Latin America’s third-largest country has performed well economically over the past decade. Government initiatives under the Vive Digital plan have played a part in the economy’s strong performance. The plan sets the country up for the long term in terms of the economy and improving the quality of life for citizens. The first phase promoted broadband coverage and adoption across the country – demographically, geographically and across all social classes.

GSMA Intelligence is today publishing the next instalment in our country overview series, in which we take a close look at Pakistan and examine how the mobile industry is acting as a catalyst for the development of a digital society.

GSMA is today publishing a report that underscores the role mobile connectivity plays in building digital societies across Asia and how policymakers can support the development of digital ecosystems across the region.

Digital inclusion – defined here as the expansion of global connectivity and mobile internet adoption – can deliver broad economic and social benefits by bringing communications services to previously unconnected populations. This in turn can help reduce poverty, improve infrastructure and services, and further increase internet access and usage. Unconnected and underserved communities risk falling further behind, widening the digital divide, if barriers to digital inclusion remain unaddressed.

In this first report we reveal that one in ten of the Latin America population – about 64 million people – are still outside of 3G/4G mobile broadband coverage range, and unable to benefit from the social and economic benefits that mobile broadband connectivity can deliver. Closing these ‘coverage gaps’ and providing universal mobile broadband access is therefore a major goal for regional governments, particularly as fixed-line penetration is very low across much of the region.

This is the second in a series of reports. The first report – Building digital societies in Asia – published in June 2015, analyses key enablers to realising the socioeconomic benefits of digitisation, focusing on the proposed plans of six key countries: Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand.

GSMA Intelligence is today publishing a series of country-level case studies in collaboration with the GSMA’s Digital Inclusion programme demonstrating the approaches being deployed by mobile operators and others to address rural coverage – a key barrier in expanding mobile internet access to unreached populations.

A number of countries in the region have articulated, and in some cases legislated, digital society initiatives as part of their medium- to long-term economic development goals. Their aim is to effect the development of scalable solutions that can increase the level of engagement between governments, businesses and citizens, improve service delivery, drive efficiency in resource utilisation, stimulate economic diversification, create new jobs, and increase overall productivity

We focus on coverage in this report. Globally, 90% of the world's population is covered by 2G networks and 73% by 3G. This implies that 10% of people are living in areas unable to access basic voice and SMS services, while 30% live outside of range of the mobile internet on a 3G speed or higher.

Agri VAS has been developed to overcome the ‘information gap’ faced by farmers in developing countries as well as connect farmers with other key players in the agriculture value-chain. Farming still accounts for 47% of the workforce on average across emerging markets compared to 5% in developed ones, making it a key sector economically and socially.

This is the fifth in our country overview series (following Sri Lanka, Peru, Nigeria and Bangladesh), in which we take a deep dive into the mobile market of the Philippines, and a closer look at the innovation ecosystem taking shape there.

In the GSMA Intelligence Mobile for Development country overview series, we analyse the evolution and outlook of national mobile markets in the developing world.

India's digital transformation journey has been ongoing for several decades. However, recent months have seen a number of initiatives from the Indian government aimed at making the country 5G ready and ultimately fulfilling its Digital India ambitions. Mobile is at the heart of efforts to realise the three areas of the Digital India vision: digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen; digital governance and services on-demand; and the digital empowerment of citizens.

While the transformative socioeconomic impacts of digital technologies are well established, a digital divide persists in Africa, where around two thirds of the population do not currently use mobile internet. Against this backdrop, the GSMA has launched the Digital Africa Index - an interactive web tool to support policymakers and regulators.

To understand the performance of universal service funds (USFs) in Africa, the GSMA conducted an extensive study. This included a survey of stakeholders, including USF authorities, government ministries and service providers. The results highlight structural and operational challenges requiring urgent attention from policymakers and USF authorities.

Quality of service (QoS) regulation is at the heart of efforts to realise the goal of high service quality levels. In Sub-Saharan Africa, most countries follow a direct regulatory approach, but key findings from a GSMA survey of national regulatory authorities and service providers reveal the limitations of current QoS regulatory regimes in the region, which we highlight in this report. We also bring attention to important considerations for realising the goal of effective QoS regulation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Amid trade tensions and ongoing reforms, which are being criticised for not moving fast enough, several countries have designed their own digital taxes. At a time when retail and domestic businesses are under pressure (even prior to the Covid-19 pandemic), criticism of big tech will escalate unless there are adequate revisions to international taxation rules.

The journey to 5G has started in Africa and is gathering pace across the region. 5G network ecosystem players in the region must find ways to deliver cost-effective and efficient 5G networks with an implementation strategy that balances investment and value creation.