“We live in a very different world to when I started my mobile communications research journey in 1992.

Back then, GSM was being described as “2G” and it was sweeping the world. The “G” in GSM stands for global, and it was truly changing the world. People who had never had any form of telecommunications, were suddenly gaining access to this second generation, reliable, digital technology. People may not have had a phone in their home, but suddenly were connected whenever they wanted and wherever they went. Connectivity was now something that went with you when you walked out the door. 

It also came with this new idea of “data”. You could of course talk on the mobile, but you could also send short messages, and over time do simple web browsing and online transactions. It was truly revolutionary.  These simple capabilities created new markets, new business opportunities and measurably impacted the GDP of countries like India and countries in Africa.

Those of us in the research world felt a profound sense of satisfaction and purpose in our work and captured in the visionary statement of connecting “anyone, anywhere, anytime”.  The outrageous goal was to connect all 5 billion people on the planet wherever they were.

Personally, my research started with “3G” technology and I spent many many late nights developing and analysing novel transmitter waveforms (not very exciting to most), developing models for radio channel propagation for the new radio frequencies being considered (slightly more interesting) and pushing to discover ever more advanced receiver architectures (very exciting) for the future mobile systems that we imagined.  Imagine being able to order a pizza whilst wandering the dessert!  We would get the connectivity sorted, and the rest of the world’s infrastructure would catch up.

Today, the world’s population has crossed 8 billion and there is still a long way to go to achieve that goal of ubiquitous connectivity. Whilst each of us has typically more than one connected device – be it mobile phone or “internet of things” (IoT) device – many still do not have meaningful connectivity. Of the estimated 2.6 billion people still unconnected today, the majority are women and girls. Gaps in access and affordability of the internet and digital devices, as well as limited digital skills, continue to hinder the participation of women and girls in today’s economy and in shaping tomorrow’s digital solutions. Bridging this divide is essential to unlocking new pathways for economic growth, innovation, and sustainable development.