New coalition aims to push Internet costs down

Victor Barreiro Jr.

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The Alliance for Affordable Internet is pushing for legislation to make Internet connectivity around the world more affordable

CHEAPER INTERNET. The Alliance for Affordable Internet wants to make getting online significantly more affordable. Image from A4AI.org

MANILA, Philippines – A new group is looking to help connect the world by pushing for legislation around the globe that would significantly lower the cost of getting connected online.

The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) is composed of a number of companies and agencies, including Google, Facebook, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and the UK Department of International Development.

In A4AI’s launch statement, the alliance said it wants to “lead policy and regulatory reform and spur action to drive down artificially high Internet prices in developing countries.”

To do this, A4AI also announced its plans at the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation’s Annual Forum in Abuja, Nigeria.

The roadmap includes in-country engagements with 3 to 4 states by the end of 2013, leading to engagements with up to 12 countries by 2015. It is a commitment from the members of the coalition to follow a set of guidelines for international advocacy, and the introduction of an annual Affordability Report.

The first of these Affordability Reports will come out in December 2013.

Of the A4AI initiative, Tim Berners-Lee, one of the founders of the Internet, remarked:

“The result of high prices is a digital divide that slows progress in vital areas such as health, education and science. Yet with the advent of affordable smartphones, new undersea cables and innovations in wireless spectrum usage, there is simply no good reason for the digital divide to continue. The real bottleneck now is anti-competitive policies that keep prices unaffordable. The Alliance is about removing that barrier and helping as many as possible get online at reasonable cost.” – Rappler.com

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Victor Barreiro Jr.

Victor Barreiro Jr is part of Rappler's Central Desk. An avid patron of role-playing games and science fiction and fantasy shows, he also yearns to do good in the world, and hopes his work with Rappler helps to increase the good that's out there.