A cable landing on the coast makes a compelling photograph. The harder story begins inland: whether a shopkeeper can afford a reliable connection, whether a school can keep its equipment running, and whether a small firm can use the internet to reach customers.
The World Bank’s digital development work offers a useful starting point for thinking about connectivity alongside the capabilities needed to use it. Infrastructure matters. So do skills, institutions, and the everyday cost of participating.
My view
We should judge digital infrastructure by the opportunities it enables. A new connection has more economic value when a business can use it to receive a payment, track stock, or sell beyond its neighborhood. Access and productive use belong in the same conversation.
What to watch
Look beyond network coverage. Ask about reliability, the cost of devices and data, and whether local businesses have useful services available in the languages they use. Those are practical tests of whether connectivity is becoming opportunity.