Tallinn Digital Summit 2021
The Digital Imperative: Why a Fully Connected Planet
Needs to be Our New Normal
7 September 2021
Keynote
Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU
Good afternoon, everyone. It's a real pleasure and privilege to join you for this important digital summit in one of the most connected, digitally-advanced economies in the world.
We've heard other speakers pay tribute today to Estonia's remarkable track record as Europe's digital powerhouse.
It is not for nothing that Wired magazine named Estonia “the most advanced digital society in the world".
Over the past ten years, this nation of just 1.3 million has spawned some of the world's best-known and most innovative digital services including, of course, videoconferencing platform Skype, and digital financial services platform Wise.
Digital innovation has long been a lynchpin of Estonia's own national development strategy too.
The country has set new benchmarks in e-government, with 99% of citizen services now online.
A thriving local ICT sector is home to over 1,000 tech start-ups and five unicorns.
And the country consistently ranks right at the top in the world on measures of digital entrepreneurship, internet freedom, digital health, and more.
I wanted to highlight this extraordinary digital success story, because Estonia's journey has blazed a trail that other nations can follow.
And I think all of you will agree with me that, post-COVID, this has never mattered more, because the rolling waves of lockdowns, the economic toll, and the precarity that the virus has brought to the lives of millions has condensed into one simple mantra: if it can be digital, it must be digital.
The COVID crisis has shown us that it is not enough to view digital technology as a critical enabler of social and economic development.
We need to see it as the critical enabler, the foundation stone upon which economic and social resiliency will be built, and around which we have the chance to shape a more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable future.
Right now, with the global crisis still very much upon us, I don't think anyone can say for sure what tomorrow's 'new normal' will look like. But I do believe that there is no longer any doubt that the beating heart of our post-COVID world will be digital.
That poses no problem for a hyper-connected nation like Estonia.
But let us never forget that those who enjoy this kind of connectivity represent a tiny fraction of the global population.
ITU estimates that 3.7 billion people – almost half of all humanity – still have no online connectivity whatsoever.
Add to that billions more who have to settle for access that is too slow, too expensive or simply too hard to reach to play any meaningful role at all in improving their lives.
In a world where a simple broadband connection could offer so much to those who have so little, today's global connectivity chasm is more than just a shame. It is unacceptable.
If we are to honour our pledge to Leave No-one Behind, we need to start working much harder, and much faster, to change this picture.
This is something the UN Secretary-General António Guterres recognized when he launched his High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation. Of course your former Foreign Minister Marina Kaljurand and current Chair of the Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace (GCSC) was one of the panel members.
The SG recognized that: “The enormous benefits of digital innovation are crucial to building a more sustainable world." More true now than ever, and as the SDG progress report launched earlier this summer showed. We are looking at a worrying picture of the state of the Goals- more people pushed to extreme poverty, kids out of school, inequalities exacerbated. And digital technologies offer that ray of hope to get those SDGs back on track.
Put simply: The world needs the SDGs, and the SDGs need ICTs.
Let me cover three main action areas that I believe we need to get to grips with, fast, if we are going to connect the unconnected and ensure that every country, and every community, is equipped with the tools that will build the resilience to withstand future crises, and to accelerate social and economic development to get us back on track to meet our 2030 global development pledge.
The first of these is infrastructure deployment. Broadband networks need to become part of the basic toolbox for social and economic development, alongside water, transport and energy networks.
The second is regulatory and structural reform, to create healthy, thriving digital markets that drive down access costs and stimulate the local innovation that is vital to building sustainable digital ecosystems.
And the third is digital skills development, so that people – even those with little formal education – are empowered to take full advantage of the huge potential of digital.
Let's start with infrastructure.
Many of today's emerging technologies hold enormous promise for overcoming many of the long-standing barriers that have blocked significant progress in global development. They also offer us the chance to leverage information in new and creative ways, and to use the power of that analysis to find inspired solutions to age-old problems.
It's time we stopped regarding advanced technologies as the province of wealthy countries. Because the reality is that some of the most transformational applications of new technologies are emerging in the developing world.
Low-cost RFID sensors; voice- and image-driven smartphone apps; and innovative use of mapping data are already helping farmers in Africa anticipate climatic conditions, combat pests, optimize water management, and improve crop yields and the health of livestock.
In a study by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development we saw that the low cost of IoT sensors, combined with the fact that over 95% of the global population is covered by at least a 2G mobile signal, makes IoT a very viable proposition to tackle a number of chronic development issues.
Likewise, 5G offers unprecedented potential in emerging and developing economies, where mobile is – and will remain – the only viable online platform for hundreds of millions who currently live beyond the reach of copper and fibre.
The performance enhancements offered by this next-generation technology have the potential to enable a whole raft of new services that could play a transformative role in delivering our 17 Global Goals.
There is a clear case of how powerful infrastructure can be in dramatically advancing the SDGs.
But what will it take to get that infrastructure in where it's most needed?
In our recent Connecting Humanity report we estimated that connecting the remaining global population still unconnected by our target date of 2030 will cost in the vicinity of $428 billion.
Clearly, that's a financing and construction burden that cannot be borne by operators alone. Broad collaboration – between industry, governments, banks, development financing institutions, and international organizations – is going to be essential.
And in today's highly networked economies, operators are far from the only beneficiaries of improved connectivity. That reality needs to be reflected in more cooperative arrangements that recognize all parties as fully-fledged development partners, rather than merely commercial suppliers.
