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Ericsson and UNICEF partner up to address lack of connectivity at schools

Gigaconnect is an initiative launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UNICEF in 2019 that hopes to bring internet connectivity to every school in the world.

Today, Ericsson announced that it would assist in this cause by helping to map out the connectivity at schools in 35 countries.

Ericsson will assist with collection, validation, analysis, monitoring and visual representation of the connectivity at schools. The firm will also contribute funding toward the initiative.

“Ericsson is uniquely positioned to be a key partner in helping address this important issue due to our technology expertise, global scale, decades of experience in public/private partnerships, and proven results connecting students and educators,” vice president of Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility, Heather Johnson, said in a statement announcing the partnership.

As regards the visual representation of connectivity at schools, that’s already underway.

If you head over to this website you’ll find an interactive map. Click on the country to view the amount of schools in each country that Ericcson has been able to map so far.

Unfortunately there isn’t much data regarding the average speed of connectivity though we suspect that this will be added as the project progresses.

On that note, Ericsson has said that it expects to have completed the mapping of schools and connectivity in the 35 countries by 2023.

We’re curious to see how this initiative addresses the problem of connectivity around the world especially here in Africa there are several challenges that have stymied connectivity drives in the past.

That having been said, Ericsson, ITU and UNICEF look like a rather strong team so we’re hopeful that the trio can get it right where others haven’t though its a feat likely to require help from more players.

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