When global leaders descend on New York next week for the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), they’ll be pushing for solutions to end violent conflict and transform the billions of lives around the globe.
Those are noble aspirations to tackle. The universally adopted Global Goals offer a blueprint for more prosperous and sustainable societies everywhere. Yet, while no one doubts technology as a means of delivery of these commendable goals, the role of technology, these days, is very much at stake.
While mobile communications has and could continue to do wonders for rural Americans and the world’s poorest, the global rollout of the latest innovation within mobile, 5G, faces stiff political headwinds.
Tech and telecom providers have a duty to the world beyond profits and innovation. Digital connectivity — made possible by super-fast 5G — promises to do much more than knit society closer together; it provides us ever more potent tools to empower the downtrodden.
Most estimates peg 5G as 100 times faster than 4G, and this will usher in greater connectivity, speed and reliability, advances that will usher in more humanitarian good.
For instance, 5G will empower doctors to perform surgeries through robotic instruments and cameras, which means a patient in a remote area, even refugee camp, can have access to a renown medical specialist in real time.
In remote areas, 5G will revolutionize students’ education, allowing them to enrich their learning with Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Beyond health and education, logistics, transport, mobility, manufacturing and agriculture are sectors at the cusp of this revolution.
In today’s digital world, connectivity is king. At UNGA, it’s time for us to reflect on how governments, aid agencies and the private sector can work together to deploy 5G for simply more than faster downloads of your favorite HBO program.
During my time as assistant secretary-general of the United Nations, we worked hard to empower people in developing countries by giving them access to markets and connecting them digitally to the global economy. We know, for a fact, that this helped to lift millions from poverty.
How can this be implemented, codified, and scaled?
Here in the United States, like most other countries, rural and lower-income areas lag far behind big cities like New York in cellular and broadband access. This gap hurts American farmers and those living in rural areas throughout America’s heartland. A sad fact: 30 percent of rural Americans lack access to high speed broadband technology, a leading indicator of inequality.
We can bridge the connectivity gap in America by investing in rural connectivity and prioritizing the rollout of 5G technology. New 5G networks will empower young Americans to connect with resources all over the globe. As 5G technology scales with the Internet of Things and AI, America’s farmers will be able to more precisely monitor and care for their crops, improving yields.
Examples of how greater connectivity can transform the lives of the poor abound. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Kenya, networks are in place even in refugee camps with the intent of lifting those from poverty by setting up free education centers, a way to give displaced peoples the ability to learn new, lifelong skills.
To date, we have helped over 86,000 young people in refugee camps. More can be done. By 2020, we aim to enable 3 million young refugees to access a digital education in countries where Vodafone operates. The deployment of mobile — including 5G — will only accelerate this and many more positive impacts.
There can be no true debate around 5G without accounting for these humanitarian aspects and the life-changing impact of mobile networks here at home.
Governments should vigorously debate how best to secure and ensure the resilience of these networks, including what additional measures may be needed beyond the multilayered protections in place today.
But they should also examine the global impact that 5G promises for the world.
Joakim Reiter is the group external affairs director at Vodafone Group. He previously served as assistant secretary-general of the United Nations and as the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.