According to Digital Divide Institute, Meaningful Broadband ecosystems result from a convergence of innovations as follows:
Ethics: parts of the meaningful broadband ecosystem must interact to produce optimal “net impact“, defined as benefit – minus harm. Metrics must balance human development, with economic and societal development, e.g. sustainable development goals.
Technology: Technological innovations must involve co-deployment of supply and demand, so that infrastructures are developed specifically to achieve ethical impacts tied to “last mile solutions.” Non-digital infrastructure upgrades e.g. smart electrification must be aligned with digital upgrades.
Public Policy: Government should use a mix of tools – budgetary, regulatory, legal, spectrum licensing, universal services and “smart subsidies” to move markets in ways that further meaningful broadband ecosystems. State-owned enterprises should play a specific role in meaningful ecosystems.
Management: Management innovations in both government bureaucracies and the private sector should be established. Data sharing should be applied on an interministerial and cross-sector basis. Integration must be achieved – government to government, government to business and government to consumer.
Finance: A mix of financial instruments must be combined including the use of government budgets, use of development assistance, e.g. concessional lending, venture capital, venture philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. Investment by foreign Big Tech and Overseas Development Assistance must be combined with.
