Speaker 1: These sees Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim
Speaker 1: Stentovic on Bloomberg Radio. Well, speaking of growth, Carol, it's
Speaker 1: hard to believe, but about half the world's population remain
Speaker 1: unconnected and without the Internet, you're not going to see
Speaker 1: the economic growth that countries that have widespread connectivity have.
Speaker 1: Many in the developing world. Lots of groups and companies
Speaker 1: and governments are out there looking to change that, including Microsoft.
Speaker 1: We've got a great voice, Yeah, we do. Indeed, Vicky
Speaker 1: Robinson as general manager of the air Band Initiative at Microsoft.
Speaker 1: They bring broadcast broadband connectivity to people living in unserved
Speaker 1: rural areas globally. It launched back in She is with
Speaker 1: us via zoom in Washington, d C. Vicky, Happy New Year.
Speaker 1: Great to have you here with us again. Talk to
Speaker 1: us at bit about the initiative and what you guys
Speaker 1: have achieved so far because you've been around what now
Speaker 1: you're in your fifth or sixth year, that's correct, and
Speaker 1: happy New Year. Thanks so much for having me um.
Speaker 1: As you've mentioned that your been initiative has been around
Speaker 1: for five years now, since twenty seventeen, and our whole
Speaker 1: objective is to expand access to Internet Internet access throughout
Speaker 1: the globe. And we do this largely because we view
Speaker 1: it as our responsibility as a business imperative to enable
Speaker 1: widespread use of our technology. And so since we embarked
Speaker 1: upon this work, to date, we've extended high speed Internet
Speaker 1: access to fifty one million people across sixteen countries as
Speaker 1: well as the United States. And that includes nine million
Speaker 1: on the continent of Africa and four million here in
Speaker 1: the United States. So how are you doing it? What's
Speaker 1: the technology that you're using. We're using a variety of technologies,
Speaker 1: but what's really a core and important for us is
Speaker 1: the partnership model. So I think it's important to clarify
Speaker 1: uh this point that this is not work that Microsoft
Speaker 1: is doing directly. We know that there are some of
Speaker 1: the tech sect or who are in fact providing connectivity directly,
Speaker 1: but that's not our approach. Our approach instead is focused
Speaker 1: on partnering with others in the private, public, and nonprofit
Speaker 1: sectors in order to increase access to the Internet throughout
Speaker 1: the world. And so in doing that, we use a
Speaker 1: variety of technology solutions. I have to ask, but I'm
Speaker 1: not a cynic. I'm an optimist. But perhaps somebody listening
Speaker 1: may say, Okay, well, of course Microsoft wants everyone connected
Speaker 1: to the internet, because the more people who are connected,
Speaker 1: the more of those people could sign up for Office three,
Speaker 1: or use Microsoft Teams, or use the products that that
Speaker 1: we all use from Microsoft. And we don't dispute that. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's part of the opportunity side. Listen. For our perspective,
Speaker 1: we believe that we have an opportunity and an obligation
Speaker 1: to uh have our technology widely deployed. And so yes, um,
Speaker 1: the Internet is an enabler of at and we certainly
Speaker 1: benefit from more people being online. We don't run from that,
Speaker 1: but we also view this as part of our corporate
Speaker 1: social responsibility as well. And I will point out to
Speaker 1: him it's not a given that if you're going to
Speaker 1: be connected to the Internet that you will by default
Speaker 1: use Microsoft technology. But that is part of a calculation
Speaker 1: in us doing this work. We don't we don't shy
Speaker 1: away from that reality. How do you pick up the
Speaker 1: momentum in the speed right there's you talk about the
Speaker 1: in roads and success you've made um so far, but
Speaker 1: there are millions, tens of millions of people, hundreds of
Speaker 1: millions of people right that are still not connected. So yes,
Speaker 1: yea progress, but so much more to be done. How
Speaker 1: do you pick it up? So much more to be done?
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you were talking about this as
Speaker 1: we were jumping into the conversation. A third of the world,
Speaker 1: two point seven billion people are not connecting to the internet.
Speaker 1: So that's a huge challenge. But I will say the
Speaker 1: pandemic and people being forced to shelter in whether it's
Speaker 1: for learning or for doing your job or getting medical services,
Speaker 1: that really helped to shine a light on this issue
Speaker 1: in a way, um that I can tell you from
Speaker 1: doing this work for the past two decades has not
Speaker 1: been easy to kind of translate. And so when you
Speaker 1: think about the two point seven billion people across the world,
Speaker 1: which is a third of the world, and then here domestically,
Speaker 1: according to our data, you have a hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: million people or third of the United States who are
Speaker 1: not using the internet. It is a big, hairy problem.
