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A4AI: COMMUNICATIONS TOOLKIT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Purpose
2. Key Messages
3. Representing A4AI in person
4. Media Relations
5. Social Media
6. Visual Identities
7. A4AI: Best Practice and Policy Recommendations
8. FAQ’s
9. A4AI Artefacts
10. Staying in Touch
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1. PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT
This document is designed to assist members in presenting A4AI so that we can achieve our
goals as rapidly as possible. It is being issued a few weeks after the Alliance’s launch so that
we can build on the early gains made.
The Alliance for Affordable Internet’s (A4AI’s) greatest strengths are our diverse membership
allied with our dedicated focus on policies and regulations affecting affordability. A4AI
members comprise organisations large and small, scattered across the globe. In this diversity
also lies a challenge – for A4AI to be successful, we must all communicate clearly and
consistently around the same key messages. This toolkit will help us achieve this.
Each of the sections below is designed to underpin a certain communications activity. At the
beginning of each section, a brief overview is given as to how to use the content details. If you
have any questions, the A4AI team is always on hand. Your support played a vital role in
helping us to achieve a high impact launch, and so we thank you in advance for your
continued efforts!
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2. KEY MESSAGES
We use these to shape and guide all communications activities.
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
In less developed countries, only around one-third of the population is connected to
the Internet, primarily because of persistently high access costs. This is acting as a
major barrier to socio-economic development and must be addressed urgently.

The Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) is the first truly global coalition to
tackle this issue head on. It is a diverse and truly international initiative membership includes key players from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors,
from developed and developing countries, including developing country governments.

A4AI seeks to achieve the UN Broadband Commission’s target of entry-level
broadband services priced at less than 5% of monthly income.

A4AI is focused on policy and regulatory change. Members believe that policy and
regulatory conditions are key barriers to affordability and universal access and so
A4AI is working to create the conditions for open, competitive and innovative
broadband markets.

A4AI is action-focused. The Alliance will work on the ground with three countries in
year one, expanding to 10 -12 countries by the end of 2015. Nigeria and Ghana both
joined A4AI just weeks after our launch. A4AI will identify and address barriers,
build case studies around success stories, bring together key stakeholders, and
promote regional cooperation, all with a clear policy and regulatory focus. A4AI will
also release an annual affordability report to inform debates.
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3. REPRESENTING A4AI IN PERSON
This section contains details on an overview Powerpoint presentation, our events plans, plus
talking points for use in conversations or speeches.
Overview Presentation
We encourage all members to present on A4AI wherever possible – from large industry events
to informal inter-organisation knowledge sharing sessions.
To help you do this, we’ve prepared a short overview presentation on A4AI. This is available
here: http://a4ai.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/A4AI-Overview-Powerpoint-10-30-2013.pdf
Should you want us to support you with speechwriting or further detail before a presentation,
please don’t hesitate to reach out and we’ll help if we can.
To help us with monitoring and evaluation, it would be greatly appreciated if you could drop
us a quick email to let us know if you have presented on A4AI in a public forum.
Events Programme
The A4AI team will be representing the Alliance at many events around the world. We’ll be
maintaining a list of these on the A4AI website here: http://a4ai.org/category/news-andevents/events-calendar/
Should you want a senior member of the Alliance team to attend a conference and speak,
please do let us know and we will deploy a representative if we are able.
Talking Points
Below is a general selection of talking points about A4AI which may be useful in
conversations or informal presentations. You may also use them in combination with the
overview presentation above in more formal settings.
A4AI: The elevator pitch
A4AI is a diverse and truly global coalition committed to driving down the cost of internet
access in less developed countries. We believe that, while technological solutions are
advancing rapidly, policy and regulations remain a significant barrier to affordable internet.
A4AI seeks to create the conditions for open, competitive and innovative broadband markets
through a combination of advocacy, research and knowledge-sharing. When we succeed, we
will help to lower access costs to meet the UN Broadband Commission target of broadband
access priced at less than 5% of monthly income, thereby helping billions more to come online
and unlocking significant socio-economic benefits.
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Why A4AI is needed:
“Estimates suggest that as much as two-thirds of the world’s population is not connected to
the internet, with penetration rates in less developed countries averaging around 31%. In
Africa, this figure drops to 16% and in the world’s 49 least developed countries, over 90% of
people are not online. (Source: ITU 2013) and (Broadband Commission 2013)
“Most often, this is for affordability reasons. In developed nations, the average cost of
broadband internet access is around 1-2% of monthly household income - less than a daily
coffee. In less developed countries, this figure skyrockets to over 30%, and in 17 countries a
basic internet connection can cost well over 100% of average monthly income. Overcoming
this digital divide is critical so that technology and innovation can be harnessed to accelerate
progress in areas such as education, food security, job creation, public health, and gender
equity.”
On A4AI’s goals:
“Our primary focus is to support the achievement of the UN Broadband Commission
Broadband Target of entry-level broadband services priced at less than 5% of average
monthly income. In doing so, we hope to enable billions of people to come online (with a
particular focus on low-income countries) and make universal access a reality.
On Strategy:
“Innovative technological solutions to affordability challenges are progressing apace.
However, the best technologies in the world can’t drive change if quasi-monopolies or
regressive policies prevent them from being implemented. Changes to policy can deliver
impressive results, fast. So, through a combination of advocacy, research and knowledgesharing, A4AI will drive policy change by seeking to create the conditions for open,
competitive and innovative broadband markets. We are unique in pursuing this approach.”
On Specific Activities:
“A4AI is focused on creating conditions for open, competitive and innovative broadband
markets via regulatory and policy change. Activities include: original research (including the
publication of an annual Affordability Report); publication of regulation and policy best
practices, and illustrating these via case studies; and in-country engagements including the
establishment of multi-stakeholder coalitions to develop policy and regulatory reform
proposals, networking and knowledge-sharing. We will work closely with national
governments – three to four countries in year one, expanding to 10 - 12 in years two and
three. Nigeria and Ghana have already signed up as members of the Alliance.”
How are policies keeping prices high?
There are numerous examples of how policies keep prices high. Here are just a handful:
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
Luxury taxes: Tax accounts for more than 20% of the total cost of mobile ownership
in at least 13 African countries. (Source: GSMA 2011) Tax reductions on PCs in
Colombia have increased PC penetration by 100% in 2 years, and Internet
penetration increased 466% from 2005-2008, versus 161% across the region (source:
IDC Colombia 2009).

