"El 66,8% de la población de 6 y más años de edad del país accede a Internet. Respecto a similar trimestre de 2020, se observa un aumento de 6,5 puntos porcentuales al pasar de 60,3% a 66,8%. Por área de residencia, en Lima Metropolitana la población usuaria de Internet significó el 80,9%, en
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el Resto urbano el 71,0% y en el Área rural el 34,4%. Internet es utilizado más por hombres que mujeres: El 69,2% de hombres hacen uso de Internet, mientras que el 64,4% de las mujeres accede a este servicio, existiendo una brecha de género de 4,8 puntos porcentuales a favor de los hombres. Población joven y adolescente accede más a Internet: El 89,6%, 80,5% y 79,2% de la población de 19 a 24 años, de 25 a 40 años y de 12 a 18 años de edad, respectivamente, son los mayores usuarios de Internet. Entre los niños de 6 a 11 años acceden el 51,9%. En la población de 60 y más años de edad solo usa Internet el 28,1%." (Página 10)
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"The opportunity for further growth in the ICT sector by leveraging the sizeable youth workforce, including females, is immense. The Skills to Succeed program in Bangladesh helps vulnerable youth (ages 15-24), living in slum communities, develop employability, ICT technical and entrepreneurship skil
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ls, and provides job linkage services to prepare them to obtain decent work in the ICT & Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) value chain, from which marginalized youth have traditionally been excluded. Since 2017, 10,800 youth have received employability skills training (41% female). Additionally, 6,810 youth have received vocational training in ICT and 2,730 entrepreneurship training. Of these, 3,117 youth have been placed in jobs and 504 in self-employment.
One of the key learnings from the S2S program in Bangladesh is that, in order for youth to be more likely to advance in the ICT sector, where technology leaps forward at a fast pace, they need to become lifelong learners and, ideally, develop technology skills at an earlier age. This is why the S2S program is expanding to reach marginalized in-school and out-of-school very young adolescents (ages 10 to 14) to build their life skills, growth mindset and digital skills so they are able to continuously learn, adapt and be prepared to take advantage of the jobs of the future.
An innovative approach for providing access to the internet and build the digital skills of to the most marginalized adolescents and youth in Bangladesh, particularly girls, is the use of a Mobile Training Center (MTC). The MTC moves around Chattogram to provide skills training to adolescent girls and boys at their doorsteps. The MTC has one technical instructor and two life skills trainers. These instructors facilitate a 24-hour training on life skills and growth mindset, and a 24-hour training on digital literacy and citizenship. The MTC is set up in a large bus, it is equipped with 15 laptop computers, internet connection, and furniture to facilitate trainings. Internet access is provided through 3G/4G portable Router Access Points. Service is procured from high quality mobile network service providers in Bangladesh, such as Grameen Phone or Robi, with whom the program has corporate agreements.
