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The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2024

Matthew Shanahan, Kalvin Bahia

London: GSMA (2024), 91 pp.

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Digital Inclusion for Youth Democratic Participation in Namibia

Josua Hamunyela

Windhoek: Namibia Media Trust (2024), 24 pp.

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Connected Resilience: Gendered Experiences of Meaningful Connectivity through a Global Pandemic

Ingrid Brudvig, Sonia Jorge, Margaret Nyambura Ndung’u

Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (2024), 57 pp.

"Looking at patterns between those with meaningful connectivity — defined as having daily internet use with 4G-like speeds, owning a smartphone, and an unlimited access point at home, work, or a place of study — and those with just basic or no internet access at all, we saw key distinctions betw ... een women based on geography and education in our study sample which impacted their experiences of the internet. Across our six survey countries [Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Mozambique, South Africa, Uganda], women with a tertiary education were nearly twice as likely to be meaningfully connected compared to their peers with less education. Women living in rural areas were three times more likely to lack internet access than their urban-dwelling peers, while women living in cities were over 50% more likely to have meaningful connectivity. Meaningful connectivity enabled women around the world to learn, earn, access government and financial services, and connect with family and communities, thereby also saving essential time and money in transport costs. Women’s educational level and having meaningful connectivity are the strongest predictors of finding information online or participating in the digital economy. Women int erviewed in underserved localities — such as remote villaes in India and impoverished urban settlements in Nigeria — reported restricted digital access due to: lack of infrastructure (such as mobile towers); high cost of devices and data services; income-generating activities and unpaid care work leave little to no time available to access connectivity or digital skills educational initiatives; dependency on men in their family to use devices [...] We propose four tiers of achievable solutions — and call attention to policymakers, investors, and the ICT sector at large to fast-track meaningful connectivity and inclusive digital development for all: 1. Deep investments that use substantial resourcing to make profound changes in a specific policy area or for a specific community. Universal Service and Access Funds (USAFs) represent a key mechanism across the majority world for deep investment strategies. When well executed, they provide clear interventions with measurable changes in the lives of affected communities. 2. Grand visions that combine years of effort with substantial funding resources to revolutionize the status quo. National broadband plans and other key strategy documents — when appropriately supported and resourced through implementation stages — represent a core example of grand visions within this space. 3. Easy wins that are comparatively discreet and specific changes that can still create tangible value at their scale. Gender data — collecting it, creating it, analyzing it, and using it — is a critical component to several easy wins that have been implemented in recent years. Policymakers can start from this level of research and measurement to make clear steps in the right direction. 4. Scalable systems that represent large, programmatic change in the pre-existing ways of working. Multistakeholder approaches and gender targets can provide the foundation for long-term, ongoing processes that scale progress towards closing the gender digital divide. By using policy and regulation to create mechanisms and procedures that consider digital inclusion, policymakers can build habits and routines that gradually and consistently change the course of history." (Executive summary, pages 2-4) more

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Impact Assessment: Rural Household Devices Project Program of the Uganda Communications Universal Service Access Fund (UCUSAF)

Evelyn Namara, Ingrid Brudvig

Alexandria, VA; Kampala: Global Digital Inclusion Partnership; Uganda Communications Commission (2024), 46 pp.

"The impact assessment underscores the commendable achievements of the Rural Household Devices project. By December 2023, the initiative had successfully reached 54 districts and impacted 10,706 households. The outcomes are multifaceted and transformative, with a substantial number of beneficiaries ... more

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The price of the world in your pocket: A price only some can afford. 2024 Device Pricing

Sonia Jorge, Onica Makwakwa

Alexandria, VA: Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (2024), 9 pp.

