[Pal-dc] A4AI affordability report recommends greater investment in and focus on public access solutions

[Yacine Khelladi / Web Foundation]

Dear colleagues and DC-PAL members,

Earlier this year, the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) released the 
2015-16 edition of its annual Affordability Report. The report examines the 
state of broadband affordability across 51 developing and emerging economies, 
with a focus on how policy and regulation are working to reduce prices and 
enable wider access. This year's report takes a particular look at how income 
inequality and gender inequality are impacting affordability on the ground.

The report finds that, across the 51 countries surveyed, nearly half a billion 
people remain priced out of the digital revolution - even in those countries 
that have met the UN affordability target of basic broadband priced at 5% or 
less of average income. Without urgent and immediate action to enable this 
offline population to afford to come online, the world will only achieve the 
newly agreed Sustainable Development Goal (9c) of universal Internet access by 
2020 in 2042 - more than 20 years past the target date set by the global community.

The report lays out a number of key recommendations to accelerate progress 
including the adoption of a new, more ambitious affordability target, and 
greater investment in and focus on public access solutions (as public libraries).

To read the full report and explore the data, please visit 
a4ai.org/affordability-report <http://a4ai.org/affordability-report>.

Best regards,

Yacine Khelladi (Mr.)
Latin America & the Caribbean Coordinator
Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI)
www.a4ai.org


World Wide Web Foundation | 1110 Vermont Ave NW, Suite 500, Washington DC 20005, 
USA | www.webfoundation.org | Twitter: @webfoundation






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