Sec. 3. Findings

325 words·~1 min read·/bill/116/hr/1359/eh/section-3

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

Congress makes the following findings: Internet access has been a driver of economic activity around the world. Bringing Internet access to the more than 4,000,000,000 people who do not have it could increase global economic output by $6,700,000,000,000 and raise 500,000,000 people out of poverty. The number of Internet users has more than tripled from 1,000,000,000 to over 3,000,000,000 since 2005, including 2,000,000,000 living in the developing world, yet more than half of the world’s population remains offline, living without the economic and social benefits of the Internet.

By the end of 2016, over 80 percent of households in the developed world had Internet access, compared with just 40 percent of households in developing countries and just 11 percent in the world’s least developed countries. Of the world’s offline population, an estimated 75 percent live in just 20 countries, and rural, female, elderly, illiterate, and low-income populations are being left behind. Studies suggest that women are disproportionately affected by a digital gap in developing countries, where there are on average 23 percent fewer women online then men.

Bringing an additional 600,000,000 women online could contribute $13,000,000,000 to $18,000,000,000 to annual GDP across 144 developing countries. The United States has been a leader in promoting access to an open, secure, interoperable Internet around the world. Recognizing that support for expanded Internet access furthers United States economic and foreign policy interests, including efforts to end extreme global poverty and enabling resilient, democratic societies, the Department of State launched a diplomatic effort called Global Connect .

Internet access in developing countries is hampered, in part, by a lack of infrastructure and a poor regulatory environment for investment. Build-once policies and approaches, which seek to coordinate public and private sector investments in roads and other critical infrastructure, can reduce the number and scale of excavation and construction activities when installing telecommunications infrastructure in rights-of-way, thereby reducing installation costs for high-speed Internet networks and serving as a development best practice.