SAN FRANCISCO, July 27 (Bernama-BUSINESS WIRE) — Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), the security, performance, and reliability company helping to build a better Internet, today announced a new initiative to improve Internet access for underserved communities around the world. Through Project Pangea, eligible local communities can use Cloudflare’s performance and security services–for free–to more reliably and securely connect to the global Internet without paying the high costs of bandwidth. By providing its security and network services, Cloudflare is helping local groups or nonprofits that build their own telecom infrastructure find a free and sustainable way to connect people who rely on the Internet for everything from communication to education and economic development.
Nearly half of the world’s population has no access to the Internet, with many more limited to poor, expensive, and unreliable connectivity. Many communities rely on non-profits or form local groups to build their own networks by erecting Wi-Fi antennas or laying fiber optic cables. This allows them to build a network in a town that connects homes and businesses together, but it remains very expensive to connect that network to the Internet. Bandwidth is either unavailable or unaffordable because existing providers don’t have the economies of scale to provide it, or because regional policies and regulations favor urban markets. The problem is not limited to developing nations and exists across the globe. In the United States for example, 21 million people have no high-speed connection despite large levels of public investment and private infrastructure. Now, Cloudflare is offering a chance for communities to get the Internet experience they deserve–performant, reliable, and secure.