By meeting adolescents close to their homes and communities, the MTC will overcome common participation barriers for marginalized and vulnerable adolescents, such as personal safety and the time and cost of traveling to training centers. These barriers frequently prevent girls from pursuing or completing trainings." (Pages 1-2)
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"An estimated 4.9 billion people are using the Internet in 2021, according to latest estimates in this 2021 edition of Measuring Digital Development: Facts and figures. That means that roughly 63 per cent of the world’s population is now online – an increase of 17 per cent – with almost 800 mi
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llion people estimated to have come online since 2019. Internet penetration increased more than 20 per cent on average in Africa, in Asia and the Pacific, and in the UN-designated Least Developed Countries (LDCs). With most of the 17 Global Goals thrust sharply off-track by the force of the emergency, the pandemic has highlighted – and exacerbated – the crippling cost of digital exclusion. Achieving universal meaningful connectivity has become a matter of the utmost urgency if we are to meet the SDGs by the end of the decade. We cannot close the digital divide if we cannot measure it. And we cannot connect the unconnected if we do not know who they are, where they live, and why they remain offline – nor can we measure the success of our policies to bridge the gap . While the access divide is close to being bridged, with 95 per cent of the world’s population now living within range of a mobile broadband network, important blind spots remain. Close to 30 per cent of Africa’s rural population still lacks mobile broadband coverage. And even though the vast majority of the world’s people could access the Internet through mobile broadband, less than two thirds actually do. The statistics reveal a connectivity ‘grand canyon’ separating the digitally empowered from the digitally excluded, with 96 per cent of the 2.9 billion still offline living in the developing world. Drilling down to country level also affords a more nuanced picture. Location plays a big part: our figures reveal that the share of Internet users in urban areas is twice as high as in rural areas. There is also a generational gap – 71 per cent of the world’s population aged 15-24 is using the Internet, compared with 57 per cent of all other age groups. And gender remains a factor: globally, 62 per cent of men are using the Internet compared with 57 per cent of women. While that digital gender divide has been narrowing across all regions, women remain digitally marginalized in many of the world’s poorest countries, where online access could potentially have its most powerful effect." (Foreword)
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"En este texto nos preguntamos, en concreto, por los efectos de la desigualdad económica en el acceso a las tecnologías digitales, en especial a Internet y, por ende, a los derechos que se ejercen a través suyo. También nos preguntamos por la caracterización jurídica del acceso a Internet, tan
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to en el plano internacional de los derechos humanos como en el plano local del derecho constitucional, y por la relación que pueda existir entre esta caracterización jurídica y su potencialidad para reducir las desigualdades. En el contexto de la sociedad de la información, el estudio de la desigualdad económica nos conduce a precisar las diferencias en función de las condiciones del acceso efectivo a las tecnologías digitales, en concreto a Internet, su gran e indiscutible protagonista. El acceso a Internet visto y entendido como el medio para acceder a bienes y servicios, para el ejercicio de los derechos humanos, para la realización de actividades significativas, para aumentar la productividad y —en general— para concretar las promesas del desarrollo y de la participación efectiva en el progreso científico y sus beneficios. Este texto busca realizar una aproximación teórica al problema de las desigualdades en el acceso a Internet desde dos miradas. Por un lado, desde la idea de la brecha digital y, por otro, desde la búsqueda de la (mejor) caracterización jurídica del acceso a Internet, que pueda, en tal contexto, servir de herramienta en la toma de decisiones orientadas a la reducción de las desigualdades y al cierre de la brecha digital." (Introducción, página 25-26)
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"Mobile internet use has reached 55% of the world's population. By the end of 2021, 4.3 billion people were using mobile internet, an increase of almost 300 million since the end of 2020. Growth in mobile internet adoption has almost entirely been driven by people living in low- and middle-income co
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untries (LMICs). As a result, for the first time, half of the population in LMICs is using mobile internet. Mobile broadband coverage continues to slowly expand, with 95% of the world’s population covered by a mobile broadband network. At the end of 2021, the coverage gap – those living in areas without mobile broadband coverage – represented 5% of the world’s population (400 million people). The coverage gap has only reduced by 1 percentage point (pp) per year between 2018 and 2021, showing how challenging it is to cover the remaining population, who are predominantly poor and rural. In the least developed countries (LDCs), more than one in six people live in areas without mobile broadband coverage." (Key findings, page 5)
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"The connection between digital and inequality has traditionally been understood in terms of the digital divide or of forms of digital inequality whose core conceptualisation is exclusion. This paper argues that, as the global South moves into a digital development paradigm of growing breadth and de
