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ITU - Press Conference: Launch of Facts & Figures 2024
Storyline
Briefing reporters on the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) Facts and Figures 2024 report in Geneva on Wednesday, Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, said: “We must intensify our efforts to connect the world in order not to leave anyone behind.”
ITU’s annual report on global connectivity found that an estimated 5.5 billion people are online in 2024, an increase of 227 million people based on revised estimates for 2023.
While an estimated 68 per cent of the global population is now online and all indicators tracked in the report show improvement, stubborn digital divides persist and about one-third of the world’s people remain offline.
The estimates featured in the report from ITU, the UN Agency for Digital Technologies, show that connectivity continues to increase worldwide but reveal the complexities of reaching communities in low-income countries.
Recognizing the urgent work that remains to connect the 2.6 billion people that are offline, Mr. Zavazava said: “We renew our commitment to achieving universal and meaningful connectivity so that everyone can access the Internet in optimal conditions, at an affordable cost, anytime, anywhere.”
Speaker:
- Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau
Source: UNTV CH and ITU
Restrictions: NONE
Language: English/NATS
Dateline: 27 November 2024 Geneva, Switzerland
TRT: 01:45
Speakers:
- Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau
- Thierry Geiger, ITU Senior Economist and Head of the Data and Analytics Division
1. Wide shot. Exterior. United Nations Office at Geneva.
2. SOUNDBITE (English): Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau: “Globally, our 2024 estimates show that one-third of humanity still does not use the internet, and that accounts for 5.5 billion people who are online, an increase of 227 million people based on our revised estimates for the year 2023. An estimated 2.6 billion are estimated to be offline, down from revised estimate of 2.8 billion for the year 2023.”
3. Wide shot, press briefing room
4. SOUNDBITE (English): Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau: “We embrace new technologies as they come. But it is not only about technology, it is what technology can do for the people.”
5. Wide shot, briefing table
6. SOUNDBITE (English): Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau:“We should look at technology with a human face. What is it that we are doing with the technology that we are producing? It is not only about investing in technology, but making sure some of the technology could be personal technology, like my smartphone. And some technology could be communal to make sure that communities have access.”
7. Wide shot, press briefing room
8. SOUNDBITE (English): Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau: “We must intensify our efforts to connect the world, not to leave anyone behind. To address the barriers that I outlined, affordability being one of them, digital skills being another, and many other factors that I mentioned. We renew our commitment to achieving universal and meaningful connectivity so that everyone can access the Internet in optimal conditions, at an affordable cost, anytime, anywhere.”
9. Aerial. Exterior. International Telecommunication Union headquarter building. Geneva, Switzerland.
10. Animation. ITU Flag.
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