Fast forward with trust: Building safe, inclusive digital futures in emerging markets

March 3, 2026

Saira Faisal Syed, Country Lead Digital Transformation, GSMA Pakistan, GTWN International Board Member

When we talk about “fast-forwarding” digital transformation, the assumption is progress. Faster networks. More users. Smarter technologies. Yet I often find myself pausing to ask a simple question: fast for whom, and at what cost?

Across emerging markets in Asia-Pacific, millions of people are coming online for the first time. This is often framed as an unquestionable good and in many ways, it is. Connectivity opens doors to information, services, education, and opportunity. But speed can also hide uncomfortable truths. When digital growth outpaces trust, safety, and understanding, the very people we hope to empower can end up feeling exposed, excluded, or pushed out altogether.

Through my work with GSMA, I have seen these realities up close in countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and across South and Southeast Asia. In many rural and low-income settings, digital access does not look like the individual, always-on experience assumed by most platforms and policies. It is shared, rationed, supervised, and shaped by social norms that technology alone cannot override.

In Pakistan, for example, many households share a single mobile device. This shared access enables basic connectivity, but it also creates complex challenges: limited privacy, blurred boundaries, and heightened safety risks. Women and younger users often have the least control over when and how they go online, making them more vulnerable in digital spaces that were never designed for their realities.

Consider the experience of Gulmeena, a woman living in a rural district of KPK, Pakistan. Her household owns one smartphone, shared between her husband, her teenage son, and herself. The phone stays with her husband throughout the day and returns home in the evening, often already low on battery and data. Gulmeena does not have independent access to the device. She has no personal login, no private email address, and no clear understanding of what information is stored, shared, or visible to others.

Beyond shared access, cultural and social norms further restrict how she can engage with the digital world. In her community, women’s use of digital and social media is often discouraged. Even searching for information about health, government services, or financial support, can invite scrutiny. When information is available, it is frequently presented in English or in formal, technical Urdu. Local languages are rarely prioritised, and translated content often assumes a level of literacy and digital confidence that many women simply do not have.

For Gulmeena, navigating online spaces feels intimidating. She worries about clicking the wrong link, misunderstanding a message, or unintentionally exposing family information. More than making a technical mistake, she fears the social consequences, being blamed if something goes wrong, or becoming the subject of unwanted attention. After encountering an unfamiliar message on the phone, Gulmeena was effectively pushed out of using mobile internet altogether. In such environments, risk does not come from misuse; it comes from participation itself.

For Gulmeena, connectivity exists but agency does not. Access is shared, trust is fragile, and the digital world feels less like an opportunity and more like a space where exclusion is quietly reinforced.

Her experience is not unique. It reflects a broader, systemic pattern across emerging markets. GSMA research consistently shows that in countries like Pakistan, women are significantly less likely than men to use mobile internet. And even when women do have access, they face disproportionate barriers to using it safely and confidently. Access alone, it turns out, does not equal empowerment.

Young people face a similar paradox. In many APAC markets, teenagers are almost universally “online” but often not in ways that allow them real control, safety, or independence. Many young people access the internet through shared phones, shared accounts, and borrowed devices. Passwords are shared because they have to be. Personal email addresses, which are essential for account recovery and identity verification, are often missing altogether.

Research from the region shows that what we often call “good digital habits”, private logins, strong passwords, regular account recovery, are not everyday practices for many young users. They are luxuries. As a result, risks are shared along with devices. If something goes wrong, young people from lower-income households are less likely to report harm, less likely to recover accounts, and more likely to withdraw altogether. Girls, in particular, often cope silently, limiting their digital lives rather than seeking help.

This is where trust becomes decisive. For young people, especially in emerging markets, trust determines whether the internet becomes a space to learn and grow or one to avoid. It shapes whether they experiment, speak up, ask questions, or retreat. And as artificial intelligence becomes more visible in everyday digital experiences, uncertainty is growing. Young users are curious about AI and its potential, but they are also unsure how their data is used, whether information can be trusted, and where responsibility lies when harm occurs.

None of this means that innovation should slow down. Speed is not the enemy. But speed without design is. Trust, safety, and inclusion cannot be afterthoughts bolted on after harm occurs. They must be embedded from the start into policy, platforms, and services.

What does this look like in practice?

First, it means accepting shared-device realities as the norm, not the exception. Digital services need to work for households where phones are shared, accounts overlap, and privacy is negotiated rather than guaranteed. Features like session-based privacy, child or youth profiles on shared devices, and simple recovery pathways can make a real difference.

Second, it means designing safety and support in local languages and formats people actually use. Many users rely more on voice, images, and intuitive cues than text-heavy menus. Safety tools that exist only in English, or assume high literacy, may technically comply with standards but they fail in practice.

Third, it means rethinking how we approach protection for children and young people. Instead of relying only on bans or restrictions, we need age-appropriate design that supports safer participation. Privacy-preserving ways to understand age, multiple options for verification, and tools that help young people navigate risk rather than simply telling them what not to do, are far more effective in building trust.

Finally, it means investing in community-led digital literacy that focuses not just on skills, but on confidence and safety. Partnerships with local women’s groups, youth organisations, and educators can help people understand how to protect themselves online, where to seek help, and how to recover when something goes wrong. When trust is built from the ground up, digital adoption becomes more inclusive and more resilient.

Ultimately, trust is what transforms connectivity from raw access into lasting impact. It is the invisible thread that determines whether digital progress empowers people or quietly pushes them further to the margins. If we get this right, we can fast-forward the future without leaving people behind and build digital ecosystems that are not only fast, but fair, safe, and inclusive.

Saira is working as the Country Lead Digital Transformation for GSMA in Pakistan. She focuses on the promotion and execution of the GSMA’s global programmes and advocacy initiatives at the country level, as well as managing and delivering regional priorities defined by its members through GSMA governance bodies. Her focus is to advance the impact, growth, and sustainability of digital economies by collaboration between the mobile industry, policymakers, and ecosystem.

Saira is a telecommunication & project management executive with around 15 years of experience in Technology, Project Management, Regulatory, Policy & Digital Transformation. Before joining the GSMA, Saira was working as Head of Projects at Apollo Telecom leading various technology projects with the telecom industry. Saira has also worked with UNAIDS & Cure2Children Foundation Italy.

Saira has a degree in Information Technology.