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pth of digital engagement, an exclusion worldview is no longer sufficient. Drawing from ideas in the development studies literature on chronic poverty, the paper argues the need for a new concept: “adverse digital incorporation”, meaning inclusion in a digital system that enables a more-advantaged group to extract disproportionate value from the work or resources of another, less-advantaged group. This explains why inequality persists – even grows – in a digital development paradigm. To help ground future research and practice on this issue, the paper inductively builds a conceptual model of adverse digital incorporation with three main component sets: the processes, the drivers, and the causes of adverse digital incorporation. The paper concludes with thoughts on a future research and practice agenda that seeks to deliver digital justice in the global South: a necessary reconfiguration of the broader components of power that currently shape the inclusionary connection between digital and inequality." (Abstract)
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"The policy brief we hereby present to the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) includes recommendations and specific proposals to enable community networks in Brazil, considering extensive research in both the global and Brazilian context, the state of the art of these small, not-f
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or-profit players and the findings and experiences of 32 interviewees all related in some capacity to Brazilian community networks: internet access, spectrum management, the digital divide or research on information and communications technology (ICT) projects. We hereby summarise the priority areas that need to be addressed and the recommendations to reduce barriers and unlock the potential of Brazilian community networks." (Executive summary)
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"Este manual reúne informações a partir de experiências concretas de redes comunitárias no Brasil e América Latina para responder a perguntas como: o que são redes comunitárias? Que tipos existem? Como planejar, implementar, instalar e gerir uma rede comunitária? Dessa maneira, esta publica
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ção busca apresentar um conjunto de informações práticas e trazer uma visão geral deste campo, bem como reunir indicações de outros materiais que possam apoiar comunidades interessadas em imaginar, construir e manter redes e soluções de conectividade, tudo isso com muitas ilustrações e com base na educação popular." (Cubierta del libro)
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"Although the internet facilitates connection, participation, and engagement, there is a need for new and innovative strategies for closing the gender digital divide in Uganda. A socio-economic, political, and robustic legal approach is needed to close the gender digital divide. This requires regula
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r reviews of existing legal frameworks to ensure they are aligned with the latest technological trends and issues, evidence-based research conducted, strategic litigation and guidelines for the government in formulating national policies in closing the gender digital divide in Uganda." (Conclusion, page 8)
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"This report is the eighth edition of the Affordability Report. Released annually by the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), the report summarises the state of internet affordability around the world and of the policies and regulations that affect it [...] The latest update of the Affordability
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Drivers Index (ADI) indicates that, overall, conditions continue to improve towards greater affordability. However, progress remains slow – too slow. Governments have not taken the required actions to accelerate internet access worldwide in a way that would help attain the Sustainable Development Goals, grow the economy, and help people realise their potential. Universal Service & Access Funds (USAFs) could act as catalysts for action to drive down the price of internet access, expand coverage to the millions that remain unconnected, and build the inclusive foundation for a robust digital economy." (Executive summary, page 4)
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"This report analyses how governments are building climate and carbon factors into their broadband policies, looks at the consequences of inaction, and suggests policy recommendations towards a greener internet. We compiled publicly available documents for the national broadband plans from the 100 l
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ow- and middle-income countries where A4AI has measured internet affordability for the past three years. From these countries, we conducted a keyword search for their mentions of the environment, climate, energy, electricity, and sustainability. From these results, we contextually analysed each mention and compared keyword mentions and density across plans and conducted additional textual analysis. We found that environmental themes are infrequently mentioned and exist mostly within the margins of broadband policy, if at all. An environmental keyword appeared once every 6-7 pages, on average. Genuine targets and policy reforms were even less frequent. These issues are described as limiting factors (reasons why social and economic situations are not better today) or as future possibilities (positive assumptions about what could happen from greater internet access and ICT use). Frequently, these same words - the regulatory environment, sustainable business models, and the investment climates - were used beyond their original meaning to frame policy debates around systems thinking, and did not relate to climate factors at all. Energy was one of the most common environmental themes across national broadband plans. The countries that had most environmental references in their policies, such as Nepal and Peru, tied their ambitions for greater access to the internet with greater access to electricity. This matches with countries' development paths where internet access and electrification are concurrent efforts." (Executive summary, page 3)
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"This desk review is the first phase of creating gender digital divide tools for USAID Gender Advisors. It provides an overview of the current status of the gender digital divide (with a particular focus on mobile phones and mobile Internet, although these are not the only aspects of the gender digi
