Great challenges and great opportunities

According to data from the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), a third of the world’s population, 2.6 billion people, lacked internet access in 2024. Of those 2.6 billion people, 1.8 billion lived in rural areas.

But with great challenges come great opportunities for all of us. Digital technologies are by nature scalable and distributed. They can make computing power available more widely, including to places where they don’t currently exist. That can mean providing new digital services to rural communities, isolated workforces or villages currently lacking infrastructure or business investment. 

Connecting the unconnected is no longer a matter of social good—it is the single greatest untapped driver of economic growth.

The World Bank estimates that a 10% increase in broadband penetration can boost GDP by up to 2.5% in developing countries, while GSMA research shows closing the mobile internet usage gap could add $700 billion to global GDP by 2030. 

For businesses, this is not charity but opportunity: each newly connected community represents new markets, fresh talent pools, and innovation hubs. By extending digital access, we don’t just reduce inequality, we unlock billions in economic value that can reshape industries, expand global trade, and accelerate growth for those bold enough to invest in inclusion.

Nokia’s recently published People & Planet Impact Report shows that Nokia has a unique role in strengthening social bonds and building healthy, successful and productive communities. WE do this by looking to maximize our positive impact – and minimize our negative impact – on the world.

We must always strive to ensure the ‘handprint’ benefits of technology exceed the inevitable ‘footprint’, the impact on people and the environment. When managed correctly, technology has an important role to play in helping to resolve many of the worlds’ challenges, including accessibility to economic opportunity.  The enabling role of technology is where we can have an outsized impact.

At Nokia, one of our key strategic sustainability priorities is to bridge the digital divide and therefore we focus on two key areas: connecting the unconnected and enabling the connected. This covers both reducing the coverage/usage gap as well as focusing on digital skills and end user safety and security awareness.

Connecting the unconnected 

One of the key issues in connecting the unconnected is the lack of reliable power in many areas where this connectivity gap exists today, primarily in the global south. Nokia’s Rural Connect is a solution designed to extend reliable and affordable connectivity to remote, sparsely populated, and underserved rural regions. It addresses one of the primary causes of digital divides – the high per-user cost required to bring connectivity to low-population areas. 

By reusing existing and refurbished radio access network (RAN) hardware, Rural Connect accelerates deployment. This approach maximizes hardware reuse, minimizing inventory and significantly lowering the costs associated with masts and towers. The solution integrates seamlessly with renewable energy systems, providing a secure and sustainable power supply, a critical factor in remote locations. 

The impact of Rural Connect is already being felt. Deployments in Ethiopia, Egypt, Cameroon, and Mali are bringing 2G, 3G, and 4G connectivity to underserved communities, utilizing a variety of backhaul options to ensure reliable service. One example of use comes from a rural Cameroonian town, where the initial deployment of Rural Connect resulted in a fivefold increase in mobile users within two weeks. 

In Peru, our Amazon connectivity project involves the deployment of a Nokia fiber network in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Delivered in collaboration with Global Fiber Peru, this initiative aimed to reduce the digital divide by providing fiber connections to over 500,000 people for the first time through the connection of 400 communities, enabling high-speed internet access, as well as support for local businesses and community growth through improved connectivity

Enabling the connected 

Between 2022-2024 our corporate social responsibility initiatives reached more than 800,000 direct beneficiaries including more than 110,000 added last year alone. 

In Ghana, our Digital Skills Center project aims to advance digital skills, taking advantage of the 5G deployment there to foster innovation. We are building a dedicated space for the provision of digital skills training and mentorship, and we will provide that training and mentorship to boost confidence and increase engagement in the digital economy. The project seeks to empower the next generation, promote social inclusion, and encourage digital literacy especially among girls and young people.

Collaboration among key stakeholders such as Nokia, Next Generation Infraco (NGIC), Plan International Finland, Plan International Ghana, three partner Universities and the Center for national Distance and Open Schooling (CENDLOS) will ensure that participants are job-ready and competitive in the labor market while proposing solutions to prevailing challenges to developing local contents.

One of my favorite examples here is the work that we have done with UN Women, developing a collaborative program to enhance women’s employability, entrepreneurship and agency in the world of technology. 

The model was piloted in the Middle East & Africa in 2022 and scaled up globally in 2023 and 2024. The program leverages Nokia’s and UN Women’s respective knowledge of contexts, market needs and opportunities for tech solutions to accelerate achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment. In 2024 the initiative was delivered in seven countries: Jordan, Tunisia, Türkiye, Argentina, South Africa, India and the Philippines.

In parallel, a separate workstream, Action for Transition to Workforce, was tailored to address the opportunity to increase the number of women working in tech roles within the technology industry. The concept was piloted in Saudi Arabia between 2022 and 2023, before being expanded in 2024 and applied to Kenya with the creation of an adapted Learnership program. In total 357 women enrolled in the program, benefiting from the contributions of 222 global Nokia volunteers who invested approximately 5,500 hours.

Real impact for people and planet

The challenge is clear, but so is the prize. Extending digital access is no longer just about bridging a social gap, it is about unlocking vast reserves of untapped economic potential. By bringing the next billions online, the world can fuel innovation, strengthen global markets, and create more resilient, inclusive growth

Nokia’s networks support approximately 271 million fixed connections and 5.6 billion mobile subscriptions across 120 countries. We are the only truly global supplier of mobile and fixed networks. 

That means we have a unique opportunity to have a positive impact on a global scale, through connecting, but also enabling communities to realize the opportunities created through digital. If that doesn’t make you want to get to work in the morning, I don’t know what will!