The ManicaPost
When it comes to global issues, access to high-speed internet might not seem to be a high priority. But when a community lacks internet access, its economy can suffer as residents deal with limited educational and employment opportunities.
In Zimbabwe and the rest of the world, many people face high internet costs and low, erratic — or non-existent — bandwidth.
According to the report produced by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz), at the end of December 2018, — 62,9 percent of Zimbabwe’s population had access to the Internet.
But by the end of June 2019, this figure had dropped to 57,2 percent.
A major contributor to the drop in internet usage rates is the increasing cost of mobile data and connectivity fees. Accordingly, the statistics reveal that at least 95 percent of Zimbabweans access the internet via their mobile devices using mobile data from mobile network operators such as Econet, Net-One, and Telecel.
Recent months have seen steep increases in mobile data costs across all three mobile networks while user income level has largely remained stagnant forcing internet users to prioritise spending on other services besides the internet.
Any drop in internet usage is worrying given the fact that the platform is an enabler for the enjoyment of other fundamental rights such as the right to free expression, access information and other seemingly distance rights such as the right to education and the freedom of association and assembly.
Furthermore, if an increase in national internet usage contributes to the growth of a country’s economy, it must be true that a decrease in the number of internet users will also contribute to a reduction of a country’s national income and economic growth.
The issue of internet connectivity is especially important in rural areas.
“Internet access is essential for rural communities,” says Christopher Mitchell, director of the Community Broadband Network Initiative, a programme of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a research and advocacy organisation.
“In some ways it’s even more important than for cities. The two things that immediately come to mind are education and jobs,” he says.
Homework options are limited without internet access in the home, he explains, “and employers are looking to put their jobs in places that have good internet access. Towns that have slow internet access are generally shrinking.”
“There are countries in Asia,” Mitchell remembers thinking, “that have a considerably larger broadband footprint than the United States. And the rural schools shouldn’t be left out.”
Inching closer to equal internet access
According to a study by the Blandin Foundation, a Minnesota-based non-profit focused on improving rural communities’ broadband access, the internet creates $1 850 in economic benefit per household per year and increases home values. It expands online commerce opportunities and connects factories to supply chains.
“Almost all industry at this point is high tech and expects constant, decent internet access,” says Mitchell. “And it’s not just about speeds. It’s about reliability.
“Because if you’re running a trucking company and you lose internet access, you can’t participate in the real-time bidding process, which is how that industry operates.”
Farmers, too, use the internet to monitor market prices and weather conditions and to find new markets for their goods. Sadly, the majority of farms have no internet access at all.
When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down classrooms earlier this year, students without broadband internet found themselves at a huge disadvantage as schools moved to online instruction.
“We were able to keep all our kids connected,” says Kim White, superintendent of Silverton schools in the US.
“We had 100 percent of our kids continue to participate. We were able to do physical education classes, after-school programming, and counselling sessions online.
“There were lots and lots of opportunities. If we hadn’t had that connection, it would have been paper and pencil packets.” — The Manica Post/ rotary.org.
