IIB 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1359 
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 
MAY 21, 2019 
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 
AN ACT 
To promote Internet access in developing countries and up-
date foreign policy toward the Internet, and for other 
purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Digital Global Access 
Policy Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘Digital GAP Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 
The purpose of this Act is to— 
(1) encourage the efforts of developing coun-
tries to improve and secure mobile and fixed access 
to the Internet in order to catalyze innovation, spur 
economic growth and job creation, improve health, 
education, and financial services, reduce poverty and 
gender inequality, mitigate disasters, and promote 
free speech, democracy, and good governance; 
(2) promote build-once policies and approaches 
and the multi-stakeholder approach to Internet gov-
ernance; and 
(3) ensure the effective use of United States 
foreign assistance resources toward that end. 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Internet access has been a driver of eco-
nomic activity around the world. Bringing Internet 
access to the more than 4,000,000,000 people who 
do not have it could increase global economic output 
by $6,700,000,000,000 and raise 500,000,000 peo-
ple out of poverty. 
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(2) The number of Internet users has more 
than 
tripled 
from 
1,000,000,000 
to 
over 
3,000,000,000 since 2005, including 2,000,000,000 
living in the developing world, yet more than half of 
the world’s population remains offline, living without 
the economic and social benefits of the Internet. By 
the end of 2016, over 80 percent of households in 
the developed world had Internet access, compared 
with just 40 percent of households in developing 
countries and just 11 percent in the world’s least de-
veloped countries. Of the world’s offline population, 
an estimated 75 percent live in just 20 countries, 
and rural, female, elderly, illiterate, and low-income 
populations are being left behind. 
(3) Studies suggest that women are dispropor-
tionately affected by a digital gap in developing 
countries, where there are on average 23 percent 
fewer women online then men. Bringing an addi-
tional 600,000,000 women online could contribute 
$13,000,000,000 to $18,000,000,000 to annual 
GDP across 144 developing countries. 
(4) The United States has been a leader in pro-
moting access to an open, secure, interoperable 
Internet around the world. Recognizing that support 
for expanded Internet access furthers United States 
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economic and foreign policy interests, including ef-
forts to end extreme global poverty and enabling re-
silient, democratic societies, the Department of State 
launched a diplomatic effort called ‘‘Global Con-
nect’’. 
(5) Internet access in developing countries is 
hampered, in part, by a lack of infrastructure and 
a poor regulatory environment for investment. Build- 
once policies and approaches, which seek to coordi-
nate public and private sector investments in roads 
and other critical infrastructure, can reduce the 
number and scale of excavation and construction ac-
tivities when installing telecommunications infra-
structure in rights-of-way, thereby reducing installa-
tion costs for high-speed Internet networks and serv-
ing as a development best practice. 
SEC. 4. EXPANDING INTERNET ACCESS IN DEVELOPING 
COUNTRIES. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means— 
(A) the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
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Transportation, and the Committee on Appro-
priations of the Senate; and 
(B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the 
Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
Representatives. 
(2) 
BROADBAND.—The 
term 
‘‘broadband’’ 
means an Internet Protocol-based transmission serv-
ice that enables users to send and receive voice, 
video, data, graphics, or a combination thereof, 
using technologies including fiber optic, mobile, sat-
ellite, and Wi-Fi. 
(3) BROADBAND CONDUIT.—The term ‘‘broad-
band conduit’’ means a conduit for fiber optic cables 
and other connectivity technologies that support 
broadband or wireless facilities for broadband serv-
ice. 
(4) BUILD-ONCE POLICIES AND APPROACHES.— 
The term ‘‘build-once policies and approaches’’ 
means policies or practices that encourage the inte-
gration of Internet infrastructure into traditional in-
frastructure projects that minimize the number and 
scale of excavation and construction activities when 
installing 
telecommunications 
infrastructure 
in 
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rights-of-way to reduce costs, such as by laying fiber 
optic cable simultaneously with road construction. 
(5) STAKEHOLDERS.—The term ‘‘stakeholders’’ 
means the private sector, the public sector, coopera-
tives, civil society, the technical community that de-
velops Internet technologies, standards, implementa-
tion, operations, and applications, and other groups 
that are working to increase Internet access or are 
impacted by the lack of Internet access in their com-
munities. 
