Internet for All: A Vision and a Mission

There has been an uproar regarding the digital economy since the inception of the internet in one way or another. All economic activity through the use of the digital medium is considered as the digital economy. It entails all infrastructure needed for the operations of digital processes, all digital transactions, and all digital content (Barefoot et al., 2018). The infrastructure required for the digital economy at the foremost level is the Internet and all the hardware and software equipment including computers, mobiles, gadgets, servers, telecommunication equipment, structures, and Internet of things that require the Internet to work and process digital activities. Digital businesses include all e-commerce systems, click-only setups, all the paid digital content, digital media, etc. Conclusively, the digital economy is huge, it plays an important role in the overall GDP of any country. The Secretary-General of the Digital Cooperation Organisation (DCO) mentioned that by the year 2030, 30% of the global GDP will be generated by the digital economy (Devi, 2023). As mentioned by Amin (2024), the digital economy of Pakistan by the year 2025 can contribute 13% to the total GDP of Pakistan which is a big deal. The efforts to strengthen Pakistan’s digital space are encouraged by the country’s superior powers as well. There have been multiple initiatives by different governments of Pakistan to digitize the country sustainably specifically after COVID-19.

This was bound to happen as the global pandemic changed the course of almost everything. Human interaction was limited and the way people managed their lives had to be shifted to a new way, which was home-bound. The cities were locked down, streets became deserted, planes were grounded around the world, educational institutions decided to close, and businesses took a nosedive; in short the physical space, to do anything, was squeezed to an unprecedented level. However, there was one thing that came to the rescue of humankind as a last resort, and that was technology. Within the ambit of technology, the internet lies at the core, which helps people across the world to go on with most of their daily routines in digital space. People in developing countries and third-world countries at the time of COVID-19 understood the better usage of the internet, unlike developed countries who were already using the Internet in the right direction. Thus, the internet has provided ease of communication and has established its significance more than ever (Favale et al., 2020).