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

[Stuart Hamilton]

Thanks Yacine!

It’s great to get this sort of information sent to the list and I hope many of you will dip in. There’s a lot going on right now in terms of conversations around getting the next billion people online, and we need to make the case for including and using public access facilities as a key policy option. The A4AI recommendations are a useful place to starting thinking about our advocacy.

I’d also like to ask if others on the list have information to share on public access issues in their country or region, please feel free to share. A little more conversation can’t hurt us!

Kind regards,

Stuart

From: pal-dc [mailto:pal-dc-bounces at lists.apc.org] On Behalf Of Yacine Khelladi / Web Foundation
Sent: 24 April 2016 16:24
To: PubAccessLibraries-DC
Cc: Sonia Jorge
Subject: [Pal-dc] A4AI affordability report recommends greater investment in and focus on public access solutions


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<http://www.a4ai.org>


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





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