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tal divide), including an analysis of why it exists, why closing the gender digital divide matters, and the potential risks for women and girls in using technology. It presents some key recommendations on how to mitigate those risks." (Executive summary)
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"What are the impacts of expanding mobile broadband coverage on poverty, household consumption and labor market outcomes in developing countries? Who benefits from improved coverage of mobile internet? To respond to these questions, this paper applies a difference-in-differences estimation using pan
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el household survey data combined with geospatial information on the rollout of mobile broadband coverage in Tanzania. The results reveal that being covered by 3G networks has a large positive effect on total household consumption and poverty reduction, driven by positive impacts on labor market outcomes. Working age individuals living in areas covered by mobile internet witnessed an increase in labor force participation, wage employment, and non-farm self-employment, and a decline in farm employment. These effects vary by age, gender and skill level. Younger and more skilled men benefit the most through higher labor force participation and wage employment, while high-skilled women benefit from transitions from self-employed farm work into non-farm employment." (Abstract)
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"What do we know about the gender digital divide for girls? To date, there is little research on gender differences in digital access for children under the age of 18. These disparities in usage limit women’s access to the full range of opportunities offered by digital. However, the limited data a
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vailable does indicate a similar pattern of lower access and use for girls, as for women. In countries with data, girls aged 15–19 years were less likely than boys to have used the internet in the past 12 months, and they also had lower mobile phone ownership. The greatest disparities were in South Asian countries. For instance, rates of internet use among boys were double those of girls in Nepal, and quadruple those of girls in Pakistan. Phone ownership was almost 30% higher among boys in Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. Weekly access to information media was also substantially lower among adolescent girls in Nepal, India, Afghanistan and Timor-Leste. Boys use far more digital platforms and services for a much wider range of activities than girls, and they are more likely to use the internet. Roughly 46% of boys use the internet on their phones, compared to 27% of girls. Another study, by Girl Effect and the Vodafone Foundation, found boys are 1.5 times more likely than girls to own a mobile phone and 1.8 times more likely to own a smartphone. More than half (52%) of girls borrow mobile phones if they want digital access, compared to 28% of boys. As for adult women, this gender gap in access is echoed in digital use overall. As the digitization of economies expands, economic and social growth will increasingly depend upon people’s ability to use technology. While some jobs require very advanced digital skills, most jobs and daily activities need basic digital literacy to engage with a digital economy. Without increased digital adoption and use, girls will have fewer employment opportunities and will face additional barriers to workforce participation." (Pages 6-7)
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"Universal Service and Access Funds (USAFs) have been used by governments in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries since the 80s/90s to address telecommunication related gaps. While their existence is not free from criticism, they are an instrument that has been created to achieve universalit
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y of communications, which continues to be a major challenge for most countries in the region. Indeed, a study developed in 2020 for the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has found that almost USD 50 billion are needed to provide universal connectivity in the LAC region alone by 2030. Understanding USAFs, how they work and how they have or haven’t been used is thus a fundamental step towards implementing Internet access and connectivity policies. While information about USAFs can, to some extent, be found online, their status, the resources collected, and their level of disbursement, and the impact of the projects implemented through them are much harder to find.
This report has investigated the status of the USAFs of 24 countries in LAC. This has been done through the analysis of official documents, existing reports, as well as the inputs gathered from 56 interviews with professionals from the private and public sectors, as well as leaders from civil society and academia. Besides investigating how USAF resources have or not been used over the past years, updated information on the financial status of the funds is provided. Further, one of the goals was to understand whether traditional stakeholders – generally large operators – are still the only ones that can access resources, or whether alternative stakeholders, such as small and medium operators and community networks, are also able to implement USAF-funded projects. It also provides actionable recommendations on how the usage of USAFs and the policy and regulatory frameworks that govern them can be strengthened." (Executive summary)
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"ICTs have an enormous role to play in helping society adapt to the dislocations caused by the pandemic. This enhanced role comes in addition to the already central part that digital technologies have assumed in driving innovation, digital disruption and economic growth and development, particularly
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in emerging economies. It is critical, then, that national governments, regional cooperative organizations and NGOs collaborate with industry stakeholders to ensure that digital technologies are used as effectively as possible to soften the economic burden of the pandemic and ease, to the maximum extent possible, the social dislocations associated with it.