Access to international gateway: In 8 of 20 African countries surveyed by ISOC there
is little or no competition on the international gateway. In the same survey, only one
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of the 20 countries has fully privatized their incumbent telecoms company. In South
Africa firms began deploying open-access metro fibre in 2009, and also furnished a
link from Johannesburg to the SEACOM (undersea cable) landing station in order to
avoid very high charges proposed by Telkom (the state-owned operator). This helped
to slash international capacity prices by over 60%.

Universal Service Funds (USF) for Broadband (example of how policy can lower
prices): USFs and similar subsidies improve the availability and affordability of
broadband for unserved or underserved citizens. Historically focused on basic
telephony services in remote areas, USFs are now being adapted to promote the
adoption of broadband by subsidizing content, devices, services, and digital training,
as well as infrastructure. USFs can serve as a tool to stimulate demand and increase
adoption and use.

Effective and transparent regulation informed by public participation is essential to
maintain fair and open markets, but in one in three developing countries, the
regulator does not provide consumers with comparative tariff information; and in
more than one in two developing countries, public consultation is not mandatory
before regulatory decisions are made. A legal definition of 'significant market power'
- key to empower regulators to identify and apply remedies in situations where the
dominance of one or a few market players starts to stifle competition - is missing from
the regulator's toolkit in one in four developing countries. (Source: ITU Regulatory
Database 2012 accessed via ITU ICTEye data portal http://www.itu.int/net4/itud/icteye/Default.aspx on 7 Oct 2013. Data is for 107-118 developing countries
depending on the indicator.)
About A4AI’s membership base:
“A4AI is a diverse coalition of private sector, public sector, and not-for-profit organisations
who have come together to advance the shared aim of affordable access to both mobile and
fixed-line Internet in developing countries. We are the first truly global coalition to tackle this
issue and our members are from both developed and less developed nations. The World Wide
Web Foundation, established by web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, initiated the Alliance.”
You may wish to choose a handful of relevant examples from: http://a4ai.org/members/
What are the benefits of membership?
“A4AI offers the chance to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our time. Members
also receive a number of other benefits, including invitations to events and conferences, media
and social media exposure, online and print logo promotion, opportunities to engage with
national coalitions and early access to cutting-edge research.”
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4. MEDIA RELATIONS
Use this section to help you understand how A4AI will engage with the media, and how you
can help us achieve maximum impact.
Obtaining continued positive media coverage at international, national and regional level will
be key to A4AI’s success.
We will release our own news proactively, target scheduled opportunities and seek out
opportunities to comment on breaking news stories.
Releasing our own news:
From time to time, we will prepare and issue a press release on a very newsworthy
development. A recent example is the press release we issued on our first developing country
member – Nigeria. This outreach led to over 20 good pieces of coverage and had significant
impact on social media. To ensure our communications remain high-value, we will use press
releases relatively infrequently. We will email all members on the communications mailing
list before we release news in this way to allow you to help us amplify our outreach.
Targeting scheduled opportunities:
As many of you know, publications run schedules of planned features called forward features
lists. We have access to a selected number of these, and are targeting them. However, we do
not subscribe to forward features databases that many larger organisations do. If you have
access to a features database and identify opportunities that may be of interest to A4AI, please
flag these with us!
In fulfilling requests for scheduled opportunities, we may ask A4AI members to help us by
drafting articles, undertaking interviews, or providing images/collateral. We will be grateful
for your support here.
Hijacking the news agenda:
Occasionally, we will seek to comment on breaking news developments – such as the release
of new research by major world bodies, or speeches by world leaders.
Responding to inbound enquiries:
From time to time, you may receive inbound enquiries direct from the media. If these requests
relate primarily to your organisation’s role in A4AI and you are confident in dealing with
them, there is no need to contact us first, but we’d appreciate a heads-up so we can look out
for coverage. If you would like us to help you prepare for any interviews though, we’d be
delighted to. We can also arrange interviews with A4AI representatives or other members if
required. However, if these inbound requests relate to A4AI generally (as opposed to your
membership), please filter these through to us via Dillon@webfoundation.org.
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5. SOCIAL MEDIA
This section details A4AI’s social media activities and how you can support them.
Facebook
A4AI is active on Facebook at: Facebook.com/allianceforaffordableinternet. Please like our
page and share our content. If we haven’t liked your page already, please feel free to ping us a
note to ask us to!
Twitter
Our Twitter handle is @a4a_internet. If you haven’t already followed us, please do so.
We’ve also created a list of all A4AI members. You can find the list here:
twitter.com/A4A_Internet/lists/a4ai-members. We encourage you to follow your fellow
members and share their relevant content. If we’ve accidentally missed you off the list, or if
you have targeted handles you’d like us to consider adding, please drop us a line.
General
We use the hashtag #affordableinternet frequently.
Please try to link to a4ai.org in any social media activity you undertake.
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6. VISUAL IDENTITIES
A range of A4AI visual identities are available for download here:
Full width JPEG – Click here to download
Full width PNG - Click here to download
Compact JPEG – Click here to download
Compact PNG – Click here to download
All members are encouraged to use these visual identities online and in physical collateral. For
online use, we ask that the logo and a relevant piece of anchor text is linked to a4ai.org. In
print, we ask that you use the phrase: “For more information, please visit the Alliance For
Affordable Internet website: www.a4ai.org”
Should you have any queries regarding the use of the A4AI logo, please do not hesitate to
contact Dillon Mann or Emilie Yam using the details provided later in this document.
Please note: logos of individual member organisations may be protected by copyright or
other laws. Should you wish to publish the logo of another member organisation with
respect to A4AI, you must contact us beforehand to find out if permission is required.
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7. A4AI POLICY AND BEST PRACTICE RECOMMENDATIONS
Remember that A4AI has published a list of policy and best practice recommendations, to
which all members committed when they joined A4AI. This is an important document as it
guides all our advocacy work. You can download the document here:
http://a4ai.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/A4AI-Best-Practices-launch1.pdf
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8. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
These are available to the public on the A4AI website, and we encourage you to use them in
responding to media or other stakeholder enquiries.
Why launch A4AI? Approximately two-thirds of the world’s people remain unconnected to
the Internet, entrenching a digital divide that severely hampers socio-economic progress. Most
often, those not connected to the Internet cannot afford to be – in less developed countries a
basic fixed line broadband connection costs around a third of monthly income, compared to
around 2% of income in the developed world.
What is A4AI? A diverse, globally representative Alliance drawn from the public sector,
private sector and civil society. A4AI has a laser focus on driving down the cost of broadband
access via regulatory and policy change, underpinned by research and genuine knowledge
sharing.
Why the focus on policy? Innovative technological solutions to affordability challenges are
progressing apace. However, the best technologies in the world can’t drive change if quasimonopolies or regressive policies prevent them from being implemented. Changes to policy
can deliver impressive results, fast.
Who is involved? A4AI’s members include governments and government agencies,
foundations, technology companies and service providers, academia and civil society
organisations from both developed and less developed countries, with a strong presence from
the Global South. Many of the world’s biggest ICT companies are members. The Alliance was
