How Kosovo made high-speed internet access a reality for everyone

Wed, 9 Aug 2023 17:43:45 +1000

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/06/kosovo-high-speed-internet/

"Every day we hear about new digital technologies and the promises that come
with them. The digital world can solve many problems and often does. But we
often forget that billions of people have never used the internet. And why not?
Because they never had access to it in the first place. Their reality is
different.

Most people without access to digital technologies live in developing countries
where high-speed internet is a geographically localized privilege that few can
afford. Those living far from cities—who are most in need of a digital
lifeline—are the most disconnected. And though most countries have some kind of
program to address this shortcoming, few are successful.

But Kosovo—one of Europe’s poorest countries—is an exception. In 2018, it
started to implement the five-year Kosovo Digital Economy Project (KODE) with
World Bank support. Its goal was simple but powerful: to ensure that Kosovars
living anywhere in the country would have equal access to digital
opportunities, be it for work, education, social services, or entertainment.
The project has been a success—today, in 2023, nearly everyone in Kosovo uses
the internet, and the number of subscribers to fixed broadband services is one
of the highest in Europe.

The program attracted private sector investments in villages where previously,
few ventured to invest. Now people are moving back to villages from cities
because the internet is better there—an important draw during the COVID-19
pandemic."

Via Future Crunch:
<https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-malaria-belize-crime-mexico-city-bison-montana/>

Cheres,
       *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

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