51% Of The Population Of The World Now Has Access To The Internet
51% of the world's population now has access to the internet
In the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated global digital transformation. By the end of 2020, 51% of the world's population – over 4 billion people – would be using mobile internet, according to the GSMA's state of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2021 report. This represents an increase of 225 million over the end of the previous fiscal year.
According to the report, the internet facilitated communication and access to critical information, services, and opportunities that aided people's lives and livelihoods, particularly during lockdowns.
The majority of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) access the internet via mobile, and for many, it is their only option.
As a result, mobile internet use in LMICs has increased steadily year after year. This represents slightly more than three-quarters of the world's connected population today.
Despite these advancements, the pandemic demonstrated how significant connectivity gaps persist, even in high-income markets. The digital divide continues to exist, with 93 percent of the world's unconnected population living in LMICs.
According to the report, 450 million people (6 percent of the world's population) live in areas without mobile broadband coverage. Although Sub-Saharan Africa and the Pacific Islands have seen the greatest coverage gains, Sub-Saharan Africa continues to have the largest coverage gap, at 19 percent.
In 2014, nearly a quarter of the world's population lacked access to mobile broadband. Six years later, only 6% of the uncovered area remains. This means that 94 percent of the world's population now has access to a high-speed Internet connection.
Smartphones accounted for 68% of total mobile connections globally in 2020, up from 64% in 2019 and 47% in 2016.
3.4 billion people, despite living in areas with mobile broadband coverage, do not use mobile internet. Although the usage disparity has narrowed slightly over the last two years, it still accounts for 43% of the world's population.
Between 2019 and 2020, the usage gap narrowed primarily as a result of increased mobile internet adoption in East Asia. Nonetheless, South Asia continues to have the largest usage disparity, at 61%.
According to mobile users who are aware of the internet in all of the countries where the survey was conducted, a lack of literacy and digital skills, as well as affordability (particularly the cost of internet-enabled handsets), are the most significant barriers to using mobile internet.
Additionally, the report indicates that women in LMICs are still 15% less likely than men to use mobile internet (234 million fewer women), despite the fact that the gender divide in mobile internet usage has continued to narrow. Additionally, rural residents are increasing their use of mobile internet, but a significant rural-urban divide persists across the surveyed countries.
Unfortunately, as a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, internet-enabled handsets and data became less affordable in many LMICs in 2020. Despite a decline in the cost of entry-level handsets and data in many LMICs, affordability has deteriorated in many countries as a result of the pandemic's impact on per capita income.
Sub-Saharan Africa, on the other hand, is an exception, as handset affordability has improved significantly in recent years, owing in part to the influx of low-grade Chinese variants and foreign-used options. South Asia has also seen an increase in the affordability of data.
According to the report, increased rural coverage, increased awareness of mobile internet, lower entry-level smartphone and smart feature phone prices, as well as innovative financing and payment models available to low-income segments, all likely contributed to the changes observed in these countries.
As a result, the diversity and frequency of users' online activities have increased across the LMICs surveyed. There has been an increase in data-intensive activities like video conferencing, music streaming, and online video viewing.
The good news is that mobile networks expanded to meet the increased demand. According to the survey, networks remained resilient and capacity increased as a result of increased data usage caused by the pandemic, work from home, and increased video conferencing.
Mobile data traffic reached all-time highs in 2020, with global data per user exceeding 6 GB per month – more than double the amount used in 2018. By the end of 2020, download speeds had increased on average over the previous year.
In general, 4G network coverage expanded over the last year, while a number of countries made the switch to the 5G band. For example, coverage of 4G will increase to 84 percent in LMICs by the end of 2020 – only eight percentage points less than the coverage of 3.5G.
Global coverage of 5G increased from 5% in 2019 to 17% in 2020. By year's end, 10 LMICs had launched 5G networks, with China leading the way.
The case of Africa is particularly interesting
Across the eight LMICs surveyed in 2020, the rural-urban divide narrowed in some countries (notably Kenya, Nigeria, and Guatemala), while it remained relatively unchanged in others (notably Algeria) or even widened in some cases.
Sub-Saharan Africa currently has the highest proportion of basic or feature phone connections, accounting for 45% of all connections. Additionally, a sizable portion of smartphones in Sub-Saharan Africa support only 3G, whereas the majority of smartphones in other regions support 4G or 5G.
The implication of this is that increased levels of digitisation, if they are not properly managed, can exacerbate already existing inequalities. While increasing mobile broadband coverage in emerging markets remains a priority, it is the usage gap that is the most important factor in closing the digital divide.
The solution is for policymakers and regulators in emerging economies to adopt a more people-centric approach to policymaking, rather than the traditional infrastructure-centric approach.
The emphasis should be on redoubling efforts to overcome barriers to mobile internet adoption and use.
In Conclusion
The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity in 2021 examines trends in mobile internet coverage and usage over the last six years, as well as the major barriers to mobile internet adoption.
This year's report focuses on the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the most significant regional changes, and the critical challenges that must be addressed to ensure that everyone has access to the internet.
