The 49th Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy (TPRC-2021)
Keynote
Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Director, ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau
22 September 2021
Distinguished guests, dear colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
Good afternoon, and thank you for inviting me to join you for this 2021 edition of TRPC.
For someone like me, who started out in communication policy here in Washington, this conference has attained something like legendary status, and it is a real honour to join the ranks of the great many distinguished names who have contributed to the deserved reputation of this event over its 49-year history.
In preparing for this talk today, I did a little digging into the history of the conference. In the process, I unearthed a few theories about its enduring success.
Some ascribed that success to rigorous oversight by an impartial program committee unafraid of grappling with the thorniest public policy issues.
2002 Committee Chair Robert Cannon called the event “an oasis of public discourse" that casts aside “shallow, tired rhetoric" in favour of deep analysis and hard data. Others cited the sharp focus and inclusive breadth of its subject matter.
But what everyone agreed on is the unique strength afforded by TPRC's multi-disciplinary character and broad plurality of participants.
TPRC participants are not drawn from academia, or industry, or government – but from a rich, interdisciplinary mix of all three.
MIT's Benjamin Compaine noted that the conference “is one of the few places where multidisciplinary discussions take place as the norm". That inclusivity has not just given the conference its unique flavour, but ensured that it has a deep and enduring influence over the policy dialogue – not just in this country, but right around the world.
I am so delighted to be able to contribute today to that conversation, and to bring an international perspective through my work as Director of Telecommunication Development at ITU, which I am sure most of you already know, as the UN agency for connectivity and digital technologies.
In early 2020, I felt I had a pretty good handle on the admittedly challenging role of finding ways to extend connectivity to the 3.7 billion people around the world still offline.
Like the rest of us, I had no idea what was about to hit, and how profoundly it was going to change the goalposts.
Over the past 18 months, we have seen the dial on broadband shift sharply from 'desirable' to 'absolutely essential'.
The COVID health crisis has injected even greater momentum into a sector that was already evolving at breakneck speed.
For so many people around the world, almost overnight, an affordable, accessible connection to digital infrastructure became a basic requirement for participation in society and the economy, and for access to fundamental services like healthcare and education.
For those of us lucky enough to enjoy a fast, affordable connection, access to the internet has quite literally been a lifeline.
The fact that nearly half of all humanity still does not have this access, and that hundreds of millions more struggle with internet that is too slow, too expensive, or too inaccessible to make any significant difference at all to their lives can no longer be counted as just a shame.
It is shameful.
This is not just a 'developing world' problem.
Even here in the US, analysts estimate that 25% of the population still lacks a home broadband connection, and the FCC reports that, even where broadband is available, 100 million Americans choose not to subscribe.
Around the world, we see a similar picture, with certain groups especially disadvantaged, particularly: rural dwellers, women, indigenous communities, persons living with disabilities, and of course, people on low incomes.
One of the greatest challenges ahead, as we strive to 'build back better', will be finding ways to deliver that affordable, safe, trusted and meaningful connectivity to all the world's people.
The UN Secretary-General's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, launched last summer, represents a significant milestone in our efforts to develop shared strategies to drive full digital inclusion.
This roadmap calls for universal affordable connectivity by 2030.
That is a formidable challenge, because the latest data from ITU show that progress in rolling out connectivity to underserved areas is actually slowing. And that is alarming.
We estimate that connecting all unconnected people 2030 deadline will require a huge global investment in the vicinity of $428 billion.
So, as we look to how to achieve our vision of a fully connected planet, I think one thing is absolutely certain – no-one is going to be able do this alone.
Reaching the 3.7 billion people still offline, and the hundreds of millions more suffering chronic digital exclusion, requires a laser focus on three foundational pillars:
- Innovative, responsive, adaptable regulation
- Innovative financing models, and
- Innovative, people-centric, multistakeholder partnerships
Right now, we have a unique opportunity to rethink and reshape policy principles and regulatory best practices to guide and stimulate post pandemic growth.
Fit-for-purpose, flexible and future-proof regulatory frameworks are the only effective way to go in responding to the challenges of a digital transformation process that has been turbo-charged by the COVID crisis.
At ITU we call this kind of collaborative, partnership-oriented regulation '5th generation regulation', and, for us, it represents the new gold standard that every nation needs to aspire to.
We can think of ICT regulators and policy makers as the 'master builders' of digital transformation.
As master builders, they hold a vision of the type of structure they seek to create, and coordinate and oversee the actions of a wide range of other actors.
Every new regulatory and policy intervention should ultimately contribute to building a strong, sustainable 'digital edifice' that allows users to reap as much benefit as possible from innovation in the digital space.
Second, we need to innovate and embrace new financing mindsets, and get much more creative about ways to attract investors to unserved and under-served areas.
Business as usual isn't going to cut it; this time around, we cannot sit back and hope that market forces alone will bridge the connectivity chasm.
Sure, the funding gap is big. But the opportunities out there are even bigger.
