The International Telecommunication Union’s Partner2Connect Digital Coalition has secured more than $100 billion in commitments to expand internet access worldwide.
Despite this, the agency also warned that closing the global digital divide by 2030 will require between $2.6 trillion and $2.8 trillion, a gap that dwarfs the milestone just reached.
The announcement was made at the World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2026 in Geneva, where governments, development banks, technology firms and international organisations gathered to reaffirm commitments to universal, meaningful connectivity.
The scale of the remaining task is stark: roughly one quarter of the world’s population is still offline.
ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin called the achievement a landmark moment, saying Partner2Connect surpassing its $100 billion goal marks progress toward universal connectivity and shows that “every pledge makes a difference in bringing everyone on board our shared digital future.”
Africa emerges as a focal point, not an afterthought
For African readers, the coalition’s African-focused commitments carry particular weight. The GSMA pledged support for inclusive AI development across the continent through its African AI Language Models project.
The initiative is designed to build AI systems that reflect African languages, cultures and knowledge, addressing a gap that has left the continent underrepresented in global AI development.
Microsoft, separately, committed to connecting more than 450 rural and underserved community hubs in Kenya through satellite-enabled infrastructure integrated with its Azure Space platform.
ITU data shows Africa and Asia-Pacific currently account for the highest levels of project implementation among the coalition’s more than 1,000 pledges from 149 countries, with projects now under way in over 190 countries.
Elsewhere, the Asian Development Bank pledged to mobilise $20 billion in public and private investment by 2035 for its Asia-Pacific Digital Highway, aimed at improving connectivity for up to 650 million people.
Microsoft also committed roughly $18 billion to Australia by 2029 for AI and cloud infrastructure.
Boston Consulting Group pledged $500 million toward AI for social impact, ZTE Corporation committed $450 million over three years to AI ecosystem partnerships, and South Africa’s Telkom pledged $6.1 million to establish the Telkom AI Institute, aimed at building AI and digital skills domestically.
From pledges to delivery
Cosmas Luckyson Zavazava, director of the ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, said reaching the $100 billion mark is a defining milestone, but the coalition’s task now shifts from fundraising to execution.
“Now is the time to turn these pledges into impactful projects,” he said, calling for alignment between country priorities and partner commitments.
Though the ITU coordinates the coalition, individual organisations remain responsible for delivering their own commitments, a structure that leaves accountability distributed rather than centralised.
The organisation says women are the primary intended beneficiaries of many of the projects, followed by children and persons with disabilities, with infrastructure investment representing the largest category of funding committed so far.
For the roughly quarter of humanity still without internet access, many of them in Africa, the coalition’s next phase, focused on accelerating implementation and tracking real-world impact, will determine whether $100 billion in pledges becomes measurable progress or simply a larger number on a very long road to 2030.
