The global drive to connect the world’s unconnected has reached a major financial milestone, with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) announcing that commitments under its Partner2Connect (P2C) Digital Coalition have exceeded $100 billion.
Yet the United Nations agency says the achievement also highlights the enormous challenge ahead, as one in every four people worldwide still has no access to the Internet.
The announcement, made at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2026 in Geneva on Wednesday, underscores the widening gap between rapid advances in artificial intelligence and digital technologies and the billions of people who remain excluded from the digital economy.
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While governments, development banks and technology companies continue to pour billions into broadband infrastructure and digital skills, ITU estimates that achieving universal and meaningful connectivity by 2030 will require between $2.6 trillion and $2.8 trillion, meaning today’s commitments represent only a small fraction of the investment still needed.
