# Closing Connectivity Gap: An Overview of Mobile Coverage Solutions for Not-Spots in Rural Zones
###### Abstract  
Access to broadband communications in different parts of the world has become a priority for some governments and regulatory authorities around the world in recent years. Building new digital roads and pursuing a connected society includes looking for easier access to the internet. In general, not all areas where people congregate are fully covered, especially in rural zones, thus restricting access to data communications and inducing inequality. In the present review article, we have comprehensively surveyed the use of three platforms to deliver broadband services to such remote and low-income areas, and they are proposed as follows: unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), altitude platforms (AP), and low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. These novel strategies support the connected and accessible world hypothesis. Hence, UAVs are considered a noteworthy solution since their efficient maneuverability can solve rural coverage issues or not-spots. aerial communication; FANET; not-spots; stratospheric communication platform; UAV; UAV-assisted network; 5G +
Footnote †: journal: Sensors  
**Citation**: [PERSON] [PERSON], [PERSON] [PERSON], [PERSON] [PERSON] Closing Connectivity Gap: An Overview of Mobile Coverage  
Solutions for Not-Spots in Rural Zones, Sensors, **2021**, 21, 8037. [[https://doi.org/10.3390/s21238037](https://doi.org/10.3390/s21238037)]([https://doi.org/10.3390/s21238037](https://doi.org/10.3390/s21238037))
Within the call for promoting a prosperous society, which can curb inequality and poverty, the United Nations (UN) has considered the access to fixed-broadband internet under the Goal 9 outline--Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure--a valuable resource for population growth. By 2018, 96.5% of the entire world population can access at least 2G mobile networks where LTE covers 81.8% of the population [5]. In full swing of the Internet Era, not all villages can leverage granted-by-connectivity opportunities because of thef high cost of access, which unearths the at-risk population group's unfairness. Considering the ongoing demands of communication infrastructure, the UN Sustainable Goal 9 aims to significantly increase ICT resources access by 2020, in addition to struggling to hook up LDC (Least Developed Countries) with affordable technology [6]. The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered comprehensive research and investment in digitalization, namely economy and education boosting, since teleworking, video conferencing systems, and remote education have been crucial parts during pandemic and post-pandemic times. In order to assess the connectivity situation around the world, the GSM Association (GSMA) provides the GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index (MCI), which measures the performance of 170 countries based on four key enablers of mobile internet adoption--infrastructure, affordability, consumer readiness, and content and services--where the current data include 2019 [7]. The prior institution has released The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2020 Report, which analyzes the critical connectivity trends from 2014 to 2019 in terms of mobile internet use [4]. The coverage has not been sufficiently wide to provide the same standards compared to Europe. For instance, in [4], it is possible to check that Europe and Central Asia and North America were more 70% connected than compared to 54% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Despite these observations, it is crucial to note that the offered services have grown in the last region since its MCI overcomes a 61 score by 2019 in contrast with that obtained five years earlier: 51 [7]. Although MCI appears to be the most significant, this is not the only affair to highlight at the moment in terms of analyzing connectivity for particular contexts, such as the countryside. Therefore, it is necessary to map out the earlier metric with each country's rural population density, discovering the most important limitations that prevent people from adopting mobile internet.