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Closing the Access Gap: Innovation to Accelerate Universal Internet Adoption

Roughly four billion people globally have yet to adopt the internet. By including internet access in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the global community is committed to expanding access and promoting adoption. As governments, donors, think tanks, and others try to understand how to achieve the SDGs, a significant body of work on barriers and progress toward internet access and adoption is expanding.

The Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) commissioned this paper to understand potential business model and technology innovations for accelerating access and adoption of mobile phones and the internet in emerging markets and inform the development community of innovations underway, as well as lessons emerging from these efforts.

This report shares recent and ongoing efforts to test business model innovations, providing both a framework to help decision makers consider where innovation can best address gaps in their specific contexts, as well as lessons and opportunities for action across the ecosystem.