Counsel on Closing the Digital Divide in the Asia-Pacific

In 2022, Vernonburg Group contributed a chapter entitled “Accelerating Universal Digital Connectivity” to a United Nations Development Program publication on development in Asia-Pacific (APAC). The chapter provides an overview of efforts across APAC to accelerate universal digital connectivity. A consistent theme is the persistence of digital inequality that impacts people throughout the entire region. People in several classes are disproportionately impacted: residents of low-income and least-developed countries; those located in rural areas, in small island developing nations, and in landlocked developing countries; those lacking literacy and digital skills; and those from traditionally disenfranchised groups, such as women and girls, persons with disabilities, and ethnic minorities. The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a bright light on these inequalities and increased the urgency of addressing them.

The chapter identifies the regulatory, marketplace, and technological hurdles that impede the efforts to achieve broadband goals in the region. The different approaches open to both the private and public sectors in financing affordable broadband access in underserved communities are then summarized.

The chapter concludes with a recommendation that governments prioritize addressing digital inequality and that every country in the region develop a national broadband plan. These plans should include the following key elements: data collection and broadband definitions, competition policies, spectrum policies, universal service goals and policies, and measures to address adoption gaps.