local access
Internet connectivity opens many opportunities for civil society groups and activists to participate in their countries’ political life, defend their rights and promote government transparency and accountability. However, much of the populations in developing countries remain unconnected and thus cannot fully participate in civic life. This was the focus of my intervention at the “Innovative Citizen Participation in Restrictive Environments” seminar, which I attended in Kuala Lumpur fro...
There is increasing concern over the worldwide slowdown in the growth of voice and internet users. The networks being deployed by national operators are now only expected to connect 60% to 70% of the world’s population by 2025. This indicates that the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which anticipate attaining universal connectivity by 2030, are unlikely to be achieved. Despite decades of deployment, it appears increasingly likely that current strategies will not be able to add...
Welcome to the 18th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks. 1. Events and conferences The Africa Internet Summit is taking place from 9 to 21 June in Kampala, Uganda. Read more here and here. Access Now’s RightsCon programme has been released, announcing the event taking place from 11 to 14 June in Tunis, and includes many sessions on co...
Welcome to the 17th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks. IMPORTANT TO NOTE: APC and Rhizomatica have released a call to apply for the catalytic intervention grants aimed at supporting a more sustainable community network environment. The deadline for applications is 15 May 2019. Read more. 1. Events and conferences “Community Networks and the Id...
Access to connectivity is a critical driver for economic, political and social growth and development. Kenya’s first National Broadband Strategy (NBS) was envisioned for implementation between 2013 and 2017 with the objective of providing quality broadband for everyone. In the strategy, broadband was defined as: “Connectivity that is always-on and that delivers a minimum of 5 Mbps to indivi...
Kenya is currently in the process of adopting the 2018-2023 National Broadband Strategy, with the aim of providing equitable access to secure broadband for all citizens. The Communication Authority of Kenya invited stakeholders drawn from the public and private sectors, civil society and academia to provide their views, suggestions and recommendations on the Revised National Broadband Strategy ...
The transformative power of the internet has offered unprecedented access to information, possibilities for socioeconomic growth and the opportunity for increased exercise of a range of human rights, including cultural, social and economic rights and freedom of expression. Global growth in connectivity, however, has begun to slow and, for many, meaningful access to the internet remains elusive....
A version of this article in Malagasy can be found on the Rising Voices website. Thanks Andriamifidisoa Zo for the translation! The “digital divide” in Colombia is particularly wide in rural communities, since service coverage, especially cellular mobile service, is concentrated in urban centres. In September 2017, communities in the municipality of Buenos Aires, located in the de...
Welcome to the 14th monthly round-up of developments impacting your local access networks. 1. Get involved All World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) stakeholders are invited to submit inputs on the Thematic Aspects and Innovations on the Format of the WSIS Forum 2019. The deadline is 10 February 2019. Read more. 2. Community networks in news and blogs Observing community n...
Community Networks Learning Grants – Connecting the unconnected “Connecting the unconnected: Supporting community networks and other community-based connectivity initiatives” is a project by APC in partnership with Rhizomatica that aims to directly support the work of community networks, with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The initiati...
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2019
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