In a massive effort to bring Internet access to the whole world, Google has joined hands with a super-group of tech companies to announce the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI). The Alliance includes not only names from the tech industry, but also has the backing of government agencies and aid organisations. Besides Google, the Alliance includes names like Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, Intel, Ericsson and Cisco from the tech world. The aim of the A4AI is simple – it wishes to help bring down the cost of Internet access through policy change.
Aiming to bring the developing world online
“New technologies play a crucial role in bringing the Internet to more people worldwide--we’ve developed and invested in many of these big ideas over the years,” wrote Jennifer Haroon, Access Principal at Google in a blog post announcing the programme. “We broke new ground with balloon-powered Internet access, are bringing broadband to Africa with TV White Spaces, and are funding organizations like the Internet Society to develop Internet Exchange Points in emerging markets.”Google clearly seems to be the company that will be playing the major role in A4AI. The specific goal for the Alliance is to reach the UN Broadband Commission target of entry-level broadband access priced at less than 5 percent of monthly income the world over. Currently, according to the ITU, households in developing nations pay roughly 30 percent of the monthly income for a fixed Internet connection. The Alliance hopes to make it more affordable to own a connection in developing countries. It hopes to do so by working on several initial projects like publishing a set of policy and regulatory best practices, working with about 10 governments and more with hopes of engagement by 2015 and release the first annual affordability report. It’s a noble cause that the tech companies have undertaken. After all, a report suggests that 90 percent of people in 49 of the least developed countries are still not online. "No single solution can connect the 5 billion people living without internet access today," the blog post reads. To bring countries of the world on an equal footing access to affordable Internet connectivity is vital and it is heartening to see Google and other companies take the onus upon themselves to bring the world online.
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