Earlier this year, I spent time with Verizon chairman and chief executive officer Hans Vestberg, who argued that digital inclusion is an essential value for modern life. Having access to online tools for learning, education, healthcare, financial services and more is what enables people to fully participate in society, no matter where in the world people are born or live. This is one of the reasons that TIME decided to remove the paywall on Time.com, which has enabled us to bring free access to our trusted journalism to readers worldwide—including our current audience of 120 million, the largest in our history.

To read more, click here.