The Internet is a powerful force for global development. When people have access to the internet, they have access to valuable resources for improving health, education, income and ensuring freedom of expression.
Yet, as valuable as it is, most people have never used it. According to recent estimates, only about 3 billion of the world’s 7.2 billion people are online. Everyone else – a majority of the world’s population – is not.
Whether you have access to the internet or not is principally a factor of where you live. In “developed” countries for example, the connectivity rate approaches 80%. In “developing” countries, that number is only 32%. And in “least developed” countries – that is, those with the highest levels of economic, health and education vulnerability – less than 10% of the population has access to the internet.
We live in a world where the people who could benefit the most from the internet are the least likely to have it.
This has to change.
And it begins by addressing the barriers to connectivity that persist globally.
Why Are Some People Not Online?
Principally, people are not online for three key reasons: Relevance, Affordability and Infrastructure. That is, they are either unaware of the relevance of the internet in their lives, or they cannot afford it, or they do not live within range of the mobile infrastructure necessary to go online.
These barriers are evident when you compare, for example, India, a country where less than 20% of the population is connected to the internet, and the United States, where the connectivity rate is over 85%.
- Relevance: Indians speak more languages, fewer of which are in common use online. Officially, India has 22 “official” languages and many more “unofficial” languages that are in common use – many of which are barely represented on the Internet. The US, by comparison, mostly speaks, reads and understands one language: English.
- Affordability: Indian incomes are lower than US incomes. Median household income per capita in India is $642. In the US, it is $15,000. As a result, despite lower data prices in India, the Internet is less affordable for more people. For example, 500MB prepaid plans cost more than 5% of median monthly income in India, compared to less than 1% in the US.
- Infrastructure: Indian Internet Infrastructure lags behind that of the United States, per capita. About 35% of India’s population lives within 3G coverage, whereas most of the US population lives within 4G coverage. Moreover, 86% of mobile connections in India are 2G (13% 3G, whereas in the US, 15% are 2G (44% 3G and 41% 4G).
What Do We Aim For?
To address these challenges, and make universal access a reality not just in India but everywhere, three key goals must guide our efforts and shape our policies.
First, we have to demonstrate the relevance and value of connectivity. People who are not online should be able to see firsthand how access to basic content can improve their lives. And we must spur the production of locally relevant content in the languages that people speak. Internet.org, which provides free access to high-value local content to people who have never been online, is just one example of this.
Second, we must reduce the cost of data. Many more people would be online if they could afford it. The internet belongs to everyone and should be accessible by everyone. Therefore, access should be universally affordable, and economically sustainable. To boost affordability, Internet.org is working closely with operators on business arrangements that lower data costs for consumers.
Third, we must work to build the infrastructure that can connect people to the internet, no matter where they are in the world.
So, How Do We Get There?
As a first step towards closing the connectivity gap, Facebook’s Connectivity Lab is exploring some new technologies like unmanned aerial vehicles that can connect people in low-access, low-infrastructure suburban and rural areas. These efforts, and efforts like them should be allowed to flourish.
These goals are hard. Achieving them will require not only ambition and experimentation, but also the cooperation of regulators and governments who act with the underlying principle that all laws and regulations should make it easier for people to access the internet, not harder.
As an industry, we should support smart, limited regulations that are fairly, predictably and transparently enforced. Regulation should protect the interests of people, not entrenched special interests. All telecommunications and taxation policies should promote competition; spur innovation, and foster increased connectivity.
We need governmental policies that recognise and support the twin goals of protecting net neutrality and extending access to everyone. These goals are not in conflict. They can and must coexist.
Regulations should encourage the private sector to explore innovative approaches to making the Internet more affordable and incentivising deployment of new infrastructure, including zero-rating programs, public internet cafes, and digital literacy campaigns.
Governments should also prevent internet service providers from being able to block access, whether by throttling download speeds or doing a “double-dip” and charging fees to websites and apps to reach customers who are, themselves, already paying to access those same sites and services.
This is an important moment in the history of the internet.
If we do not try a new approach, we are headed towards a world split starkly in two. A world where half the people have access to the internet and all its benefits, and the other half, already less well-off, will not.
But if we work, plan and experiment together, we can connect the whole world, not just half of it.
(Kevin Martin is the Vice-President for Mobile and Global Access Policy at Facebook.)
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