This report identifies four main themes that should be addressed globally by regional and national governments supported by national regulatory authorities and industry stakeholders: (i) addressing the digital divide; (ii) driving digital deepening; (iii) effecting digital transformation; and (iv) building digital resilience." (Executive summary)
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"Giga, a joint collaboration between ITU and UNICEF, is an initiative to connect every young person in the world to information, opportunity and choice. Devised before the onslaught on COVID-19, the project addresses the underlying inequities in access to the Internet. However, it is also a platform
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for creating the infrastructure necessary to provide digital connectivity to an entire country, for every community and for every citizen. With schools as a focal point, Giga seeks to build robust digital ecosystems, so communities everywhere can cope with shocks such as COVID-19 and ensure that no one is left behind. To achieve this goal, Giga builds on four pillars: map, finance, connect, empower.
Map. Mapping of schools helps identify the connectivity problems and gauge the magnitude of the challenge in each country. Top-down and bottom-up approaches to mapping school connectivity support this endeavour [...]
Connect. There are various infrastructure and technology solutions available that could bring affordable connectivity to the unconnected schools identified by the mapping exercise, including established technologies such as Wi-Fi, satellite, and fibre [...]
Finance. The selection of appropriate financing mechanisms depends on the magnitude of the challenge. The costing analysis can only take place after mapping connectivity gaps and determining fit-for-purpose connectivity solutions. Government budgets or universal service funds (USFs) could address small- to medium-sized connectivity gaps [...]
Empower. Bringing connectivity to schools will have a limited impact if e-learning solutions are not in place and if educators do not have the digital skills to empower learners. There are many case studies from Asia and the Pacific of initiatives that aim to empower digital learning [...]
Giga has made significant progress since its launch. It is already active in 17 countries in three regions. Countries in Asia and the Pacific are next to join the Giga initiative. Several countries have expressed interest, including Bhutan, Pakistan, Mongolia, Bangladesh, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Fiji. Each country has its own opportunities and challenges in terms of extending connectivity. The review of policies, regulatory environment, school connectivity initiatives and availability of connectivity data in potential Giga countries and the assessment of use cases strongly indicate that there is significant promise for the expansion of Giga in the region." (Executive summary, pages vi-vii)
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"In 2020, the 46 LDCs had a combined population of 1.06 billion people and are highly vulnerable, with low levels of human development. And yet, geography, population size and income vary within the group, and these different conditions affect digital development.
National data infrastructure is an
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essential component for a digital economy, as it comprises the facilities for transporting, exchanging and storing data. There are significant gaps in national transmission networks, Internet exchange points (IXPs) and data centres. Coverage and density of national transmission networks are lagging in the LDCs. This has ramifications for Internet access and the quality of service. IXPs play a major role in lowering the cost of Internet access as well as reducing data exchange delay, yet 19 LDCs lack them. Furthermore, in those LDCs with IXPs, many of the facilities are not having the impact they should. Data centres, facilities to store data, are in short supply in the LDCs. There are less than 100 in the group, of which over a quarter are in Bangladesh. Eighteen LDCs do not have Internet-connected data centres.
Quarantine measures during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in people around the world turning to online shopping. However, this was not possible for many in the LDCs, due to a lack of online shops, as well as demand-side constraints, such as awareness, distrust and payment methods. An encouraging initiative is the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) diagnostics and concrete recommendations for enhancing e-commerce in many LDCs.
The private sector is essential for boosting digital connectivity in the LDCs. Telecommunications in the LDCs are mainly operated by private companies, a reverse of the situation three decades ago. Yet most policy reports make scarce mention of the companies building the connectivity infrastructure in LDCs." (Introduction)
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