Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago, and the innumerable lockdowns that followed, there has been a flood of reports by research institutions and consultancies praising how rapidly societies adapted to the “new normal” and began conducting practically all activities online, even those that just before the pandemic were deemed impossible in the digital domain. Be it working from home, ordering groceries, consulting with doctors or attending school, everything, the reports said with glowing praise, was now taking place online, minimizing the disruption brought about by the pandemic. This process could be seen taking place, at least in part, in most countries around the world, though to widely varying degrees. Business travel, previously considered crucial, was smoothly replaced with innumerable meetings on Zoom or other video-conferencing platforms. Even basic, everyday activities such as fetching groceries or medicines from neighborhood shops were replaced by relatively efficient delivery services. Seeing a doctor became less of an effort, for some, thanks to online consultations. The boom in demand for all things online was so unprecedented that it propelled the digital economy globally to record highs, as stock markets seemed unaware there was a pandemic raging that had already infected more than half a billion people and killed millions around the world. Unfortunately, as in almost every other sphere of life, the digital boom has been highly localized and uneven, with the major boosts limited to the rich world and certain parts of developing nations because access to the digital world remains highly disparate and discriminatory. Despite the unprecedented growth and the increasingly crucial need for access to the digital world, a recent report by the Alliance for Affordable Internet highlighted the severity of the situation. It said that only one in 10 people in the developing world — which mainly includes low- and middle-income nations and accounts for about two-thirds of the global population — has the “meaningful connectivity” that allows them to fully benefit from the internet, and that the exclusion of women from web access costs the poorest countries $1 trillion in lost gross domestic product. The report stressed that meaningful connectivity can play a major role in equalizing access to education and the job market, as well as improving social and economic well-being. Indeed, access to speedy internet connections that were once considered a luxury is now widely prevalent in wealthy nations, and a world without high-speed broadband is as unimaginable as a world without mobile telephones. One of the biggest hurdles in providing wider access to high-speed internet is the cost of building the infrastructure and providing the services. While healthy competition in large markets, mainly in the rich world, has ensured that prices, though high, remain accessible for most people, the situation is completely different in the developing world. According to a report by the International Telecommunication Union, as many as 2.9 billion people, which is more than 33 percent of the global population, have never used the internet. Not surprisingly, most of those people live in Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean and Africa — the poorest regions of the world. Reliable, round-the-clock access to the internet is now a key to success around the world. Ranvir S. Nayar In smaller and poorer countries, telecoms firms have little incentive to invest the billions needed to set up the backbone that is crucial for delivery of high-speed internet connections. Even if they do, the charges are astronomical relative to the local cost of living and so remain beyond the reach of an overwhelming proportion of people. In larger developing countries the situation is slightly different because the companies have a large enough market to serve, but even here there have been hiccups, especially since the outbreak of the pandemic. Take the case of India, where the market boomed for more than two decades in the face of cut-throat competition, leading to the lowest mobile data costs in the world. However, in the race to grab subscribers, even at dirt-cheap rates, the telecoms companies lost huge amounts of money and, as a result, dozens of them went bankrupt. This ultimately led to a near-duopoly and rates that have risen by 25-30 percent in the past six months. Coming as this did on the back of COVID-19, which has hammered the Indian economy like it has few other countries, India has experienced its first drop in the number of mobile subscribers for three decades. The report said that reliable, round-the-clock access to the internet is now a key to success around the world and that people who have at least 4G internet connections are three times more likely to access healthcare, get a job or take a class online than those with more basic internet access, given that 4G can be up to 10 times faster than 3G. The report also highlighted an area in which the world is failing to meet its stated objectives under the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, an ambitious list of about 30 sectors in which member nations are committed to improving people’s lives and reducing, if not eliminating, inequality. Under the SDGs, governments and companies have agreed to take steps to bridge the digital divide the world has been staring at ever since the first boom in internet access more than two decades ago. However, the pandemic has delivered a serious, if not fatal, blow to this goal, as the report reveals. Moreover, many wealthy countries are in the midst of launching 5G mobile connectivity, which is set to make this digital divide much wider. While the introduction of 5G is a welcome move, it is time that governments and telecom companies took a step back and put their money where their mouths have been in terms of reducing the digital divide. Given that less-wealthy nations and the consumers in those countries are unlikely to suddenly discover the money they need to pay for these services, rich nations and multilateral organizations could take steps to boost access to at least 4G internet for most, if not all, people. The governments of poorer countries could cut the taxes or the costs for the mobile spectrum, which is one of the biggest elements of internet costs. There are some signs of hope, though many of them remain a bit hazy. Through his Starlink satellite network, for example, Elon Musk has said he will provide internet connectivity to poor and remote countries. Both Google and Facebook parent company Meta have talked of providing internet connections. But these are corporate promises which, even if sincere at the moment they are delivered, might not be permanent and are definitely not enough to resolve the issue. It requires a global effort, perhaps along the lines of the Covax global COVID-19 vaccine program in which governments and companies joined forces to pledge billions of doses for countries that cannot afford, or lack access to, the vaccines. Yes, in many cases access to the internet might not be the life-saving resource that vaccines are, but it does improve lives and that is something that is currently needed in a world that is rebuilding itself after a lengthy pandemic. • Ranvir S. Nayar is managing editor of Media India Group. Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not necessarily reflect Arab News" point of view