
>
> Best wishes, Ayden Férdeline
>
>
> ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
>
> *By Robert Pepper, Head of Global Connectivity Policy and Planning,
> and Molly Jackman, Public Policy Research Manager*
>
> Connectivity gives people voice, and helps them find and share knowledge,
> strengthen their economies, and improve their communities. Bringing people
> online can offer life-changing opportunities, but there are still
> approximately 3.8 billion people without internet access. At Facebook,
> we’re working to change that.
>
> For the second year in a row, Facebook commissioned the Economist
> Intelligence Unit (EIU) to create a comprehensive Inclusive Internet Index.
> This year’s index covers 91% of the world’s population and an expanded data
> set of 86 countries, up from 75 countries in 2017. The index assesses a
> country’s internet inclusion across four categories: availability,
> affordability, relevance, and readiness. This captures the availability and
> quality of internet services, as well as ways in which people use the
> internet for personal, social, and economic purposes. In addition, this
> year’s index is published alongside a new global Value of the Internet
> Survey, which polled 4,267 respondents from 85 countries to gauge
> perceptions on how internet use impacts people’s lives.
>
> The first index gave us valuable insights
> <https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/02/state-of-connectivity-2016-using-data-to-move-towards-a-more-inclusive-internet/>
>  to help address the barriers to global connectivity. This year’s index
> shows us that there is cause for optimism: Global connectivity has
> increased 8.3%, and more people are connected than ever before. While this
> progress is encouraging, we are still far from achieving full internet
> inclusivity.
>
> This year’s index also finds:
>
>    - *Fast growth of connectivity in low-income countries: *Emerging
>    markets, especially in Africa, experienced the fastest and greatest
>    progress over the last year. While connectivity worldwide grew 8.3%, there
>    was a 65.1% increase in low-income countries. The proportion of
>    households with internet access in low-income countries grew from 8% to
>    13.2% (a 65.1% improvement), with the largest year-on-year increases in
>    Rwanda (490%), Nepal (138%), and Tanzania (87.8%).
>    - *Mobile internet services are increasingly vital in many low-income
>    countries: *In some countries, fixed-line internet access is too
>    expensive or inaccessible — that’s why mobile services are critical. The
>    index reveals that coverage of 4G networking services grew significantly as
>    networks in low-income countries are being upgraded. In fact, the average
>    4G coverage rate for low-income countries increased year-over-year from
>    9.1% to 17.3%, with particularly rapid expansion in Guatemala (3,935%),
>    Indonesia (658.8%), Thailand (366.7%), Zambia (330.6%), and China (244%).
>    - *The cost of accessing the internet is falling:* The cost of mobile
>    broadband data plans in lower-income countries decreased about 17.3% from
>    last year, with Argentina (-89.2%), El Salvador (-76.5%), Tanzania
>    (-69.2%), and Ethiopia (-60.9%) experiencing the steepest relative cost
>    declines. Overall, however, people are still devoting too much of their
>    earnings on internet access relative to their income level. In too many
>    low-income countries, it is still not as affordable as the UN 2025 target
>    of less than 2% of GNI per capita.
>    - *There is still much work to be done to close the gender gap: *Across
>    the indexed countries, on average, men are 33.5% more likely to have
>    internet access than women. The gap is even larger in low-income countries,
>    which have an average gender access gap of 80.2% compared with 3.7% among
>    high-income countries. This is a sobering finding, but there is evidence to
>    be optimistic. Governments have shown the benefits of setting
>    gender-specific targets in national digital plans, embedding internet
>    access in wider gender equality plans, targeting women in ICT skills
>    training programs, and increasing the attractiveness of entering ICT
>    professions for women. The study found that the UK, Namibia, and Ireland,
>    followed by Austria, Chile, and South Africa, are among the top e-inclusion
>    performers of the year, all with female digital skills training plans.
>    - *The internet is empowering, especially to citizens in Asia, the
>    Middle East, and Africa: *67% of survey respondents believe that
>    access to the internet is a human right. Not only do people say that the
>    internet helped them become more confident to express themselves, but the
>    majority of respondents also say that the internet has helped them become
>    more independent and economically empowered. If the ability to use and
>    benefit from the internet is unevenly distributed, it could serve to deepen
>    inequality.
>    - *Privacy and security are top-of-mind:* People want confidence that
>    their activity online is private. The data show that concerns about
>    security and privacy may limit people’s use of the internet – for example,
>    when it comes to making purchases online, only 62.1% of survey respondents
>    feel that making purchases online is safe and secure.
>
> Closing the remaining gaps in internet inclusion will require
> collaboration among all players. Governments can help on the supply side,
> enabling new technologies and networks, and on the demand side, helping
> foster and develop e-government, public health, and education applications.
> Academics, technologists, civil society, and private companies can continue
> to extend the internet’s infrastructure and invent new technologies and
> applications that increase access to connectivity and amplify its relevance.
>
> At Facebook, our efforts are focused on expanding and improving
> connectivity through a number of initiatives, partnerships, and
> technologies. We know there’s no single technology or solution that will
> get the job done, which is why we’re focused on a building-block approach —
> developing a range of next-generation technologies and programs that can
> help bring the cost of connectivity down to reach the unconnected, and
> increase capacity and performance for everyone else.
>
> There is still more to do. Identifying and understanding barriers to
> connectivity is essential to continued progress in bringing more people
> online, and we hope that researchers and policymakers can learn from this
> report. Connecting the world won’t happen overnight, but with continued
> research and collaboration between governments, policymakers, and
> businesses, we remain confident that we can continue our progress toward
> our shared goal of closing the digital divide and making the internet more
> inclusive.
>
> The full Inclusive Internet Index can be accessed at
> http://theinclusiveinternet.eiu.com
>
> You can read more about Facebook’s connectivity efforts and our
> announcements at Mobile World Congress here
> <https://code.facebook.com/posts/218840725330904>.
>
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> To manage your ISOC subscriptions or unsubscribe,
> please log into the ISOC Member Portal:
> https://portal.isoc.org/
> Then choose Interests & Subscriptions from the My Account menu.
>
>
>
> --
> Barrack O. Otieno
> +254721325277
> +254733206359
> Skype: barrack.otieno
> PGP ID: 0x2611D86A
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> kictanet mailing list
> kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet
> Twitter: http://twitter.com/kictanet
> Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KICTANet/
> Domain Registration sponsored by www.eacdirectory.co.ke
>
> Unsubscribe or change your options at
> https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/blongwe%40gmail.com
>
> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.kictanet.or.ke/pipermail/kictanet/attachments/20180313/3bb8728e/attachment.htm>