President Paul Kagame has said that all challenges that countries are facing can be handled faster, better, and more equitably by investing in universal and affordable broadband.

He made the address during the Broadband Commission Meeting for Sustainable Development, which he co-chaired with Carlos Slim, a Mexican billionaire, on June 5.

For the third time in Kigali, the meeting brought together several officials including; Houlin Zhao, the Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union, and Tawfik Jelassi, representing the Director General of UNICEF, and different Ministers.

"We are still living in tough times, economically, politically, and in terms of global public health. The immediate future is full of uncertainties and risks,” said Kagame.

Since 2011, he said, "we have come a long way but we still have some distance to travel to achieve universal and affordable broadband. It is very encouraging to see that our Broadband Commission community is as energetic and focused as ever.”

The Commission defines the internet as being affordable when 1.5 gigabyte of mobile data is priced at no more than 2 percent of average income.

While referring to the World Telecommunication Development Conference to be hosted in Rwanda, Kagame commended its ‘notable feature’- a launch of Partner-to-Connect, a platform to mobilise new resources and partnerships for universal connectivity.

"More than 200 pledges have been made so far, including 12 from Broadband Commissioners,” he disclosed.

He said that Rwanda has already benefited from such partnership efforts as a lead country in the Giga initiative, led by International Telecommunication Union and UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund).

"The pilot project in 63 schools has resulted in a quadrupling of capacity and a 55 per cent reduction in cost.”

The Giga Initiative is a UN ambitious enterprise with the purpose of providing internet connectivity to every school in the world by 2030.

Slim, the Co-Chair of the Commission, said that the Covid-19 pandemic showed the necessity to have broadband connectivity used across different sectors of life such as work, learning, communication, and access to health.

"Millions of people got connected during these times and it was very impressive to see the use was so intensive,” he noted.

Globally, between 2020 and 2021, he said, connectivity grew by 17 per cent and the experience of this pandemic makes it clear that "we need to go for universal connectivity.”

Zhao said that one of the challenges to overcome is reducing the cost of broadband subscription and digital devices, especially in low and lower middle-income countries.

"I hope that we can use this moment to accelerate the achievement of the targets, and break down these last barriers to connectivity,” he added.

In 2018, the Broadband Commission set out seven targets for 2025 to "Connect the Other Half” of the world’s population, and it aims to expand broadband infrastructure to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).