{"id":17470,"date":"2020-09-28T14:10:55","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T13:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/?p=17470"},"modified":"2020-09-29T08:44:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T07:44:58","slug":"driving-the-digital-revolution-collaboration-is-key-to-closing-coverage-and-connectivity-gaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/driving-the-digital-revolution-collaboration-is-key-to-closing-coverage-and-connectivity-gaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving the Digital Revolution: Collaboration is Key to Closing Coverage and Connectivity Gaps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>28 September 2020, London:<\/strong> Over the last decade, mobile has connected more than 2.5 billion people to the internet, with mobile broadband coverage reaching in excess of 90% of the world\u2019s population. Despite this rapid expansion of mobile internet infrastructure, there is still a coverage gap of more than 600 million people, who live without access to mobile internet connectivity and the vital benefits it provides.<\/p>\n<p>Today we share the GSMA\u2019s blueprint for closing the gap, reflecting on success stories around the globe and how mobile technology can help reduce inequality.<\/p>\n<p>We take a closer look at how governments and regulators have successfully collaborated with mobile operators in France, Ghana, New Zealand, Peru, Tunisia and the UK. The <a href=\"https:\/\/cp.gsma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/GSMA-Driving-the-digital-revolution-with-improved-mobile-coverage.pdf\">\u2018Driving the Digital Revolution with Improved Mobile Coverage\u2019<\/a> paper offers policy recommendations for addressing key coverage challenges, including spectrum availability and pricing; licence terms and conditions; planning approval processes; infrastructure sharing; and state interventions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe continued disruption and impact of COVID-19 is still being felt across the world, making closing the digital divide ever-more pressing, especially to protect the social, political and economic lives of remote communities. Greater partnership between governments and operators is urgently needed if we are to address these detrimental gaps in coverage.\u201d said St\u00e9phane Richard, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Orange, and Chair of the GSMA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cClosing the digital divide is essential to delivering transformational social and economic opportunities to underserved communities around the world. The coverage gap disproportionately affects people in low- and middle-income countries, especially those living in rural areas,\u201d said John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer at GSMA. \u201cFor example, just one percent of the population in North America lack mobile broadband coverage, while the gap in Sub-Saharan Africa is approximately thirty percent. We hope that the GSMA\u2019s blueprint for closing these coverage gaps will inspire governments, regulators and industry to work together in shaping a future where coverage and access to digital services are sustainable and universal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Making rural network operations sustainable will require real partnership among governments, regulators, and mobile operators, with clear objectives for driving better coverage. The need to reduce policy and regulatory barriers, to incentivise investment, and to examine new sources of financing and shared deployment models are just some of the options that could deliver lasting impact.<\/p>\n<p>Connecting more people, wherever they may live, is a core part of the GSMA\u2019s mission. To read more on the successful use cases, detailed breakdowns of the coverage gaps and the human impact from a lack of connectivity, go to the GSMA\u2019s coverage policy hub, available <a href=\"https:\/\/cp.gsma.com\/expanding-mobile-coverage\/\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8211; ENDS &#8211;<\/p>\n<p><strong>About GSMA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting more than 750 operators with almost 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces the industry-leading MWC events held annually in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mwcbarcelona.com\/\">Barcelona<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mwclosangeles.com\/\">Los Angeles<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mwcshanghai.com\/\">Shanghai<\/a>, as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsmathrive.com\/\">Thrive Series<\/a> of regional conferences.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>28 September 2020, London: Over the last decade, mobile has connected more than 2.5 billion people to the internet, with mobile broadband coverage reaching in excess of 90% of the world\u2019s population. Despite this rapid expansion of mobile internet infrastructure, there is still a coverage gap of more than 600 million people, who live without [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":17472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[],"algolia_discover_type":[6627],"class_list":["post-17470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-documents","category-press-release","algolia_discover_type-article"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Driving the Digital Revolution: Collaboration is Key to Closing Coverage and Connectivity Gaps - Newsroom<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/driving-the-digital-revolution-collaboration-is-key-to-closing-coverage-and-connectivity-gaps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Driving the Digital Revolution: Collaboration is Key to Closing Coverage and Connectivity Gaps\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"28 September 2020, London: Over the last decade, mobile has connected more than 2.5 billion people to the internet, with mobile broadband coverage reaching in excess of 90% of the world\u2019s population. Despite this rapid expansion of mobile internet infrastructure, there is still a coverage gap of more than 600 million people, who live without [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/driving-the-digital-revolution-collaboration-is-key-to-closing-coverage-and-connectivity-gaps\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Newsroom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gsma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-09-28T13:10:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-29T07:44:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/\/Coverage-campaign-1200x600-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"webteam\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GSMA\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"webteam\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Driving the Digital Revolution: Collaboration is Key to Closing Coverage and Connectivity Gaps - Newsroom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/newsroom\/press-release\/driving-the-digital-revolution-collaboration-is-key-to-closing-coverage-and-connectivity-gaps\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Driving the Digital Revolution: Collaboration is Key to Closing Coverage and Connectivity Gaps","og_description":"28 September 2020, London: Over the last decade, mobile has connected more than 2.5 billion people to the internet, with mobile broadband coverage reaching in excess of 90% of the world\u2019s population. 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