Cloudflare & Giga Team Up to Connect Schools Globally
▼ Summary
– Cloudflare has partnered with UNICEF’s Giga initiative to provide real-time internet speed test data for measuring school connectivity globally.
– The partnership aims to address the digital divide affecting 1.3 billion children without home internet and nearly 50% of students lacking daily school internet access.
– Cloudflare will conduct up to 10 million monthly tests from schools to collect data on speed, latency, and affordability for Giga’s open-source mapping platform.
– This data will help governments and organizations develop targeted strategies to improve internet access in underserved communities.
– Cloudflare’s global network of over 330 data centers will enable accurate real-time monitoring to support Giga’s goal of universal school connectivity.
A major new collaboration between Cloudflare and Giga, a UNICEF and International Telecommunication Union initiative, aims to tackle the global digital divide by equipping governments with precise, real-time data on school internet connectivity. Cloudflare’s Speed Test solution and global network will provide UNICEF with real-time data to help close the digital divide, enabling more informed decisions about where to invest in connectivity infrastructure for educational institutions worldwide.
The challenge is immense, with approximately 1.3 billion children lacking internet access at home and close to half of all students unable to go online daily while at school. This connectivity gap deepens existing social and economic inequalities, restricting educational access and future career possibilities for young people across the globe. Through this partnership, Cloudflare will perform as many as 10 million monthly availability tests directly from school locations. These tests will gather crucial information on internet speed, latency, and affordability. The resulting data will fuel Giga’s live open-source platform, known as Giga Maps, giving governments, private companies, and community organizations the insights required to craft effective strategies and monitor advancements in connecting underserved areas.
Matthew Prince, Cloudflare’s co-founder and CEO, emphasized the company’s dedication to this cause. He stated that Cloudflare’s core mission involves helping construct a better internet, which fundamentally requires making it more accessible to everyone. By supplying Giga with enhanced tools to measure and oversee school connectivity on a global scale, they are actively helping millions of children get online and ready themselves for a world that is increasingly digital. He expressed pride in the company’s role in this vital effort to narrow the digital divide.
Thomas Davin, Global Director of the UNICEF Office of Innovation, highlighted the importance of both connection and quality. He explained that linking schools to the internet is a fundamental step in making sure every child can utilize digital learning tools and access the information necessary for their development. Ensuring that this connectivity is both high-quality and fast is equally critical. He believes Cloudflare’s involvement will significantly boost Giga’s data collection efforts, empowering countries to make the precise, data-driven decisions needed for planning school connectivity investments. He described the potential of this partnership as genuinely exciting.
The Giga Maps platform enables governments to pinpoint school locations on a map, assess their live connectivity status, determine the most suitable connectivity solutions and financing approaches, and then receive practical recommendations for enhancing school internet access. Cloudflare’s global network, with data centers in over 330 cities worldwide, is strategically positioned to minimize latency and provide accurate, real-time assessments globally to support Giga’s mission. This new alliance with Cloudflare is set to substantially improve real-time monitoring abilities and speed up progress toward the ambitious objective of achieving universal school connectivity.
(Source: MEA Tech Watch)
