The purpose of this workshop is to gather diverse stakeholder views on the prevailing trends of Internet fragmentation and evaluate what this means for efforts to get the next four billion online.

The UN 2030 agenda and the WSIS outcome document affirm the importance of the Internet and the quality of Internet access for inclusive and sustainable economic growth. Following the successful intersessional work on connecting the next billion, this workshop will provide an opportunity to evaluate the issues initiatives to connect the un/under connected face in an increasingly fragmenting online environment. 

Answering the question: what impact is Internet fragmentation having on efforts to connect the next four billion and how should these be taken into consideration by policy makers? the workshop will be tied to the overarching IGF theme Enabling Inclusive and Sustainable Growth as it will aim to address trends which are hampering Internet access and suggest ways challenges can be overcome.

Following a 25 min discussion on the trends of Internet fragmentation including evolving economic, political and technical aspects, participants will break out into groups for focused exchanges for 35 min. Groups will have a stakeholder balance and asked to answer a specific question related to the overarching Internet governance question. Discussants from different stakeholder groups will be allocated to each group to aid group work. In the final segment (30 min) discussants and a nominated participant from each group will report back to the plenary to kick-start a collaborative discussion on suggestions for possible next steps.

Speakers provisionally confirmed:

Ardia, Christine 
Bradshaw, Samantha 
Carblanc, Anne
Martínez Mancilla, Yolanda
Nguyen, Carolyn 
Okutani, Izumi
Rose, Karen
Teleanu , Sorina