Speaker 1: But the good news is is that there is a
Speaker 1: lot of awareness and commitment globally by governments as well
Speaker 1: as a private sector to address this problem in a
Speaker 1: meaningful way. And so one example of that here in
Speaker 1: the United States is an infrastructure bill that was pasted
Speaker 1: last year and it's infused in sixty five billion dollars
Speaker 1: to address this this very problem here domestically. What's the
Speaker 1: biggest sticky point? Sticking point? I mean and I and
Speaker 1: to be fair in the emerging economies, I mean kudos,
Speaker 1: I think in terms of what you guys are doing.
Speaker 1: But some of these people are just you know, they're
Speaker 1: trying to even just put food food on their table.
Speaker 1: Like it's a very tough environment. There's so much to
Speaker 1: be done, is it? So where do you get caught up? Uh?
Speaker 1: In problems? Uh? Is it governments? Is it just working
Speaker 1: within systems that don't have a lot of great infrastructure?
Speaker 1: On so many different levels? What is it? It's multifaceted actually,
Speaker 1: So one thing to point out is that when you're
Speaker 1: talking about uh develop you know, Global South and and
Speaker 1: and and developing countries, um, there is also the barrier
Speaker 1: of energy access. So if you look at Africa, for example,
Speaker 1: where we are committed to expand access to a hundred
Speaker 1: million people on the continent, many of those people don't
Speaker 1: have energy access. So that's a that's a barrier, and
Speaker 1: that's something that you need to address because of course,
Speaker 1: you can't talk about internet access if you don't have
Speaker 1: at base energy access. So it's really thinking about program
Speaker 1: that address both the energy challenges, but as as well
Speaker 1: as the lack of internet access. To your point, it
Speaker 1: also needs to be affordable, um and so uh there
Speaker 1: while if you have uh internet access, it's available and
Speaker 1: it is available to certain parts of the world, if
Speaker 1: you can't afford it, it's just it's it's just as
Speaker 1: more well may not be a barrier, it's available because
Speaker 1: it's a barrier to you. And so it is important
Speaker 1: for governments. Uh. This has to be a whole of society,
Speaker 1: whole world approach for government to lean in, whether it's
Speaker 1: through funding programs for deployment of high speel Internet access
Speaker 1: skills devices. It's multifaceted, well, Vicky. A lot of it
Speaker 1: does have to do with the technology and the actual
Speaker 1: way that you get the signal to rural areas and
Speaker 1: areas of the world that are unconnective. We know Elon
Speaker 1: Musk is working very hard with Starlink to bring Internet
Speaker 1: to previously unconnected places. Any plans to work with with Starlink,
Speaker 1: the SpaceX connectivity, Internet connectivity UH business, We're We're open
Speaker 1: to working with everyone, but you don't currently work pardon
Speaker 1: you don't currently work with starlink. Right, Microsoft does work
Speaker 1: with starlink, but airband specifically not not currently. But we
Speaker 1: are partnering with via set, who, like Starlink, provides satellite
Speaker 1: based internet connectivity UM. In fact, as part of our
Speaker 1: recent partnership with via set, and this is the first
Speaker 1: of its kind. Um that, at least from an airband perspective,
Speaker 1: we are committed to extending raw band access to ten
Speaker 1: million people across the world, five million of which are
Speaker 1: on the continent of Africa, and we are a big tent.
Speaker 1: We're open to working with all partners and the private, public,
Speaker 1: and nonprofit sectors, and so we're certainly open to that.
Speaker 1: Believe solutions light um uh starling in the low Earth
Speaker 1: orbiting satellite provide a lot of promise for attacking this
Speaker 1: problem in a meaningful way. Hey Vicky, just have thirty seconds,
Speaker 1: so if you could be quick please, But in terms
Speaker 1: of recession or recession with the economic, global, economic macro
Speaker 1: environment might be, how will that may be slow? Are
Speaker 1: you seeing that? And could that possibly slow your initiative?
Speaker 1: And again very quickly, um any anything's possible, of course,
Speaker 1: but again I think the promise and of what's required
Speaker 1: to actually exists in the digital world, um, and the
Speaker 1: promise that technology holds to act as a deflationary force.
Speaker 1: I think, combined with the government investments that we're seeing
Speaker 1: crop up a wrong world that um, that will help
Speaker 1: to hopefully blunt those um the macroeconomic environment and the
Speaker 1: potential risk here. All right. Vicky Robinson, general manager of
Speaker 1: Airband Initiative over at Microsoft, joining us via zoom from Washington,
Speaker 1: d have to say, I feel like we've been talking
Speaker 1: a long time too about connecting the whole world. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Interesting to think about the devices to write sort of
Speaker 1: you know, hop scotching the idea of computers and going
Speaker 1: right to phones