SUMMARY: Facebook Connectivity Laboratory (FBCL) is partnering with public and private organizations worldwide to explore new ways to bring fast and reliable internet coverage to a large population segment still deprived from this essential development tool. A large share of this target group (around 2,000 million) reside in the periphery of urban areas around the world and also around less accessible rural areas. This relies on the development of novel technologies that are technically proficient, cost effective and sustainably sound. There is little doubt that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are rapidly transforming the way we live and work (Cradduck, 2013; OECD, 2016; World Bank, 2016; Mas et al., 2018). Owing to the magnitude of this revolution, there is a real need to understand how this new paradigm is going to affect not only the environment but the sustainability of our society as a whole.

The aim  of this research project is to evaluate the sustainability of ICT systems for internet coverage in peri-urban/rural areas. This investigation will focus on direct impacts associated with teh existence and utilization of the ICT network and will explore methodologies aimed at evaluating higher order effects, such as those derived from the economic and social transformation of the communities affected by the existence of internet.