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Cloudflare has launched a new project that aims to deliver internet access to the underserved communities in the world.

On Monday, the cloud service provider announced Project Pangea, available to eligible communities, to cut the cost of bandwidth in areas without any existing telecommunication infrastructure due to the expense needed or their location.

Communities that will be accepted into Project Pangea will be able to use its network to build telecom infrastructure, providing a free and sustainable way for people to connect, especially since we now rely on the internet for everything, including education and the economy.

A basic human right

Michael Prince, the co-founder, and CEO of Cloudflare said that we need to look at reliable internet access as one of the basic human rights, potentially due to how today’s industries and individuals rely on it to conduct business, educate themselves, and communicate with others.

Prince continued to say that the unfortunate thing is many of the communities have to build their own infrastructure, which can be costly.

Cloudflare wants to help where it can, if they have already built connecting roads, by providing a safe and accessible “highway to the global internet.”

Who get it?

Participants have to be cooperative community networks, non-profits, and small/private commercials networks servicing local communities. In addition, they need to have their own IPv4 space and establish a backhaul to an exchange point.

The pandemic of 2020 forced many people to work, learn and collaborate from home. The divide between those who would access the internet and those who could not is even more apparent in the age where the internet is part of the economy’s lifeblood.

The World Economic Forum reports that almost half of the world’s population does not have access to the internet and fewer than one in five people in the least developed countries are connected.