How do you find out how best to bridge the digital divide? You start with cards.
The Swedish network giant Ericsson and UNICEF are working together to map school connectivity in 35 countries by the end of 2023. The effort is part of the Giga initiative, which aims to connect every school to the internet.
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Assigning internet access to school is just the first step in ensuring connectivity is ubiquitous around the world, said Heather Johnson, Ericsson's vice president of sustainability and corporate responsibility, in an interview.
"The ultimate goal, of course, is to connect each school," said Johnson. But "first you have to understand where the gaps are."
The mapping will be done using artificial intelligence and machine learning, Johnson said. In addition to providing resources for data engineering and data science, Ericsson has also made a "multi-million dollar commitment" for the Giga initiative. The data collected as part of the mapping process helps governments and private organizations determine where to connect to the Internet.
The world has grappled with a digital divide for decades. An estimated 3.5 billion people have no access to a stable internet. The novel coronavirus pandemic has done The need for high speed broadband Internet is becoming even more apparent. When people work from home, they need solid connections to get their chores done, and kids need internet access to take their digital courses. Without connectivity, none of the things that disadvantages people who live in places without reliable, fast internet access are possible.
In the US alone, an estimated 18 million people in the US do not have a broadband connection with a download speed of at least 25 megabits per second. This emerges from a 2020 balance sheet by the US Federal Communications Commission. Some estimates that faulty FCC cards are responsible are much higher. According to the International Telecommunication Union, 360 million young people worldwide have no internet access.
Pandemic-related school closings have affected 94% of the world's student population and up to 99% of students in low- and lower-middle-income countries, according to a UN report.
"COVID-19 has exacerbated or highlighted the divide we - Ericsson - may have known, but society in general hasn't really understood how much inequality there is when we're not connected," Johnson said.
