Network provider Netomnia (supported by UK ISP YouFibre) has today revealed more details about their planned rollout of a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network in Middleton, Newbury, Folkestone and Dover – these form part of their recently announced build plan to 2023. The operator, which aims to cover 1 million premises – homes and […]

The Government’s Building Digital UK (BDUK) programme has today published the latest quarterly Summer 2022 update for their £5bn Project Gigabit broadband rollout scheme, which reveals that they’ve launched new procurements in Hampshire and Shropshire, but are struggling in Staffordshire and Hertfordshire. Project Gigabit seeks to extend networks capable of delivering download speeds of 1000Mbps […]

Up to 38,000 of BT and Openreach’s unionised workers will today be heading back to hundreds of picket lines across the UK as they begin a second major national strike, which is part of an ongoing pay dispute. The strike, which will run through today and tomorrow, is expected to cause more delays to service […]

VIEWPOINT

Asia and the Pacific is the most digitally divided region of the world, and South-East Asia is the most divided subregion. The Covid-19 pandemic detonated a “digital big bang” that spurred people, governments and businesses to become “digital by default;” a sea change that generated vast digital dividends.

These benefits that have not been distributed equally, however. New development gaps have emerged as digital transformation reinforces a vicious cycle of socioeconomic inequalities, within and across countries.

Bridging these divides and ensuring advances in technology can benefit everyone will be a key challenge as the region seeks to achieve a more inclusive and sustainable post-pandemic recovery. A new ESCAP report, Asia-Pacific Digital Transformation Report 2022: Shaping our digital future, identifies five key “digital divides;” fault lines that separate those who can readily take advantage of new technology from those more likely to be left behind. These divides are related to age, gender, education, disability and geography.

Typically, those most comfortable with technological innovation are younger and better educated people who have grown up with the Internet as ”digital natives”. Older persons may be more distrustful, or slower to acquire the necessary skills or suffer declines in aptitude. But at any age, poor communities – especially those in rural areas – are most at risk as they may be unable to afford electricity or digital connections or lack the relevant skills, even if the necessary infrastructure and connectivity are there.

The most significant driver of digital transformation is business research and its development and adoption of frontier technologies. Another major component is e-government; the delivery of public information and services via the Internet or through other digital means. This has the potential for more efficient and inclusive operations; especially when linked to national digital ID systems. However, because e-government services often evolve in complex regulatory environments, providing appropriate levels of accessibility for older generations, the disabled, or those with limited education has become more challenging.

It is clear that digital technologies are enabling the delivery of previously unimagined services while enhancing productivity and optimizing resource use that helped reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and pollutants. These technologies also helped track and contain pandemic spread. Social networks are fostering and diversifying communications among people of all ages sharing common interests, irrespective of location. This helps them stay in touch, broaden their experiences, continue education or deepen subject knowledge. This provided a veritable lifeline that has continued as we enter the post-pandemic era.

At the same time, the risks have also proliferated. Social networks also created social ”echo chambers” and generated torrents of misinformation and hate speech. New cryptocurrencies have opened the way to speculative financial bubbles, while cybercrime increased alarmingly as it assumed prolific variations. In addition, digital gadgets and the Internet are thought to contribute to more than 2 per cent of the global carbon footprint. The manufacture of electronic hardware can also exhaust supplies of natural resources such as rare-earth elements and precious metals like cobalt and lithium.

Moreover, digital transformation has led to the creation of an immense amount of digital data which become an essential resource to understand digital transformation. However, it raises concerns about the ethical and responsible use of data for privacy protection. A common understanding among countries on the operationalization of such principles has yet to evolve.

This viewpoint is from by Ms. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP),

The post Shaping our digital future – a focus on Asia and the Pacific first appeared on Total Telecom.

The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has announced that the first subsidy contract under their new £5bn Project Gigabit broadband scheme has today been signed with ISP Wessex Internet, which is a smaller local supplier deal that will aim to reach 7,100 premises in rural parts of North Dorset (England). Just to recap. Project Gigabit […]

The mainstream news media has recently been full of scare stories that warn of electricity “blackouts” and “energy rationing“, which they claim could potentially last for several days during the depths of winter. But if the worst were to occur, then how would broadband ISPs and mobile operators’ cope. We investigate. According to various reports […]

The cost-of-living crisis is having a horrific impact on the UK and forcing many households into poverty, including those that would have previously been considered secure. But the good news is that a growing number of home broadband ISPs and mobile operators have launched a range of cheaper “social tariffs“. Not so long ago, the […]

The CEO and Co-Founder of alternative network ISP Lit Fibre, Tom Williams, has today – as part of an exclusive interview with ISPreview.co.uk – provided a progress update on their UK roll-out of a new gigabit-capable full fibre broadband network and shared his perspective on the current market. The new provider, which began building almost […]

Bristol-based UK ISP RunFibre, which is busy deploying a new gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network across rural areas in South Gloucestershire, has this month added the villages of Charfield, Little Badminton and Sopworth to their rollout plan. The move should complement their existing builds in the communities of Hawkesbury Upton, Inglestone Common, Easter Compton, Over, […]

We’ve today gone back to summarise most of the key UK consumer ISP choices on Openreach’s new Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) based “ultrafast” (100Mbps+) broadband network, which is currently available to 8 million homes and businesses – rising to 10 million by the end of this year. Today’s market is chocked full of alternative full fibre networks, […]