Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. It is a joy to be alongside global citizen. It is a joy to be with you hands not running, not running a five k exactly, I'm going to do the painful pun because that was a short run, maybe five k. It's a marathon, not a sprint. When we're getting to things like closing the digital divide, now, I want to understand the scale of the problem. Can you articulate just how difficult it is right now for people to actually get access.
So the positive is that the last four or five years we've added one billion people more to be diggn included. It's roughly five point five billion in the world that is having access to internet, but it's two point six billion today that still are not connected. And we all know being connected to your part of our society. You can work, you can get it location, you can get
digital information. It's so important. So other two point six billion people that are not connected on this earth today, roughly ninety percent of them are actually covered by broadband in some kind of fashion. Ninety percent ninety percent, And then you ask me, so why you're OneD ucing it? So there are different problems in different countries but basically you need to break it down in three things. The
access to the technology. That has to be some broad and there are still four five hundred million people on this earth that is outside the grid. And then it's roughly and then the second part is affordability. You need to be able to afford it. And that's not only to have the plan for broadband or wireless. It's so have a device in many countries that's very expensive to have.
And finally it has to be usability. It has to be digital education, digital healthcare and other societal important application to actually be important for dignitil inclusion. Many all are sitting here we think that being digited and included, we can we can stream YouTube or something like that. But here we talk about it shouldn't matter where you're born, where you come from, or where you live. You shall
have the same chance wherever you come from. And that you can have if you digit it included, you can apply for a job, you can get the job, all of that and you can learn which others that are inside the digital divide can do. So that's why the two point six billion people is very important to address together with the countries and with companies to see that we're actually shrinking that.
When you look at the learning side of the equation. I know that's something that Verizon's doing deeply. So you already say, look, most people actually have access in some way of they've got broadband they could tap into. Why are you looking at the education piece in particular, and what are you doing about that here in the United States.
So if you look what Variazon is doing, we have cities in Verizon where we connect our business to things that are in our society. One of those goals is to make ticketing inclusion for ten million students, getting students in the toughest areas where there are no connectivity to
actually be part of it. So we have roughly six hundred schools around the country where we have broadband into the school, we give them a device, and we give them digital stem education, and I have to use them all three because then you'll really get to the root of it. So far, our commitment over ten years is to educate ten million students. We have done seven million so far and we're six years left. So we're going to do ten million students in the low income areas
of the United States. Those schools are going to get broadband from us, and then I use my employees to be volunteers so they are part of the journey as well, to educate, maintain equipment, et cetera. So for us, it's an ecosystem. But then you ask me, why are we doing it? It's my business. My business is doing broadband. My business is to get children to understand and use digital tools and ultimately they might remember Verizon and then they're going to be a customer who.
Knows are you okay? So it's good business. But do your investors get that? Do they see the long term benefits rather than you know, margin today, revenue today, profit today.
I think that when you go away from the acronyms that everybody talks about and talk about what you're doing that is part of your business, everybody understands it because there are many acronyms ESD, D and I and all of that talk about what you're doing and why that is connecting to your business. For me to get broadland, to get you to use our service and then educate THEMSELM with STEM, they might even end up working for me.
And we have been onto this Verizonal Innovative Learning for more than ten years and we keep all the school We continue with them and many of the shielding has started with us in the first and second grade. They are now actually have graduated and they're out in the work life and they will always remember how they get their part of being in digitally included. So for us, this is a is an ecosystem that is so important for us, for our business, for being even more prosperous.
Can I just take a step back and for a moment, as two Europeans who've come to the US, how can you hear? Why are we here? Well, because it's the biggest economy in the world. Yes, and there are ten million children that need to be educated in stem by you in the biggest economy in the world. What is the US government doing about affordable connectivity? Because all I can see is actually they're pulling back on some of the funding for it.
So historically and now we're coming into a little more complicated Historically, US or still have ACP, which is affordable connectivity plans, meaning that low income families can get a subsidy to get broad band or wireless connectivity. Now there's a discussion in the compress if they're going to vote about again, but I have talked to many governments and
there are different challenges in different countries. But doing subsidy for low income families to getting connected is so important because they can be partners, they can apply for on job, they can work remotely when we are so many remote works today, customer care et cetera, and other works that you can do consultancy, et cetera. So being part of that and having access to that makes it you can grow,
you be part of our society. It's so important for the whole country for GDP growth and all of that.
