Internet for All

The World Economic Forum's 'Internet for All' white paper introduces a four-step investment framework to address infrastructure, affordability, digital skills, and local content barriers. Applying this to the Northern Corridor (Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and South Sudan), the report finds that bringing 25 million new users online would cost $1.83 billion ($64 per person) under current conditions, but this could be reduced by 23% to $1.39 billion ($49 per person) through policy interventions such as infrastructure sharing and VAT removal on smartphones. The report emphasizes that while near-term targets are achievable with policy support, reaching universal penetration (>95%) is a significantly tougher challenge, costing $6.3 billion ($115 per person) due to the high cost of reaching remote areas.

• The 'Internet for All' investment model follows a four-step process: defining the target (quantifying new users), selecting interventions based on national strategies and barriers, assessing the required investment including policy impacts, and determining the financial business case.
• In the Northern Corridor, achieving the near-term goal of 25 million new users by 2019 would require a total investment of $1.83 billion, which equates to $64 per person.
• The cost of bringing 25 million new users online in the Northern Corridor can be reduced by 23% to approximately $1.39 billion ($49 per person) through three specific policy levers: active and passive infrastructure sharing (saving >$250 million), making low-frequency spectrum available (saving $100 million), and removing VAT on low-end smartphones (saving $80 million).
• For the near-term target in the Northern Corridor, the most significant barriers are digital skills training and device affordability, whereas infrastructure becomes the primary constraint when attempting to reach 95% internet penetration.
• Achieving near-universal internet penetration (>95%) in the Northern Corridor is significantly more expensive than near-term goals, costing $6.3 billion in total or $115 per person, primarily due to the need for infrastructure in remote, low-density areas.
• Smartphone costs in the Northern Corridor are a major barrier to adoption, with current prices representing 50-100% of monthly GDP per capita.
• Local content is severely lacking in the Northern Corridor, with only 0.1 registered internet domains per 1,000 people, compared to a global average of 26 per 1,000 people.
• Global internet penetration has grown at a steady but slow rate of 2-3% per year over the last 15 years; at this pace, it would take nearly 20 years to reach near-universal access.

APA

World Economic Forum (2017). Internet for All. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/White_Paper_Internet_for_All_Investment_Framework_Digital_Adoption_2017.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Internet for All. 2017. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/White_Paper_Internet_for_All_Investment_Framework_Digital_Adoption_2017.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Internet for All |date=July 2017 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/White_Paper_Internet_for_All_Investment_Framework_Digital_Adoption_2017.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2017internet, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Internet for All}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2017}, month = jul, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/White_Paper_Internet_for_All_Investment_Framework_Digital_Adoption_2017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }