An initiative dubbed Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) has been launched to help drive down high internet prices in developing countries.

The alliance started by the World Wide Web Foundation and the foundation’s honorary chairperson Dr Bitange Ndemo - is a collaboration between 30+ members from the private and public sectors of both the developed and developing countries.

According to a press statement, the A4AI plans to help internet access prices fall to below 5% of monthly income worldwide, a target set by the United Nations (UN) Broadband Commission.

Reaching this goal could help to connect the two-thirds of the world to the internet and make universal access a reality, reads a statement.

Ndemo says, “In Kenya, we saw the number of internet users more than double in a single year after we liberalised markets. Now we need to spark the same revolution on broadband costs and access, not only in my country but around the world.”

It has also been revealed that the alliance plans to start in-country engagements with three to four states by the end of 2013, expanding to at least twelve countries by the end of 2015.

Furthermore it is expected to produce an annual ‘Affordability Report’, with the first edition being unveiled in December 2013.

Inventor of the web and founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, Sir Tim Berners-Lee said, “The reason for the alliance is simple – the majority of the world’s people are still not online, usually because they can’t afford to be. In Mozambique, for example, a recent study showed that using just 1GB of data can cost well over two months wages for the average citizen."

“The result of high prices is a widening digital divide that slows progress in vital areas such as health, education and science. Yet with the advent of affordable smartphones, new undersea cables and innovations in wireless spectrum usage, there is simply no good reason for the digital divide to continue. The real bottleneck now is anti-competitive policies and regulations that keep prices unaffordable. The alliance is about removing that barrier and helping as many as possible get online at reasonable cost,” he said.