{"id":2210,"date":"2023-03-28T13:25:06","date_gmt":"2023-03-28T21:25:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?p=2210"},"modified":"2023-03-28T13:25:06","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T21:25:06","slug":"open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Fibre Data Standard: Understanding the True Extent of the Internet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As the value of being connected to the internet increases, the need to make internet access available and affordable to all citizens becomes ever more urgent.\u00a0 But how many people actually have access to the internet? Statistics are often quoted about what percentage of the world has access to the internet but those numbers are inevitably fuzzy, relying on varying definitions of internet access and varying levels of reporting quality.\u00a0 In order to understand the true extent of the internet, we need to start with the basics, the physical infrastructure that carries the internet around the world.<\/p>\n<p>The first step in developing a solid foundation on which to understand the growth of the internet are terrestrial fibre optic networks, the high-capacity backbones that carry thousands of terabits of internet traffic every day across vast distances. Fibre optic networks are the \u201cdeep water ports\u201d of the internet, offering orders of magnitude of greater communication capacity than any other access technology. <a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3003720\">Research has shown<\/a> that just living close to a fibre optic network is positively correlated with higher employment levels.<\/p>\n<p>But fibre networks come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from underground to aerial, from a few fibre strands to hundreds, from old technology to new. We can\u2019t map the full extent of the fibre optic network infrastructure underpinning the internet without a common framework for describing them. And that is where the Open Fibre Data Standard comes in.\u00a0 It provides a common framework for describing terrestrial fibre optic infrastructure that can be used by operators, researchers, governments, and regulators.<\/p>\n<p>Building on Open Data principles, Mozilla has partnered with the <a href=\"https:\/\/worldbank.org\/\">World Bank<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/itu.int\/\">International Telecommunications Union<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mozilla.com\/\">Mozilla Corporation<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/isoc.org\/\">Internet Society<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/liquid.tech\/\">Liquid Intelligent Technologies<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csquared.com\/\">CSquared<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.digitalcouncil.africa\/\">Digital Council Africa<\/a> to support the development of the Open Fibre Data Standard and to promote its adoption. Thanks to financial support from the World Bank, the Open Data Services Cooperative (<a href=\"https:\/\/opendataservices.coop\/\">ODSC<\/a>), a consultancy with extensive experience and expertise in Open Data standard development, was contracted to provide technical assistance in the development of the standard.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/open-fibre-data-standard.readthedocs.io\/\">Open Fibre Data Standard<\/a> has gone through extensive development and consultation.\u00a0 Beginning with an Alpha and Beta release, it is now in <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/Open-Telecoms-Data\/open-fibre-data-standard\">release 0.2<\/a>.\u00a0 Mozilla staff will travel to Ghana, Kenya and India in March and April of 2023 to build technical capacity for operators and regulators in the implementation of the standard and to support participation in its further development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the value of being connected to the internet increases, the need to make internet access available and affordable to all citizens becomes ever more urgent.\u00a0 But how many people &hellip; <a class=\"go\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1888,"featured_media":2212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[652,20262,525,51,574,141519],"tags":[452997,452996,452998],"coauthors":[452995],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Open Fibre Data Standard: Understanding the True Extent of the Internet - Open Policy &amp; Advocacy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Steve Song\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/\",\"name\":\"Open Fibre Data Standard: Understanding the True Extent of the Internet - Open Policy &amp; Advocacy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2023\/03\/African_Cables_3-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-28T21:25:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-28T21:25:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/97f6b935ebac305b63f8fc22076635e0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2023\/03\/African_Cables_3-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2023\/03\/African_Cables_3-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1200,\"caption\":\"fibre optic cable drums\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Open Fibre Data Standard: Understanding the True Extent of the Internet\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/\",\"name\":\"Open Policy &amp; Advocacy\",\"description\":\"Mozilla&#039;s official blog on open Internet policy initiatives and developments\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/97f6b935ebac305b63f8fc22076635e0\",\"name\":\"Steve Song\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/44f3283731deac4d41c6be751cbc4374\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e876e528c7f83de14b480afdc57f7af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e876e528c7f83de14b480afdc57f7af?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Steve Song\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Open Fibre Data Standard: Understanding the True Extent of the Internet - Open Policy &amp; Advocacy","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Steve Song","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/","name":"Open Fibre Data Standard: Understanding the True Extent of the Internet - Open Policy &amp; Advocacy","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2023\/03\/African_Cables_3-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2023-03-28T21:25:06+00:00","dateModified":"2023-03-28T21:25:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/97f6b935ebac305b63f8fc22076635e0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2023\/03\/African_Cables_3-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/files\/2023\/03\/African_Cables_3-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1200,"caption":"fibre optic cable drums"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/2023\/03\/28\/open-fibre-data-standard-understanding-the-true-extent-of-the-internet\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Open Fibre Data Standard: Understanding the True Extent of the Internet"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/","name":"Open Policy &amp; Advocacy","description":"Mozilla&#039;s official blog on open Internet policy initiatives and developments","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/97f6b935ebac305b63f8fc22076635e0","name":"Steve Song","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/44f3283731deac4d41c6be751cbc4374","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e876e528c7f83de14b480afdc57f7af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8e876e528c7f83de14b480afdc57f7af?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Steve Song"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1888"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2210"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/netpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}