The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development
UNESCO and the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development
UNESCO and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) co-founded the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development as a public/private partnership aligning industry CEOs with civil and intergovernmental society leaders to help achieve the 2030 Agenda through mobile and broadband technologies for universal access to information. Since its establishment in 2010, the Broadband Commission has been chaired biannually by H.E. President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and the Mexican self-made entrepreneur and philanthropist Carlos Slim.
The Broadband Commission is recognized inter alia for its output of quality research and policy recommendations, as well as its annual flagship State of Broadband reports.
In 2022, UNESCO will be co-chairing two new Working Groups of the Broadband Commission on AI Capacity Building and Data for Learning.
Reports
List of reports of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development.
The 2023 Report, Digital Connectivity: A Transformative Opportunity, examines the shift from supply-driven to demand-driven communication access, providing insights into the financing and funding considerations required to support the next stage of connectivity for digital transformation.
The report, ‘Strategies towards universal smartphone access’ by the Broadband Commission Working Group on Smartphone Access represents the first multi-stakeholder analysis on the topic of smartphone access.
Launched at the sixth meeting of the Commission in New York City in September 2012, The Report evaluates the roll-out of broadband around the world and tracks progress towards achieving the four advocacy targets set by the Commission in 2011 for boosting broadband affordability and uptake. It provides country rankings across up to 177 economies on economic impact, penetration, national broadband policy, and connecting people and dwellings.