initiated by the World Wide Web Foundation, and its honorary chairperson is Dr. Bitange
Ndemo, former Permanent Secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Information and
Communications.
For a list of current members see: http://a4ai.org/members/
What’s the goal? To support the achievement of the UN Broadband Commission Broadband
Target of entry-level broadband services priced at less than 5% of average monthly income,
with a focus on developing countries. In doing so, A4AI hopes to raise Internet penetration
rates to least 40% in all countries and bring billions of people online.
How will you do this? By working directly with countries to create the conditions for open,
competitive and innovative broadband markets. With a clear focus on regulatory and policy
matters, A4AI will identify and address barriers, build case studies around success stories,
bring together key stakeholders, and promote regional cooperation. A4AI’s workplans include
in-country engagements with three to four States by the end of 2013, rising to at least twelve
countries by the end of 2015. The Alliance has also produced a set of policy best practices that
will guide its advocacy work at the international level. A4AI will also produce an annual
‘Affordability Report’, with the first edition being unveiled in December 2013.
What is the relationship between A4AI and Internet.org? While A4AI and Internet.org are
two separate organisations, we share a common goal (in addition to common partners in
Facebook and Ericsson) of making internet access available to more people around the
world. A4AI has a clear focus on policy and regulatory issues surrounding access while
Internet.org is focused on identifying technical innovations and new business models that can
help drive down the cost of data. Wherever possible, we will we collaborate to maximise
impact.
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Who funds A4AI? We are funded by our members.
Who runs A4AI? The World Wide Web Foundation (established by Web inventor Sir Tim
Berners-Lee) serves as the Secretariat for the Alliance. Major decisions are made in
conjunction with our advisory council. This is an elected 12-member, non-fiduciary board that
provides oversight, strategic direction, and high-level decision making for the Alliance. You
can read more about the advisory council here: http://a4ai.org/a4ai-elects-first-ever-advisorycouncil/
What are Global Sponsors? Global Sponsors are founder members of the Alliance who have
made significant financial and practical contributions to A4AI. Global Sponsors also have
reserved seats on our advisory council, meaning they play in important role in shaping A4AI
strategy.
Where is A4AI based? Our head office is in Washington DC, USA, and we also have hubs in
Cape Town, South Africa and London, UK.
How can I help? If you’re an organisation, you can consider joining us. Click here to read
about becoming a member of A4AI. If you’re an individual, we need your help to spread to
the word. Please follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook and tell as many people as possible
about us! Please also keep an eye on our jobs page and consider joining the team.
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9. A4AI ARTEFACTS
We’re creating a collection of A4AI artefacts for members to refer back to. These will be
hosted in the private members section of the website and so far include:


A copy of Dr Ndemo’s launch presentation
Copies of key pieces of launch media coverage
We’ll be adding more as we go along.
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10. STAYING IN TOUCH
A4AI is currently communicating with members via Google Groups, with email updates sent
regularly. If you are not already a member of this group, you can join it here:
groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/a4ai. A member newsletter will be launched shortly.
Based on feedback from members, we will not create a separate communications group, but
will email member’s communications representatives directly.
For all matters relating to A4AI communications, please contact Dillon Mann, Senior
Communications Adviser in the first instance. His contact details are:
Dillon@webfoundation.org, +44 203 289 7261 (UK), Skype: dillon.mann and Twitter:
@dillonmann. Dillon is based in Cape Town, South Africa, which is time zone GMT + 2.
For enquiries regarding membership, please contact Emilie Yam via
Emilie@webfoundation.org or +1.423.653.0930 (USA) or Emilie.yam on Skype. Emilie is
based in Washington, DC.
If you need to reach the executive director of A4AI, Sonia Jorge, she is available via
Sonia@webfoundation.org or +1-617-905-7819. Sonia is based on the East Coast of the USA.
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