Category Archives: Digital Divide

Internet more affordable and widespread, but world’s poorest still shut off from online opportunities: ITU

[news release] The cost of Internet services has inched downward across the globe in 2022, according to Facts and Figures, the annual worldwide overview on the state of digital connectivity from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

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Internet surge slows, leaving 2.7 billion people offline in 2022

Aim of getting the whole world connected remains elusive despite increased web use amid pandemic

[news release] An estimated 2.7 billion people – or one-third of the world’s population – remain unconnected to the Internet in 2022.

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The downside of digital transformation: why organisations must allow for those who can’t or won’t move online

We hear the phrase “digital transformation” a lot these days. It’s often used to describe the process of replacing functions and services that were once done face-to-face by human beings with online interactions that are faster, more convenient and “empower” the user.

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More than a third of world’s population have never used internet, says UN

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Nearly 3 billion people – or 37% of the world’s population – have never used the internet, according to the United Nations, despite the Covid-19 pandemic driving people online.

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OECD: COVID-19 crisis accentuating the need to bridge digital divides

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Improved Internet connectivity and skills have helped many countries to cope with the health and economic crisis from COVID-19. Yet the pandemic has raised the bar for the digital transition and underscores the need to close the digital divides that risk leaving some people and firms worse off than others in a post-COVID world, according to a new OECD report.

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OECD: Bridging The Digital Gender Divide

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This report has been produced at the request of the Australian Government to support advancement of the 2017 G20 Roadmap for Digitalisation: Policies for a Digital Future, in particular its dimension on supporting the equitable participation of women in the digital economy. It aims to provide policy directions for consideration by all governments, including G20 economies’ governments through identifying, discussing and analysing a range of drivers at the root of the digital gender divide. In bolstering the evidence base and drawing attention tocritical policy areas, the analysis complements the important initiative of the 2018 Argentinian G20 Presidency to share those policies, actions and national practices that have had a significant and measurable impact in bridging the digital gender divide, and supports Argentina’s approach of mainstreaming gender across the G20 agenda.

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Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee warns of widening digital divide

The creator of the web says coronavirus has highlighted the importance of internet connectivity as a basic right.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee says too many young people do not have internet access and the digital divide has widened during the pandemic.

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Nearly half of people with 4G network coverage remain offline, mainly due to high cost of Internet access: ITU and A4AI publish “The affordability of ICT services 2020”

[news release] A new policy brief from ITU and the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), finds that high costs for Internet access relative to income remain one of the main barriers to the use of information and communication technology (ICT) services worldwide. Taking income differences into account, a mobile broadband subscription with at least 1.5 gigabytes (GB) of data costs around four times more in developing countries than in developed ones.

Continue reading Nearly half of people with 4G network coverage remain offline, mainly due to high cost of Internet access: ITU and A4AI publish “The affordability of ICT services 2020”