Innovation, a fundamental tool to be a key player in the digital revolution and to address the big challenges

Telefónica’s initiative "Internet para todos", aims to connect more than 100 million people in Latin America to the internet. Digitalization is an important factor of social and economic progress, and mobile broadband can play a key role in reducing the digital divide. 20% of the population in the region today still lacks proper access to mobile broadband.

With "Internet para todos", Telefónica is expanding connectivity with an ecosystem approach, incorporating a broad range of partners and stakeholders to solve the rural connectivity challenge.

Telefónica is working, jointly with Facebook, on multiple projects using new technologies and operating models to make wireless broadband deployment more cost-effective. These projects are already making high-speed mobile internet available to tens of thousands of Peruvians across the highlands and in the Amazonian rainforest.

Furthermore, we have also joined forces with Project Loon to provide mobile internet connectivity emergency relief during the catastrophic floods in Peru known as “Coastal El Niño”. In less than 72 hours, Project Loon’s balloons, which fly at 20 Km up in the stratosphere, started to provide mobile internet connectivity to tens of thousands of people in the most affected areas in the centre and northwest of the country.

These are only some examples of Telefónica’s commitment with innovation, a commitment which is also shown in our investment being Europe’s second largest investor in innovation and number four in the world. Another example is Telefónica’s Open Future unit which has helped to accelerate over 1,500 startups in their academies and Crowdworking spaces and also invested in more than 700 startups.

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