According to a report by GSMA, the mobile industry increased its impact on all sustainable development goals (SGDs) in 2021, with the average impact score across the 17 SDGs reaching 53 out of 100, up from 49 in 2020 and none in 2015.
As per the report, the overall acceleration of impact indicates that the mobile industry is achieving 53 per cent of what it could potentially contribute to the SDGs. The industry continues to achieve its highest impact on SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) driven by the increased reach of mobile networks and take-up of mobile internet services.
The report notes that the biggest improvements were recorded in the mobile industry’s contribution to SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger) and SDG 4 (quality education). This is due to the increasing proportion of people using mobile for life-enhancing activities such as accessing government services, applying and searching for jobs and obtaining educational information for themselves or their children.
Commenting on the report, Mats Granryd, director, GSMA, said, “Mobile connectivity and digital inclusion are essential tools to achieve the ambitious goals laid out in the 2030 Agenda and help the world face into the headwinds of global inequality, poverty and conflict. We urge policymakers to address the barriers that constrain private sector investment in high-quality mobile networks and to join in helping close the ‘usage gap’ that holds back so many from living up to their potential in our increasingly connected world. Together, we can harness the power of connectivity as a catalyst for economic recovery, social progress, and digital inclusion, improving the lives of millions worldwide.”
The report further reveals that, on average, the gap between the usage of mobile-enabled services in high-income countries and low and middle-income countries (LMICs) is 17 percentage points, underlining the importance of operator efforts to introduce more locally-relevant content and upgrade networks to enable access to services requiring a higher-quality connection.
However, as per the report, 5G networks may create climate inequality, especially as high-income countries and China are leading the way in 5G adoption. GSMA believes that new use cases driven by 5G will increase average data usage and create the need for network densification, which implies that there is a prospect that 5G leads to efficient networks that could paradoxically result in higher emissions. To address this, GSMA recommended that telecom operators should deploy artificial intelligence (AI)-driven energy management systems along with switching to lithium batteries allowing energy to be retained/stored and distributed in a staggered manner.