"The median price for a smartphone globally is US$92.59. The lowest regional median price is in Africa, at $60.23, while the highest is $101.88 in the Americas. The median global affordability (defined as price as a percentage of average monthly income) for a smartphone is 11%. Europe has the greate ... st regional affordability, at 4.5%, while Africa has the least, at 41%. The median smartphone price among low-income countries is $36.62, rising in line between price and income groups, with the median smartphone price among high-income countries at $121.49. Feature phones offer a lower price point. The global median price for an internet-capable feature phone is $25, at 5.53% affordability. This data is not a measure of all prices in all contexts. For example, we know that second-hand markets are thriving and typically offer lower prices than buying new devices. We also know that many retailers not affiliated with a mobile network will sell unlocked devices that are able to function on multiple networks. However, given the widespread and consistent nature of operators selling phones through their website, this data assumes that the prices set by operators are not without context: they will be responsive to the competitive pressures of other retailers in the markets in which they operate. While these prices are not definitive on what the cost of a smartphone is in each country, they are certainly indicative of the range of prices that customers have in several parts of the world. [...] Across the three years of data collection, the median device price did not vary more than $15 between each period. At the same time, device affordability grew, with the highest median price – $92.59 in 2024 – corresponding to the greatest affordability at 10.99%. This is because average incomes rose globally across these four years, meaning that while the price of the device might be similar as before, it represents, on average, a smaller fraction of how much someone has to spend from their income to afford it. This trend, if it remains, will indicate continued progress towards greater affordability for all. However, the slow pace of progress means that devices will remain unaffordable for millions without responsive action from policymakers and industry." (Pages 3-5) more

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Measuring Digital Development. Facts and Figures: Focus on Small Island Developing States
Quick Overview

Geneva: ITU (2024), v, 33 pp.

"In this special edition of ITU's Facts and Figures series, we explore the impressive progress and ongoing obstacles SIDS encounter amid the digital revolution. On the occasion of the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4), our goal is to provide stakeholders with ... more

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Telecommunication networks and infrastructure resilience assessment in Haiti

Gregory Domond

Geneva: ITU (2024), xii, 96 pp.

[.] the report examines three pivotal areas of assessment. First, there was an evaluation of the damage to Haiti’s networks and infrastructure after the 2021 earthquake, along with the restoration of telecommunication services. Second, the assessment focused on Haiti’s country-level resilience, ... more

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Challenges and opportunities for using universal service funds to bridge the digital divide

Geneva: ITU (2024), 10 pp.

"This document presents the joint interim (annual) deliverable for Question 4/1, “Economic aspects of national telecommunications/ICTs”, and Question 5/1, “Telecommunications/ICTs for rural and remote areas”. It concerns the challenges and opportunities associated with using universal servic ... more

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Children's digital experiences in Indian slums: Technologies, identities, and Jugaad

Kiran Vinod Bhatia

Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press (2024), 175 pp.

"This book departs from the universalising and rescue narratives of poor children and technologies. It offers complex stories on how children's social identities (gender, caste, and religion), cultural norms, and personal aspirations influence their digital experiences. How do children challenge, ci ... more

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Mirrored Spaces: Social Inequality in the Digital Age

Jörg Scheffer

Wiesbaden: Palgrave Macmillan (2024), xvii, 166 pp.

"Contrary to the prevailing narratives of "digital empowerment" and opportunities for every individual, this book argues that digitalisation massively curtails social advancement opportunities, consolidating existing social relations. From a spatial perspective, Scheffer demonstrates how socially di ... more

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Le prix des perturbations: Évaluation de l’impact économique des coupures d’Internet au Sénégal en 2023

Anirudh Tagat, Skyler Sallick

Internews (2024), 25 pp.

"Ce rapport a constaté une baisse vertigineuse de 1,3 point de pourcentage du produit intérieur brut (PIB) global associé aux coupures d’Internet en juin 2023. Cela se traduit grosso modto par une perte de 76,8 millions de dollars américains (46,86 milliards de francs CFA). Cette perte a princ ... ipalement affecté le secteur des services, qui a subi à lui seul une perte de 5,26 millions de dollars américains (3,23 milliards de francs CFA). En outre, les marchés financiers ont subi une grande partie des impacts des interruptions, les résultats suggérant que près de 1,43 milliard de dollars américains (871,5 milliards de francs CFA) ont été perdus en capitalisation boursière pendant la période des coupures d’Internet, ce qui représente près de 12 % de la valeur totale de la BRVM à l’époque. La baisse la plus significative, cependant, semble être tirée par le secteur des exportations, avec une perte substantielle de la valeur des échanges et des volumes qui semblent liés aux coupures d’Internet. Bien que nous ne puissions pas établir de causalité directe, l’analyse des indicateurs économiques complets suggère que la valeur globale des exportations a diminué de 0,6 point de pourcentage, ce qui se traduit par une perte substantielle de près de 2,46 milliards de dollars américains (1,505 trillion de francs CFA). En outre, le volume des exportations du port de Dakar a diminué de 3,93 points de pourcentage, ce qui a entraîné une perte d’environ 42 350 tonnes de marchandises exportées à la suite des coupures d’Internet. Ces résultats suggèrent que les impacts des interruptions ont une grande portée et qu’ils affectent certains secteurs plus que d’autres. Les résultats de l’enquête révèlent que l’interruption des paiements représente un défi important pour une économie confrontée à une coupure d’Internet. Les estimations de l’impact économique des coupures d’Internet sur le secteur financier confirment cet argument. Il est essentiel que la communauté internationale comprenne mieux ces conséquences économiques afin de faire pression sur les gouvernements pour qu’ils cessent d’avoir recours aux coupures d’Internet et qu’ils mettent en place des dispositifs visant à protéger les économies locales contre d’éventuelles perturbations à l’avenir." (Résumè, page 3) more

