Geneva, 11 September 2018 – A new report issued today by the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development shows that a growing number of governments now benchmark the status of broadband in their national broadband plans.
New York, 12 July 2018: The UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development's Working Group on Broadband for the Most Vulnerable Countries today issued a report at the United Nations Headquarters, showing that broadband (high-speed Internet) plays a valuable role in helping Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to overcome vulnerabilities, grow economies and enhance people’s livelihoods.
Kigali, Rwanda – 7 May 2018 – The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development at its 2018 Spring Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda 6-7 May, committed to concrete actions [GM1] that will advance the roll-out of broadband around the world – and with it, much-needed digital connectivity.
Davos, 23 January 2018: Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development launches 2025 targets to support “Connecting the Other Half”
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On behalf of the Broadband Commission we wish everyone a wonderful new year! 2018 was filled with successful initiatives, cooperation, and meetings that we look forward to continuing and expanding this upcoming year.
Following the tradition of its Annual Fall Meetings held in conjunction with the UNGA, The Broadband Commission convened in New York on 22-23 September, alongside the 73rd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations.
September 2018: ITU organized its annual ITU Telecom World event 10-13 September in Durban, South Africa. This year, this global platform for accelerating ICT innovations explored the key issues under the theme “Innovation for smarter digital development”. The Forum discussions became an essential part of the ITU Telecom World and different sessions featured following areas: leapfrogging to 5G, rethinking regulation, enabling innovation, smart cities, wireless technologies for Africa, AI and digital finance.
June 2018: The Broadband Commission’s Annual Spring Meeting 2018 took place in Kigali, Rwanda on 6 -7 May 2018 at the invitation of H.E. Mr Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda and Mr Mats Granryd, Director General of GSMA.
April 2018: From 19 to 23 March 2018, the World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS) 2018 took place in Geneva and attracted more than 2800 stakeholders from 150 different countries. This year, around 250 content rich workshops and open space talks aligned with the WSIS Action Lines and SDGs. In addition, 18 WSIS Prizes winners and 72 WSIS Prizes championshave been announced. High-Level Track Outcomes and Session Summaries are now available on WSIS Forum 2018 website.
March 2018: On the 26 February, at Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona, Spain, the Expert Group report was published, “A New Deal: Investing in Our Common Future – Policy Recommendations to Close the Broadband Gap”, presenting recommendations to policy-makers, regulators and international institutions to address digital exclusion. The Expert Group, chaired by Commissioner, Philipp Metzger, Director-General of the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM), Switzerland, highlights potential actions under the following key themes: - Providing a healthy investment climate; - Enabling lower cost supply of infrastructure and effective use of spectrum; - Making ICT markets work for all; and, - Liberating demand over the wider digital economy.
January 2018:The Internet Governance Forum took place in Geneva from 18-21 December 2017,during which, the Broadband Commission together with the OECD held a session on Policy and technology approaches for expanding broadband to rural and remote areas. The session benefitted from the inputs of other Commissioners and their entities. The IGF also welcomed the 2017 EQUALS in Tech awards on December 19 2017.
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