Sawt Falasteen - UN says pledges for global connectivity project pass $100 bn

Around 2.2 billion people worldwide were offline in 2025, according to data from the International Telecommunications Union, which has been leading efforts to expand access to the advantages of digitalisation.

In 2021, the Geneva-based UN agency launched the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition, with the aim of using public-private partnerships to help increase digitalisation in the world's hardest-to-connect communities.

At the time, it set a target of raising $100 billion by the end of this year.

On Wednesday, it celebrated surpassing that target, with $121 billion in pledges so far.

This is "a landmark achievement in global efforts towards universal meaningful connectivity", ITU chief Doreen Bogdan-Martin said in a statement.

The organisation said that over the past five years, more than 1,000 pledges towards the initiative had come from 149 countries, including from governments, companies, international organisations and development banks.

With projects underway in more than 190 countries, it said commitments were focused on everything from expanding digital infrastructure to digital skills training.

Fresh pledges announced during the ITU's annual World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva this week included one from the Asian Development Bank to implement the so-called Asia-Pacific Digital Highway.

That would mean mobilising $20 billion in public and private investments by 2035 to improve digital connectivity for up to 650 million people across the region, the ITU said.

Microsoft also made several pledges, including to connect "more than 450 rural and underserved community hubs in Kenya through satellite-enabled infrastructure", the statement added.

Other pledges came from entities including Boston Consulting Group, SoftBank Corp and ZTE Corporation.

While hailing the pledges, the ITU said it estimated that achieving universal, meaningful connectivity by 2030 could require as much as $2.8 trillion.

Q.Bulbul--SF-PST