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Digital Inclusion: International Policy and Research

Simeon Yates, Elinor Carmi (eds.)

Cham: Palgrave Macmillan (2024), xix, 277 pp.

"With a special focus on the impact of the COVID-19, the collection is based on the 2021 Digital Inclusion, Policy and Research Conference, with chapters from both academia and civic organizations. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed citizens' relationship with digital technologies for the foreseeable ... more

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Google Scholar (16)

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Digital Literacy and Inclusion: Stories, Platforms, Communities

Danica Radovanovic (ed.)

Cham: Springer (2024), xxi, 218 pp.

"More than a dozen experts provide deep insights in stories, research reports, and geographical studies of digital literacy and inclusion models, all from a multi-disciplinary perspective that includes engineering, social sciences, and education. Digital Literacy and Inclusion also highlights a show ... more

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Marco de Inclusión Digital Intercultural

Wilfredo Jordán, Eloísa Larrea, Camilo Arratia

Fundación Internet Bolivia (2023), 48 pp.

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The gender digital gap: Shifting the theoretical focus to systems analysis and feedback loops

Raluca David, Toby Philipps

Information, Communication & Society, volume 26, issue 10 (2023), pp. 2071-2087

"The past decades have seen efforts to increase digital inclusion for women worldwide, with the ultimate aim to advance gender equality. However, progress is slow, despite important advances in moving beyond a focus on ‘digital access’ (as measured by network coverage and hardware) towards a mor ... more

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Making a place for technology in communities: PlaceCal and the capabilities approach

Stefan White, Kim Foale

Information, Communication & Society, volume 26, issue 6 (2023), pp. 1067-1086

"We discuss how a capability approach to information technology in neighbourhoods with low social capital can create embedded and sustainable Community Technology Partnerships (CTPs) that connect residents and institutions together, reducing barriers to social participation and collaborative action. ... more

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Latin America in a Glimpse: Amazonía. Acceso a internet en la región amazónica boliviana: Infraestructura, sostenibilidad e imaginarios desde/hacia otros mundos posibles

Olga Paredes, Wilmer Machaca, Eliana Quiroz

Derechos Digitales; Fundación Internet Bolivia (2023), 30 pp.

"Los tres aspectos que estructuran el análisis son las condiciones de la infraestructura y su sostenibilidad, los usos de internet, y los imaginarios desde/hacia otros mundos posibles, siguiendo la identificación de tres grupos de indicadores de unesco acerca de alfabetización digital y mediátic ... more

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Latin America in a Glimpse: Amazônia. Acesso à internet por comunidades amazônicas no Brasil

Hemanuel Jhosé Alves Veras

Derechos Digitales; Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC) (2023), 26 pp.

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Latin America in a Glimpse: Amazonía. Acesso a internet y pueblos indígenas en la Amazonía colombiana

Daniel Ospina Celis

Derechos Digitales; Dejusticia (2023), 21 pp.

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Latin America in a Glimpse: Amazonía. Beneficios y efectos del uso de internet para comunidades indígenas de la provincia de Pastaza en Ecuador

Dagmar Thiel, Luis Fernando Canelos, Felix Tangualinga, Jairo Nenquihui Irumenga, Jonathan Sharupi

Fundamedios; Derechos Digitales (2023), 26 pp.

Measuring Digital Development. Facts and Figures: Focus on Small Island Developing States Quick Overview

Measuring Digital Development. Facts and Figures: Focus on Small Island Developing States
Quick Overview