While worldwide connectivity has expanded significantly, the gap remains substantial. The ITU reported that 2.2 billion people were still offline in 2025. Its research increasingly frames meaningful connectivity as more than simply having access to a network. The quality, affordability and dependability of that connection are equally important.
Those challenges become particularly pronounced outside densely populated areas. The economics of extending broadband into rural communities can look very different from the economics of building networks in cities. The OECD points to population density and remoteness as continuing obstacles to rural broadband investment. Greater distances combined with fewer customers across each square kilometer can create what the organization describes as a “distance penalty” for providers using existing deployment models.
Geography can make the challenge even more complex in mountainous regions. Changes in elevation, dense vegetation, difficult road access, extreme weather and significant distances between individual properties can all increase both construction and maintenance requirements. The ITU has highlighted difficult terrain and high deployment costs among the major barriers to bringing broadband to rural and remote communities.
For Karim Lakhani, Chief Executive Officer and President of Advintive, the industry needs to recognize that infrastructure designed for cities cannot automatically be applied to every environment.
“We have developed highly effective broadband infrastructure for densely populated environments,” he says. “The greater challenge is extending that same model to communities where population density, geography and distance fundamentally change the economics of deployment.”
Lakhani believes rural connectivity requires a more location-specific approach rather than treating urban network design as the default solution.
“Fiber is extraordinarily effective where the economics and geography support it,” he says. “When you move into mountainous or sparsely populated territory, however, the question becomes much broader than whether fiber can deliver the service. The question is whether it is practical and economically sustainable to physically reach every household.”
That perspective has influenced Advintive’s approach to rural infrastructure. The company’s WiDOX 3.1 technology uses a wireless architecture based on DOCSIS technology and UHF spectrum. According to Advintive, the system is designed to deliver broadband across extensive rural areas without requiring a dedicated physical fiber connection to every individual home. The company says the technology can cover more than 3,000 square kilometers when conditions are suitable.
For Lakhani, the important consideration is not simply which technology is being deployed, but whether that technology makes sense for the environment in which it will operate.
“The issue is not a lack of demand for broadband in rural communities,” he says. “It is that conventional deployment models were developed around the population densities, geographic conditions and economic assumptions of more concentrated markets.”
A wireless connection between a network point and a residence can potentially reduce the amount of trenching and physical infrastructure required to connect individual properties. That distinction can become particularly important in locations where difficult terrain, vegetation or limited access make traditional construction more complicated.
Lakhani describes this as a question of using infrastructure resources efficiently.
“If you have homes spread across a huge area, you have to ask what you are really paying for,” Lakhani says. “Are you paying primarily for connectivity, or are you paying to construct miles and miles of infrastructure simply to reach a handful of homes?”
Advintive says its technology is designed to support internet, voice and television services across a variety of environmental conditions. Lakhani also references testing and deployments in challenging climates, including temperatures near minus 42 degrees Celsius in Northern Canada and temperatures exceeding 48 degrees Celsius in other locations.
For Lakhani, however, the infrastructure discussion ultimately comes back to people. His focus on rural connectivity is particularly connected to the educational opportunities available to children who grow up far from major population centers.
“A child does not choose the geography into which they are born,” he says. “There is no reason that geography should determine the quality of educational resources available to them.”
The importance of that access is increasing as more areas of daily life move online. Education, employment, health care and commerce all increasingly depend on reliable digital connections. OECD research has identified connectivity as an important element in expanding access to digital services in rural communities, while UNESCO has warned that unequal access to technology can contribute to wider educational inequalities.
Lakhani believes artificial intelligence adds another dimension to the issue.
“We are entering an era in which broadband is becoming the gateway to AI,” he says. “If a student has reliable internet, that student can reach educational platforms, information and AI-enabled tools from almost anywhere. If the connection is absent, those opportunities are absent as well.”
In this context, the digital divide extends beyond whether someone can access a website. For a rural student, connectivity could determine access to online learning and AI-powered educational resources. For workers, it can open access to employment opportunities outside their immediate geographic area. For patients, it can support the use of telehealth services. For small businesses, it can provide a route to customers and markets well beyond the local community.
“Connectivity is no longer simply about giving someone access to the internet,” Lakhani says. “It is about giving people access to the systems that increasingly determine how society learns, works and creates economic opportunity.”
Lakhani also sees potential in spectrum resources that may be underutilized in rural environments. Advintive has built its technology around UHF spectrum and TV white-space applications, reflecting the company’s broader approach of considering how existing infrastructure and available spectrum can contribute to expanding rural connectivity.
The argument, Lakhani emphasizes, is not that fiber should be replaced. Rather, rural communities may benefit from having a wider range of infrastructure options available.
“Different communities require different combinations of fiber, wireless, satellite and other technologies based on geography, population density, economics and local needs,” Lakhani says.
That flexibility also extends to the people responsible for maintaining rural networks. As part of his longer-term objectives, Lakhani wants local communities to develop the knowledge required to install and maintain their own internet infrastructure. In remote locations, he argues, local technicians could receive remote support rather than relying on specialist engineers to travel long distances whenever maintenance is required.
“The objective is simple. We should build the network around the community rather than asking the community to fit the network.”
That principle puts the emphasis on designing infrastructure around the realities of each location. For communities separated by difficult terrain or significant distances, the most effective solution may not look identical to the networks found in major cities.
For the billions of people who remain without reliable and affordable connectivity, the decisions made about rural infrastructure will have consequences far beyond network coverage. Lakhani believes that giving children in remote communities dependable access to broadband can expand their ability to learn, work and participate in the wider digital economy.
“If we can put reliable broadband within reach of a child in a remote community,” he says, “we are not simply connecting a house. We are giving that child a fair opportunity to participate in the world.”