KIGALI, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Innovation in technology or new approaches to deliver mobile broadband coverage can play a key role in connecting the unconnected population worldwide to internet, researchers said in a new report released on Wednesday.
Dubbed Closing the Coverage Gap: How Innovation Can Drive Rural Connectivity, the report was released on the second day of GSMA's Mobile 360 Africa conference held in Kigali, capital city of Rwanda.
Though the mobile industry has made phenomenal progress in providing mobile broadband connectivity to billions of people, more than 750 million people around the world do not live within the footprint of mobile broadband, rendering them unable to use the internet or benefit from all that it can offer, the report of GSMA said.
Delivering mobile broadband connectivity to the 750 million individuals without such coverage will require a shift in network deployment and management, such as moving beyond the traditional business models that have enabled the roll out of networks around the globe, it said.
The report recommended use of lower cost, simplified or modular infrastructure including "light towers" that are cheaper and less complex to deploy to seal the coverage gap.
It also recommended solving the challenge of providing reliable and low-cost off-grid power, among other innovations.
The coverage gap is particularly concentrated in rural and remote areas, especially in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa, which is home to 41 percent of individuals in the world who don't have access to 3G or 4G connectivity, according to the report.
