To Grow a Digital Economy, Build an Internet for Everyone

News Update |
Good broadband policy today is the key to a strong, thriving digital economy in the future.
Broadband policy issues are often discussed as an afterthought or as a promising proposal for technological revolution with minimal investment. Broadband policy is a smart investment – when done right. Done wrong, it leaves unaffordable data and handset costs – keeping people offline…

African Strongmen Are the Biggest Stumbling Blocks to Internet Access on the Continent

By Abdi Latif Dahir |
Internet disruptions have become a mainstay in Africa, with five countries—namely Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Chad, and DR Congo—already blocking connectivity just three months into 2019.
Besides cutting access, a new study posits that all five nations share another crucial characteristic: authoritarianism. The report from the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) notes that the less…

Using Africa’s Unspent Millions to Close the Digital Gender Gap

News Update|

A recent study has found there’s $408 million sitting in unused funds across Africa – money that could be used to get millions more women and girls online. The Alliance for Affordable Internet’s Dhanaraj Thakur explains how.

Africa has the largest gender gap of any region in the world when it comes to internet use: 25 percent fewer women are online than men, and…

What does it cost to purchase broadband data in developing countries?

The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) — an initiative of the Web Foundation — has just released new data which assesses the cost to purchase 1GB of mobile broadband data across 59 low- and middle-income countries.

The new pricing data, which was collected by A4AI at the end of 2016, finds that while mobile broadband affordability continues to improve across the board, the cost to…