Page 68 - SAMENA Trends - December 2020

REGULATORY & POLICY UPDATES SAMENA TRENDS

New ITU Publication to Help Policy-Makers to Extend Internet Access and

Use to Unconnected Communities

can help policy-makers to select and
customize appropriate solutions to extend
Internet access to their localities, taking
into account their unique characteristics.
The guide is divided into four main steps
that outline the planning and policy
development phases of interventions to
encourage infrastructure deployments:
1. Identify digitally unconnected and
underserved regions;
2. Review options from existing solutions;
3. Select sustainable solutions that best
fit the given situation;
4. mplement interventions to extend
sustainable connectivity service.
The guide draws on lessons learned by
Despite the meteoric growth of the Internet step towards helping regulators and governments, service providers, technology
and broadband connectivity, 3.7 billion policy-makers everywhere unlock the vendors, international organizations,
people remain offline and are excluded infrastructure investments needed multilateral development banks, bilateral
from the direct benefits of the global to achieve universal and affordable donors, academia and others over the past
digital economy, says a new publication broadband." A number of ITU programmes 30 years. It is intended to be a living, active
just released by the International will use this guide to help design and guide that is continuously updated and
Telecommunication Union, The Last-Mile implement sustainable connectivity revised. In addition to the Solutions Guide,
Internet Connectivity Solutions Guide: solutions, including Giga – a joint initiative ITU is developing a range of resources
Sustainable connectivity options for between ITU and UNICEF to connect every to help Member States address last-
unconnected sites. While there are multiple school to the internet, and every young mile connectivity challenges, including a
constraints on Internet access and use, person to information, opportunity and database of case studies and interactive
the Solutions Guide addresses those choice. As Giga works with countries to last-mile connectivity diagnostic and
posed by gaps in infrastructure coverage develop their country plans for school decision-making tools. It also offers
and service affordability. The low return connectivity, the Solutions Guide and capacity-building services and assistance
on investment in network deployment in forthcoming diagnostic toolkit will be on design, planning and implementation,
sparsely populated areas means that, in essential in helping to determine the most including identifying unconnected areas
many developing countries, connectivity is appropriate solutions. “Giga welcomes and providing expert guidance on the
largely limited to urban areas, leaving rural the Last Mile Connectivity Solutions selection of sustainable technical, financial
and remote areas totally cut off. Moreover, Guide as an important resource in its and regulatory solutions.
even when telecommunication networks efforts to work with governments to What is last-mile connectivity?
are present, access to the Internet may connect every school to the internet," Last-mile networks, also known as access
be limited by prohibitively high prices, and said Doreen-Bogdan Martin, Director of networks, are defined as places where the
lower-income individuals and families the ITU Telecommunication Development Internet reaches end users and end-user
may be priced out of connectivity. Offline Bureau. “The fact that 3.7 billion people devices. This sets them apart from middle-
populations are particularly concentrated are still offline underscores the urgency mile networks (also known as backhaul),
in least developed countries (LDCs), where of advancing universal connectivity and which connect a national backbone
according to latest ITU data, only 19 per this Solutions Guide is an indispensable network (or core network) to a point in
cent of individuals were online in 2019. tool that will facilitate the efforts of ITU outer regions or geographic areas, thereby
Regionally, in Africa and Asia-Pacific, membership and stakeholders to extend extending service for broader distribution
less than half the population is online: broadband access to all citizens and to the last mile. National backbone
29 and 45 per cent respectively. “The communities, wherever they may live." networks are high-speed, high-capacity
time is ripe to rethink the positioning of What does the Solutions Guide offer? networks connecting a country's larger
broadband infrastructure development Written from the perspective of localities population centers and are usually the
and deployment in national priorities," and users in areas without Internet access, first point of connection for international
said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. the Solutions Guide contains tools, service Internet traffic.
“This Solutions Guide is an important interventions and policy solutions that

68 DECEMBER 2020