So much for the network side of things.
But simply bridging the infrastructure gap in itself won't be enough.
We need to collaborate on fresh solutions to chronic financing barriers, investment brakes, and implementation hurdles.
Which brings me to my second action area: enabling policy and regulatory frameworks.
ITU figures show that 93% of the world lives within reach of a 3G mobile broadband signal, yet only half of those people are using these networks.
One reason is clearly affordability, of both devices and services. Right now, too many low-income countries still price basic broadband way beyond the target of 2% of monthly GNI set by the Broadband Commission.
The kind of broadband-enabled handsets widely used in the world's wealthiest nations are also largely out of reach of consumers in developing countries, and may not even be the best match for their needs.
I was most encouraged recently to see Indian operator Jio launch a low-cost smartphone for the fast-growing local market. Similar initiatives in other parts of the world could bring many more online, grow demand for new apps and services, and help build digital literacy.
Likewise, support at the policy level for innovative blended financing models and harmonized, technology-neutral, collaborative regulation that supports hybrid networks and services and leverages new technologies could be a real game-changer.
So could the shift by governments to a Whole-of-Government approach that eliminates digital silos in favour of shared Digital Service Platforms based on reusable, interoperable 'building blocks' that can be quickly adapted to the needs of different user communities.
Governments as diverse as Estonia and India are now successfully using this model to scale-up shared digital services at a fraction of the cost.
In the developing world, ITU is currently collaborating with Estonia, Germany's GIZ and the Digital Impact Alliance to use this approach to accelerate the digitization of government services in support of the SDGs. You will hear about this in the next session.
Our Smart Villages 2.0 project in Niger is another great example of this kind of holistic, collaborative approach.
Working with local authorities and a range of other stakeholders, this project is bringing meaningful digital connectivity to rural villages, using technology developed by, and adapted to, the needs and skills of local people. We're now extending the Smart Villages initiative to Pakistan and Vanuatu, and the Americas and Caribbean regions are also voicing strong interest.
Dear colleagues,
When it comes to connecting the 'second half', one thing is certain – as I mentioned on the financing challenge – no-one is going to be able to do this alone. Simply relying on market forces is not going to cut it.
As we make this next leap forward, the importance of cross-sectoral, cross-disciplinary collaboration and partnership simply cannot be overstated.
Which brings me to my third crucial action area: digital skills.
Research by ITU and others confirms that lack of digital literacy is a major impediment to uptake.
My team at ITU is working on many different fronts to reinforce and expand efforts around digital skills development, particularly for marginalized populations and communities including women and girls, rural dwellers, disempowered youth, and displaced persons.
Our Digital Transformation Centers partnership with Cisco has already delivered digital skills training to 100,000 individuals in countries all around the world.
The EQUALS global partnership for digital gender equality, which now boasts over 100 members worldwide, is delivering gender-equitable access to technology and training through a range of partner-led projects.
And with an estimated 1.5 billion children affected by COVID-related school closures over the past 18 months, finding new strategies to bring the life-changing power of education to the world's youth has become a particularly urgent priority.
That's why ITU took the bold initiative to partner with UNICEF and others on Giga, an ambitious new project to connect every school on the planet to the internet, and every child to information, opportunity and choice.
The first round of Giga pilot countries is almost up and running, and we already have some great partners onboard, including Facebook, Dubai Cares, Ericsson, and a number of regional development banks.
Youth empowerment is so important, because young people will be the drivers of future demand and innovation.
Yet ITU research shows that two thirds of the world's youth – a staggering 2.2 billion young people – do not have home access to the online world.
That's a huge impediment to their learning, to their digital literacy, and to their future opportunities. And it's also a huge missed opportunity for operators, governments and the local tech sector.
We need young teams in developing countries to start building the apps and services that will be meaningful to their local communities.
We've already seen the massive success of mobile money services that were pioneered in Africa. Estonia has shown us what a small nation can do, when people are empowered with education, access, and skills.
Changing the global connectivity picture in a way that is meaningful, and above all, sustainable, will mean helping countries nurture their own home-grown tech culture that can deliver compelling and relevant services, in appropriate formats including local languages or voice-driven interfaces.
ITU's new i-CODI digital innovation centre, which we're setting up with the help of the UAE, is one step in the right direction. Government policy can also play a huge role here, and knowledge exchange partnerships between highly digital nations like Estonia and those seeking to develop their local ICT sectors can offer real, tangible benefits for all.
I could go on to list many more multi-stakeholder initiatives that are delivering real results, and I'm immensely proud of what my organization and others are achieving in our three key areas of infrastructure, collaborative regulation, and digital skills. But the reality is that, as an industry, we're still not moving fast enough.
The global pandemic has underlined the extreme urgency of our task.
That's why we have announced a new, far-reaching and impactful alliance, which we're calling the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition.
This global movement will bring together partners who understand that 'building back better with broadband' opens up huge new opportunities. It will place a particularly strong focus on the hardest-to-connect communities, including Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries, and Small Island Developing States.
I hope many of you will join us on this new journey, so that, together, we can review the first fruits of our work at ITU's upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference in June 2022.
COVID has shown us all too clearly that universal connectivity must be every nation's new benchmark, and most urgent priority.
And Estonia has shown us what can be achieved, given the political commitment.
Digital IS our new normal, but for all of us to benefit fully, we need everyone to benefit equally.
Quite simply, Leaving No-One Behind must mean Leaving No-One Offline.
Thank you.