I mean yes, and for me that still needs to resonate so much that we're even talking about children here in the United States that need corporate philanthropy to be able to learn, to earn, and to be able to afford affordable devices. Where have you seen the most tangible benefits You've talked about how you're getting out there ten million children, how already has some of the impact that you've thought about the digital divide already come to bear for productivity even here in the US.
I think here in the US, I mean I think in the whole world. I mean we saw coming off from COVID. I think that nobody could say that being connected is not important. You cann't do your work. You can get the information you needed to be connected. And that is not in us, it's all the world. All around the world. We saw countries like India flourishing to setting the digital Vivie very high up to see that they're connecting. They got their COVID subsidies, to families, to
mobile phones, see things we never thought can happen. But that triggered the whole world to think differently. And I usually say that the twenty first century infrastructure, that's mobility broadening cloud because then you can bring down the coast and you can reach any person on this earth that want to be part of our society.
Why is it your calling? You have you ever since you've been in the world of telecoms, thought this is just something that is impossible to ignore? Or does it become worse and worse the more we've become seeing education necessary through technology, healthcare necessary through technology.
I think it started probably some fifteen twenty years ago. I worked with the MDGs for the younger generation, that was the Millennium Development Goals that was before the STDs, and I went to Africa many times, and I connected villages and I remember vividly when I went to a theopia, for example, and we turned on internet in the community, the share how positive, how happy they were, and how thankful we are now part of our society. We can
now get information what als it started there. Then I've been been my long life mission to see that whatever I can you do from the platform I have and from the company I'm running, still with the technology and still with the business and strategy we have, I'm going to do everything to see that can close the digital divide.
Let's talk about not just the digital divide here in the US, but there's a digital divide globally. And that's something that you, in particular, have tried to harness, tried to focus on, trying to reduce and what you've got an eye on one billion people? Can you talk us through it?
Yeah. So we came out from that COVID and I felt that now it's time for me to do something greater on the global basis. I decided to get with World Economic Forum to set up a program over five years to see that we connect one billion people more. That started in the beginning of twenty one and what
it's all about. Is that not only getting broadband. As I said, it was about broadband, but it was either to be digital, education, healthcare, or financially included digitally because that was three things were so important coming out of COVID. So the only way we would count the new editions was actually if they are into that, and today we basically have one hundred and thirty seven countries being part of it, one hundred and sixty different champions doing commitments.
My commitment is or Verizon's commitment is a ten million student that we're committing and every company or government being part of it, they are committing to it. So that's how it started. We are now have three hundred and twenty different programs around the world. We're twenty three hundred and twenty I think that's a number. And we have passed seven hundred and eighty four million people in less than two and a half year that has been included.
Can we just yeah, seven hundred and eighty four million in two and a half years. Okay, so I'm playing Devil's advocate greenwashing. Yeah, tell me how you measure this? No?
So, yeah, so we did. That was one of the first things. So we have actually a team. We have an auditing team from a very reputable audited in firm auditing all the commitments done by governments or by the companies, whatever they're committing, and that they're they're succeeding with the result.
We're quarterly reporting and we do an annual report. We are on a second report because we started twenty one, twenty twenty second twenty year, twenty two was the second year, and then twenty three and twenty four and then as said, the goal is one billion, we're on seven eighty four. I think we're going to be ahead of the five years by.
The two point six billion you said came.
So this is part of the two point six billion that we're shrinking. The two point six billion.
And how if you're sat in this audient right now you're feeling pretty inspired by you going out there sticking your neckout on a one billion target, how can they help?
I think that any organization, any structure that is actually having part of the strategy to see that we're including people digitally on this earth can be part of it. And the beauty of it it has to be sort of private public because you cannot solve it yourself. I mean usually building networks to ninety nine percent is private capital. It's guys like me building networks. When it comes to affordability,
it actually work together with governments. If you're going to subsidize on all of that and then to create sort of usability healthcare, education, or financial inclusion digitally, mainly that's owned by governments, So you have to do it crossover.
If not, you're not going to succeed. So anyone that is working with those type of things and think that they can help and have an organization that commit, they're welcome to join the Edison Alliance that we're running in order to see that we bridge that gap and reduce it with one billion in less than five years.
And let's tackle the full two point six billion. Hands. It's an inspiration. Thank you very much. Keep up with a running, keep up with the marathon.
Thank you.
We appreciate it all so much