(b) POLICY.—It is the policy of the United States to 
consult, partner, and coordinate with the governments of 
foreign countries, international organizations, regional 
economic communities, businesses, civil society, and other 
stakeholders in a concerted effort to close the digital gap 
by increasing public and private investments in secure 
Internet infrastructure and creating conditions for uni-
versal Internet access and usage worldwide by pro-
moting— 
(1) first-time access to fixed or mobile broad-
band Internet by 2027 for at least 1,500,000,000 
people living in urban and rural areas in developing 
countries; 
(2) Internet deployment and related coordina-
tion, capacity building, and build-once policies and 
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approaches in developing countries, including actions 
to encourage— 
(A) standardization of build-once policies 
and approaches for the inclusion of broadband 
conduit in rights-of-way projects that are fund-
ed, co-funded, or partially financed by the 
United States or any international organization 
that includes the United States as a member, in 
consultation with telecommunications providers, 
unless a cost-benefit analysis determines that 
the cost of such approach outweighs the bene-
fits; 
(B) adoption and integration of build-once 
policies and approaches into the development 
and investment strategies of national and local 
government agencies of developing countries 
and donor governments and organizations that 
will enhance coordination with the private sec-
tor for road building, pipe laying, major infra-
structure projects, and development-related con-
struction such as schools, clinics, and civic 
buildings; 
(C) provision of increased financial support 
by 
international 
organizations, 
including 
through grants, loans, technical assistance, and 
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partnerships to expand information and com-
munications access and Internet connectivity; 
and 
(D) avoidance of vendors and contractors 
likely to be subject to extrajudicial direction 
from a foreign government; 
(3) policy and regulatory approaches that pro-
mote a competitive market for investment and inno-
vation in Internet infrastructure and service to en-
courage first-time, affordable access to the Internet 
in developing countries, including actions to encour-
age, as appropriate— 
(A) the integration of universal and gen-
der-equitable Internet access and adoption 
goals, to be informed by the collection of related 
gender disaggregated data and research on so-
cial norms that often limit women’s and girls’ 
use of the Internet, into national development 
plans and United States Government country- 
level strategies; 
(B) effective, transparent, and efficient 
spectrum allocation processes and reforms of 
competition laws that may impede the ability of 
companies to provide Internet services; and 
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(C) efforts to improve procurement proc-
esses to help attract and incentivize investment 
in secure Internet infrastructure; 
(4) the removal of tax and regulatory barriers 
to Internet access, as appropriate; 
(5) the use of the Internet to increase economic 
growth and trade, including, as appropriate— 
(A) policies and strategies to remove re-
strictions to e-commerce, cross-border informa-
tion flows, and competitive marketplaces; and 
(B) entrepreneurship and distance learning 
enabled by access to technology; 
(6) the use of the Internet to bolster democ-
racy, government accountability, transparency, gen-
der equity, and human rights, including through the 
establishment of policies, initiatives, and investments 
that— 
(A) support the development of national 
broadband plans or information and commu-
nication technologies strategies that are con-
sistent with fundamental civil and political 
rights, including freedom of expression, religion, 
belief, assembly, and association; 
(B) expand online access to government in-
formation and services to enhance government 
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accountability and service delivery, including for 
areas in which government may have limited 
presence; and 
(C) support expression of free speech and 
enable political organizing and activism in sup-
port of human rights and democracy through 
activities that expand access to independent 
sources of news and information and safeguard 
human rights and fundamental freedoms online, 
in compliance with international human rights 
standards; 
(7) programs and mechanisms that actively pro-
mote and advance access to and adoption of Internet 
and other information and communications tech-
nologies by women, people with disabilities, minori-
ties, low-income and marginalized groups, and un-
derserved populations, such as programs that ad-
dress social norms and barriers to women’s active 
participation in the digital economy or Internet pol-
icymaking; 
(8) mechanisms for public and private financing 
of rural broadband connectivity and digital inclusion; 
(9) public Internet access facilities and Wi-Fi 
networks in places such as libraries, government 
buildings, community centers, and schools; 
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(10) the creation and support of research and 
educational networks; 
(11) cybersecurity, data protection, and privacy, 
including international use of the latest version of 
the National Institute of Standards and Technology 
Framework for Improving Critical Infrastructure 
Cybersecurity; and 
(12) interagency coordination and cooperation 
across all executive branch agencies regarding the 
promotion of Internet initiatives as a part of United 
States foreign policy. 
(c) DEPARTMENT
OF STATE.—The Secretary of 
State, in coordination with other agencies, multilateral in-
stitutions, foreign countries, and stakeholders, shall ad-
vance the policy articulated in this Act and promote ex-
panded Internet connectivity worldwide, as appropriate, 
by— 
(1) encouraging foreign countries to prioritize 
secure Internet connectivity in development plans; 
(2) promoting the formation of region-specific 
multi-sector working groups to ensure technical and 
regulatory best practices; and 
(3) encouraging the development of digital lit-
eracy programs in developing countries. 
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