Delivering Internet Access to the Underserved

We've got a great voice, Yeah, we do. Indeed, Vicky Robinson as general manager of the air Band Initiative at Microsoft. They bring broadcast broadband connectivity to people living in unserved rural areas globally. It launched back in She is with us via zoom in Washington, d C. Vicky, Happy New Year.

Great to have you here with us again. Talk to us at bit about the initiative and what you guys have achieved so far because you've been around what now you're in your fifth or sixth year, that's correct, and happy New Year. Thanks so much for having me um. As you've mentioned that your been initiative has been around for five years now, since twenty seventeen, and our whole objective is to expand access to Internet Internet access throughout

the globe. And we do this largely because we view it as our responsibility as a business imperative to enable widespread use of our technology. And so since we embarked upon this work, to date, we've extended high speed Internet access to fifty one million people across sixteen countries as well as the United States. And that includes nine million on the continent of Africa and four million here in the United States. So how are you doing it? What's

the technology that you're using. We're using a variety of technologies, but what's really a core and important for us is the partnership model. So I think it's important to clarify uh this point that this is not work that Microsoft is doing directly. We know that there are some of the tech sect or who are in fact providing connectivity directly,

but that's not our approach. Our approach instead is focused on partnering with others in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors in order to increase access to the Internet throughout the world. And so in doing that, we use a variety of technology solutions. I have to ask, but I'm

not a cynic. I'm an optimist. But perhaps somebody listening may say, Okay, well, of course Microsoft wants everyone connected to the internet, because the more people who are connected, the more of those people could sign up for Office three, or use Microsoft Teams, or use the products that that we all use from Microsoft. And we don't dispute that. Uh, that's part of the opportunity side. Listen. For our perspective, we believe that we have an opportunity and an obligation

to uh have our technology widely deployed. And so yes, um, the Internet is an enabler of at and we certainly benefit from more people being online. We don't run from that, but we also view this as part of our corporate social responsibility as well. And I will point out to him it's not a given that if you're going to be connected to the Internet that you will by default use Microsoft technology. But that is part of a calculation in us doing this work. We don't we don't shy

away from that reality. How do you pick up the momentum in the speed right there's you talk about the in roads and success you've made um so far, but there are millions, tens of millions of people, hundreds of millions of people right that are still not connected. So yes, yea progress, but so much more to be done. How do you pick it up? So much more to be done? I mean, I think you were talking about this as

we were jumping into the conversation. A third of the world, two point seven billion people are not connecting to the internet. So that's a huge challenge. But I will say the pandemic and people being forced to shelter in whether it's for learning or for doing your job or getting medical services, that really helped to shine a light on this issue in a way, um that I can tell you from doing this work for the past two decades has not

been easy to kind of translate. And so when you think about the two point seven billion people across the world, which is a third of the world, and then here domestically, according to our data, you have a hundred and twenty million people or third of the United States who are not using the internet. It is a big, hairy problem. But the good news is is that there is a lot of awareness and commitment globally by governments as well as a private sector to address this problem in a

meaningful way. And so one example of that here in the United States is an infrastructure bill that was pasted last year and it's infused in sixty five billion dollars to address this this very problem here domestically. What's the biggest sticky point? Sticking point? I mean and I and to be fair in the emerging economies, I mean kudos, I think in terms of what you guys are doing. But some of these people are just you know, they're trying to even just put food food on their table.

Like it's a very tough environment. There's so much to be done, is it? So where do you get caught up? Uh? In problems? Uh? Is it governments? Is it just working within systems that don't have a lot of great infrastructure? On so many different levels? What is it? It's multifaceted actually, So one thing to point out is that when you're talking about uh develop you know, Global South and and and and developing countries, um, there is also the barrier

of energy access. So if you look at Africa, for example, where we are committed to expand access to a hundred million people on the continent, many of those people don't have energy access. So that's a that's a barrier, and that's something that you need to address because of course, you can't talk about internet access if you don't have at base energy access. So it's really thinking about program that address both the energy challenges, but as as well

as the lack of internet access. To your point, it also needs to be affordable, um and so uh there while if you have uh internet access, it's available and it is available to certain parts of the world, if you can't afford it, it's just it's it's just as more well may not be a barrier, it's available because it's a barrier to you. And so it is important

for governments. Uh. This has to be a whole of society, whole world approach for government to lean in, whether it's through funding programs for deployment of high speel Internet access skills devices. It's multifaceted, well, Vicky. A lot of it does have to do with the technology and the actual way that you get the signal to rural areas and areas of the world that are unconnective. We know Elon Musk is working very hard with Starlink to bring Internet

to previously unconnected places. Any plans to work with with Starlink, the SpaceX connectivity, Internet connectivity UH business, We're We're open to working with everyone, but you don't currently work pardon you don't currently work with starlink. Right, Microsoft does work with starlink, but airband specifically not not currently. But we are partnering with via set, who, like Starlink, provides satellite

based internet connectivity UM. In fact, as part of our recent partnership with via set, and this is the first of its kind. Um that, at least from an airband perspective, we are committed to extending raw band access to ten million people across the world, five million of which are on the continent of Africa, and we are a big tent. We're open to working with all partners and the private, public, and nonprofit sectors, and so we're certainly open to that.

Believe solutions light um uh starling in the low Earth orbiting satellite provide a lot of promise for attacking this problem in a meaningful way. Hey Vicky, just have thirty seconds, so if you could be quick please, But in terms of recession or recession with the economic, global, economic macro environment might be, how will that may be slow? Are you seeing that? And could that possibly slow your initiative?

And again very quickly, um any anything's possible, of course, but again I think the promise and of what's required to actually exists in the digital world, um, and the promise that technology holds to act as a deflationary force. I think, combined with the government investments that we're seeing crop up a wrong world that um, that will help to hopefully blunt those um the macroeconomic environment and the

potential risk here. All right. Vicky Robinson, general manager of Airband Initiative over at Microsoft, joining us via zoom from Washington, d have to say, I feel like we've been talking a long time too about connecting the whole world. Yeah. Interesting to think about the devices to write sort of you know, hop scotching the idea of computers and going right to phones