At a recently held session of the ITU Economic Experts Roundtable, experts discussed the importance of having access to quality connectivity in offsetting the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in promoting overall digital inclusion. The COVID-19 crisis has accelerated the existing long-term trends in the telecom industry, such as increased screen time, remote work and learning, dependency on the public cloud providers and digital finance. The role of digital technologies in recovery from COVID-19 is important, for example, in health responses and automated analysis. However, some experts warned that digital technologies are not a panacea for all the problems. The long-term challenge remains to fight extreme digital inequalities by making health information and online opportunities available to all. Long-term challenges persist in how to fund the networks, roll them out and make them secure and reliable.