Beyond development: connectivity as human rights enabler

October 2023

by session orgs: Raquel Rennó, Lucs Teixeira, and Nathan Paschoalini

Introduction

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development explicitly recognises that the spread of information and communication technologies has the power to bridge the digital divide; as such, governments are increasingly addressing connectivity expansion as part of their efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. However, framing connectivity solely as a facilitator for social and economic growth is limiting. These approaches ultimately privilege the most powerful telecommunication industries that can afford international agreements; if all connectivity is provided by the same few global incumbent telecommunication operators, there will be very little diversity in technologies, content, and little space for dissident voices.

To expand on this issue and bring in different views, ARTICLE 19 organized a Town Hall session during the 18th edition of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF2023) in Kyoto, Japan. It brought together regulators, members from the private sector, the technical community and civil society to discuss the following questions:

• Would it be possible to re-center connectivity as a human rights enabler, moving away from the development-only approach?
• How can PPP and cross-national agreements help solve the digital divide while allowing the diversity in the ISP technologies, improving innovative policies and techniques to spectrum management instead of just promoting one specific industry?

Moderated by ARTICLE 19 Program Officer Raquel Renno Nunes, the session included Jane Coffin (civil society), Thomas Lohninger (epicenter.works, civil society), Robert Pepper (Meta, private sector) and Nathalia Lobo (Ministry of Communication of Brazil, public sector). As online moderator, Lucs Teixeira (ARTICLE 19 Internet of Rights fellow, civil society) coordinated participants in the Zoom room; Nathan Paschoalini (Data Privacy Brazil, civil society) was the rapporteur.

The full recording of the Town Hall session, with captions, is available at IGF’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwlgWVXYFuo

Discussion

Before the discussion, the on-site moderator, Raquel Renno, stated that this Town Hall should be a space for an open discussion on connectivity issues, that enables different views on this subject, considering its importance as a human rights enabler. Then, invited speakers exposed their views on the questions raised above, with the opportunity for participation extended both to the on-site audience and to remote participants.

After the panellists’ intervention, there was a open mic round, in which members of the audience and the panellists could debate the topics covered at the beginning of the panel.

We split the points raised between three interrelated main problems.

Problem 1: Building infrastructure

Robert Pepper highlighted the fact that in the last few years, it was possible to identify a shift from a “coverage gap” to a “usage gap”. In this sense, more than 2 billion people could be online, but aren’t. He mentioned a project they conducted within sub-Saharan countries to understand the reasons why the majority of the population in this region are not online. In this study, they identified three main reasons for the issue, being a) affordability of devices and of monthly services; b) lack of digital literacy; and c) lack of local relevant content online. Another issue identified was related to the lack of electricity. He questions how to make people online, considering  that Internet access should be recognized as a human right and a human rights enabler. 

Jane Coffin in her turn told us about how difficult it was to take fiber from Zambia to South Africa, mentioning negotiations between the countries borders, the presence of an historical bridge in the way, and a swarm of bees as obstacles in the more than 1 year period of deployment. This example serves the purpose of highlighting the difficulties related to Internet infrastructure and the barriers related to building Internet infrastructure in a cross border region. According to Coffin, it takes a multistakeholder approach to improve Internet access and to strengthen the dialogue with governments, so they can understand what has to be done to speed up Internet connectivity.

She also mentioned that community networks come from a diversification of perspectives to bring in a last mile connectivity. In this sense, such networks can provide a type of Internet connection that is different from the ones provided by bigger ISPs, which don’t always have the economical interest to connect people in remote or otherwise impractical places. She states that building network infrastructure is usually very expensive, but there are alternative ways to build Internet infrastructure, especially if focused on smaller networks, and that different organizations can work together to achieve and improve Internet connectivity for those underserved publics.

Thomas Lohninger acknowledges that all promises related to 5G, especially regarding connectivity, have not yet materialized; and despite this, discussions about 6G can already be identified.

Nathalia Lobo presented the Brazilian context on the issues related to the universalization of Internet access in the country, due to the continental dimensions of Brazil. She mentioned that the Brazilian 5G auction was an opportunity to establish obligations related to the universalization of Internet access to the companies that won the process.

She also presented a Brazilian public policy named Connected North, that was designed to strengthen connectivity to the northern region of Brazil through eight information highways composed of twelve thousand kilometers of optical fiber laid in the bed of the Amazon River. Lobo also mentioned that the public-private partnerships play a key role in the accomplishment and maintenance of the Connect North project. 

Problem 2: Fair share proposals

Thomas Lohninger address issues related to network fees, such as the fair share debate, which is not new, dating  back to the telephony era. According to Thomas, in this context, small ISPs have revealed that they are afraid of their ability to compete and to connect to other networks if such a proposal is approved, due to economical barriers. This, Thomas said, might lead to a fragmented Internet, where only large ISPs would have the financial resources to remain connected to the global network.

Robert Pepper reinforces this critical view on network fees, explaining that the whole rationale behind them is based upon the architecture and economics of “Telecom Termination Monopoly”. With past network architectures, the distance and duration of connections increased costs substantially; after 4G arrived, with “essentially flat IP networks even in mobile”, the cost for connection is a step function and the duration or data exchange of that connection does not increase costs for the telcos unless they peak simultaneously.

Problem 3: Zero-rating practices and Net Neutrality

Thomas Lohninger mentioned issues related to zero rating such as Meta’s Free Basics, taking the Colombian Constitutional Court case as an example. He stated that zero rating contracts violate net neutrality, whose defense is deeply associated with accomplishing meaningful connectivity.

Regarding this, Robert Pepper mentions a Meta project called “Discover”, which he describes as an evolution from Free Basics and instead of limiting the access to a selection of allowed websites, it limits all web pages to text, filtering images and video. Pepper mentions this as a solution that is not perfect but may serve as an “introduction to the Internet”, and as a way for people in prepaid packages to keep using the network even if degraded after the data package is over.

Key takeaways

1. Some of the panelists see a shift in the lack of connectivity that went from a coverage gap to a usage gap. This means that, recently, the there was a improvement in the Internet coverage, and the main issue, now, relies in the Internet use by people who lives in regions that have Internet coverage;
    
2. On the other hand, some consider the lack of infrastructure still an important issue to address. It is conventional wisdom that building infrastructure is expensive, however there are strategies to lower this cost, which need a strong  multi stakeholder approach to address it.
    
3. The mismatch between a business model aiming for continuous improvement for the fastest and the better, clash with the reality faced by many in the Global Majority. The promises of universalizing Internet access through the 5G haven’t been materialized yet, and some sectors are already discussing the 6G technology. New regulatory proposals, such as the fair share or tech toll, may lead to a context of Internet Fragmentation, where only the largest content providers would be able to accommodate the demands, still, only in the strongest markets where the investment would meet some return. The second concern was related to zero rating agreements, which give an unfair advantage to large companies.

Next steps:

Based on the discussion, the organizers of the session see there are different interests from the private sector and pressure on the public sector, which in some cases can overcome the needs of the people in most fragile condition. It would be important to:

• Have governments and intergovernmental agencies to reinforce the relevance of universal and meaningful connectivity as a fundamental enabler of human rights and elaborate on this relevance for the protection, promotion, and enjoyment of civil and political rights, in addition to economic and social development.
   
• We also call for regulators to adopt a human rights-based approach to national, regional, and local connectivity expansion and improvement plans. Considering the roles of small, community, and non-profit operators in providing complementary connectivity for rural areas and minorities beyond the sole reliance on incumbent telecom infrastructure providers to sustainably address the digital divide.