{"id":229582,"date":"2019-05-07T05:33:59","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T12:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&p=229582"},"modified":"2024-05-10T06:39:48","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T13:39:48","slug":"bridging-digital-divide","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/bridging-digital-divide","title":{"rendered":"Seeing across the Digital Divide"},"author":501,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1561,691,121242],"tags":[342892,342912,342902,6811],"department":[488822],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-229582","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economic-development","category-smart-communities","category-telecommunications","tag-digital-divide","tag-internet-provider","tag-internet-service","tag-market-planning","department-sustainability-risk"],"acf":{"short_description":"In a world where billions of people remain offline, one company is using smart maps to see the business and social opportunities others can\u2019t.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Ask urbanites to describe who lives on the wrong side of the digital divide, and you\u2019ll likely hear an answer that involves some combination of people who are poor, live in rural areas, and lack education.\r\n\r\nThat assessment isn\u2019t wrong, but it isn\u2019t complete, either. Across eight major economies\u2014among them the US, India, China, and Japan\u201424 percent of city dwellers are not connected to the Internet<\/a>."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Article Snapshot:<\/strong> Many Internet service providers have overlooked potential customers in locations worldwide, contributing to a digital divide with substantial economic consequences. One innovative provider in Italy is using technology to bridge the divide.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"The digital divide runs through big cities and small towns, keeping billions of people from a vital source of information, knowledge, and economic opportunity.\r\n\r\nThe cost is substantial. People without reliable Internet access have a more difficult time finding jobs, developing new skills, and improving their economic status, according to a report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis<\/a>.\r\n\r\nA look at one European economy exposes the roots of the problem and shows what can be done to address it.\r\n\r\nExamining Italy\u2019s Digital Divide <\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn some ways, Italy is a paradigm of the world economy\u2014a country undergoing a long-term shift from agrarian society to knowledge economy. That shift has driven much of the population to cities, creating an urbanization phenomenon common in developed nations. Today, just 30 percent of Italy\u2019s residents live in rural areas<\/a>. As recently as 1960, 66 percent did.\r\n\r\nAcross the country, 6 in 10 Italians are connected to the Internet\u2014a fairly low rate for a developed economy. (By comparison<\/a>, America\u2019s rate is 76 percent; Japan\u2019s is 91 percent, and the UK\u2019s is 95 percent.)"},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"

Urban Contrarians<\/strong><\/h2>\r\nPlenty of pundits say human populations are moving ineluctably to cities. But a vocal minority believes in the human instinct to buck a trend. Case in point: As some companies invest millions in downtown office buildings, others are leasing coworking space in suburban malls<\/a>.\r\n\r\nIn the book Our Towns<\/em>, James and Deborah Fallows document young professionals drawn to life outside the big city<\/a>. Meanwhile, a recent survey of millennials<\/a> found that 55 percent consider small or midsize towns \u201cfairly\u201d or \u201cvery\u201d appealing.\r\n\r\nWith the help of location intelligence, companies such as EOLO are seeing behind the headlines and delivering services to those who don\u2019t conform to pundits\u2019 predictions.","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In part, Italy\u2019s digital divide is the byproduct of geographic and economic barriers that few Internet service providers are willing or able to overcome. In the country\u2019s mountains, hills, and valleys, it is not economical to install the fiber wiring that could deliver a broadband digital connection to each house.\r\n\r\nYet, where other companies saw small clusters of residents and a bevy of technical challenges, one Internet service provider saw a business opportunity mixed with a social good. The company used location intelligence to peer through the barriers that kept other providers out of the market.\r\n\r\nSeeing Unseen Opportunities <\/strong>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s easy to cover a big city with fiber,\u201d says Daniela Daverio, CFO of Italian Internet service provider EOLO. \u201cIt's very difficult to cover the municipalities in Italy. But we know that the people are in little cities. So for a social goal, it's important to have a solution.\u201d\r\n\r\nEOLO\u2019s solution is to provide Internet access via a wireless connection. Beginning in 1996 in the north of the country, the company began placing base stations\u2014often in mountainous regions\u2014that beamed broadband access to homes within the station\u2019s line of sight. This over-the-air service doesn\u2019t match the fastest wired Internet speeds (it maxes out around 100 MB per second), but it enables video streaming and other services expected of a modern connection.\r\n\r\nEOLO\u2019s customers number 400,000. A quarter of them signed up last year and 150,000 more are expected to this year. Collectively, they are a testament to the equalizing force and economic power of the Internet. They include:\r\n