Working Group Report

Strategies Towards Universal Smartphone Access Report

September 27, 2022

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.

The Working Group on Smartphone Access was co-chaired by Nick Read, CEO of Vodafone Group, Houlin Zhao, Secretary General of the ITU and Rabab Fatima, UN High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS). The Working Group included representatives from: America Móvil; the government of Benin; the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN; the government of Ghana; the GSMA; the International Trade Centre; Intelsat; the International Science Technology and Innovation Centre for South-South Cooperation; Millicom; Smart Africa; ZTE; and the World Wide Web Foundation. The lead author of the report was Professor Christopher Yoo, John H. Chestnut Professor of Law, Communication, and Computer & Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania. The report has been informed by research from GSMA, ITU and 19 structured expert interviews, as well as insights from International Trade Centre (ITC) convened focus group of entrepreneurs and extensive desk research.

Prior to this report, efforts to address smartphone access challenges have been hindered by a lack of concrete information regarding their relative importance and the effectiveness of interventions to address them.

This study aims to evaluate their importance and make recommendations of priority actions – to drive real progress in the area of smartphone access and tackling the digital divide.

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Date published: September 27, 2022

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