TELECOMS
Information released this year by DataReportal found that a staggering 40 % of people worldwide do not have access to the internet . The majority of the people stranded on the wrong side of the digital divide are located in regions with more emerging markets ( traditionally those with a history of being colonised rather than being colonisers - a fact I assume will shock exactly no one ), like the Middle East and North Africa .
“ There are 290 million people in MENA that are not connected to the Internet , and an additional 60 million are not covered by current networks ,” says White , who notes that exceptions to this general trend - like the fact that in the UAE 99.6 % of the nation has access to network coverage while in
“ Being digitally connected is as important in today ’ s society as access to any other utility . Access to broadband is necessary to exercise other fundamental human rights ”
BEN BAWTREE-JOBSON CEO , SIFI NETWORKS
South Sudan this figure is just 23.79 % - only go to show the direct correlation between connectivity and economic prosperity .
However , looking at the digital divide on a purely national scale hides the large number of people in so-called “ developed markets ” who are left underserved or disconnected along more individual lines that tend to be associated with both location and class ( although those two vectors are also somewhat interlinked ).
“ About 21 million Americans - nearly three in ten citizens - don ’ t have sufficient access to broadband ,” Bawtree-Jobson explains . Unequal digital connectivity in the richest country on earth is “ part of the wider problem of redlining , a discriminatory practice that emerged in the 1930s aimed at denying access to services for low-income neighbourhoods or neighbourhoods with a high proportion of non-white residents .”
The accessibility issues associated with discriminatory infrastructure that have affected America ’ s road , rail , and electricity infrastructure for close to a century , now
44 January 2022