We need to find new ways to motivate all actors to cooperate, share, and make the best use of limited resources.
And we need to recognize the considerable challenges and risks for investors, and create frameworks that recognize that risk, and adequately reward long-term commitment.
And thirdly, we need to prioritize multistakeholder partnerships that put people at the very core of efforts to tackle the digital divide.
At ITU, multistakeholder collaboration is at the heart of the way we work.
Most of you know that we are unique as the only UN agency with a membership comprising not just 193 governments, but more than 900 leading tech companies, universities and international and regional organizations from around the world.
Open, transparent, consensus-driven decision making is in our organizational DNA.
We hold regular online open consultations that welcome inputs from all stakeholders on international internet-related public policy issues, including World Telecommunication Policy Fora – or WTPFs – on issues of pressing concern to the digital community.
Our 6th WTPF is scheduled for the coming December, and will look at harnessing emerging technologies to reboot the SDG process and tackle global challenges like the COVID pandemic and the climate emergency.
As you may have read in the UN's recent SDG Progress Report, the COVID crisis has set global development back on many fronts.
There is now a long overdue call for transformative action around the SDGs that leverages the tremendous power and potential of digital technology and innovation.
Let me give you an example. An example of the kind of transformative, multistakeholder partnership we urgently need. And that is the Giga initiative, a joint ITU- UNICEF with others to connect every school on the planet to the internet, and every young person to information, opportunity and choice.
Since its launch in late 2019, this project has been rapidly building momentum and gaining new supporters.
In 2020 we welcomed 10 partners and raised over US$22 million in contributions from organizations like Ericsson, Dubai Cares, and the Musk Foundation.
By the end of this current year, we expect to
- Complete connectivity mapping for 1 million schools in 36 countries
- Connect at least 1,000 schools in each of our first 17 priority countries, and
- Put in place the financial framework for an innovative 'connectivity bond' to raise the vital investment dollars that will help us further accelerate progress.
These kind of large multistakeholder projects require a coordinated response at the international level, but also rely heavily on national and community actions at the grassroots level.
That is why, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in July, I announced a far-reaching and impactful new alliance with a strong focus on the hardest-to-connect communities, which we're calling the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition.
Partner2Connect seeks to bring together motivated partners who understand that 'building back better with broadband' will open up exciting new opportunities across a whole range of sectors.
Our ultimate goal – as recently reaffirmed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres – must always be an open, free and secure digital future that embodies full respect for data protection, privacy, and human rights.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Just as the pandemic has reinforced our human interconnectedness, it has also shown the whole world the vital importance of digital interconnectedness, and what it really means to be offline in our increasingly digital age.
We've heard that the digital divide is becoming the 'new face of inequality'. Let me repeat the digital divide is becoming the new face of inequality.
If you take away just one message from my talk today, I would like it to be this:
It is entirely in our power to stop this happening.
Universal internet connectivity would mean: that no child needs to miss out on school; that no individual needs to lose their job; and that no community needs be disadvantaged simply through the lack of a basic broadband connection.
When the global community came together in 2003 and 2005 for the World Summit on the Information Society, it was with the belief that we had something special that needed to be protected and nurtured through multistakeholder cooperation – 'one Internet, without boundaries, connecting us all'.
More than 15 years later, with the internet now a critical part of our lives, and our economies, we face new challenges.
Yes, we need to do much more to build the robust online security essential to combatting a growing tide of cybercrime.
Yes, we need to find much more effective ways to address the surge in online hate, and the scourge of online child exploitation.
And yes, we need to do much better when it comes to safeguarding the privacy of personal data.
But as before, the key to overcoming these challenges lies in coming together and working collectively, in a spirit of openness and cooperation.
The danger of a fragmented internet – and the associated loss of the tremendous gains this shared global resource has ushered in – should be sufficiently alarming to focus all of our minds on working more closely, proactively and collaboratively to preserve the “oneness" of the online world while rooting out hazards where we find them.
For its part, we at the ITU remain fully committed to the WSIS principles of multistakeholderism.
That spirit of inclusiveness and partnership is what I will be prioritizing above all at the ITU Development Sector's forthcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference, which will take place in June, 2022.
With connectivity front and centre of every country's COVID response, we have a once-in-a generation chance to use that digital focus to dramatically change the global development paradigm once and for all.
With the pandemic still taking a tragic toll on communities and economies around the world, our WTDC gives us the chance to ensure that everyone, everywhere, is walking hand-in-hand on the journey towards full digital transformation, and that the opportunity to reap maximum benefit from the digital space is equally available to all.
I know that I can count on the support and active participation of U.S. stakeholders in this important digital development event, as well as in the ITU's ongoing efforts to build a safer, more connected, more equitable, and more sustainable world.
A world where everyone has digital access that is safe, actionable, and affordable, and where everyone is digitally empowered to build a better future for themselves, their families, and their communities.
Thank you.
