More Than Half The World’s Population Still Not Using The Internet

More Than Half The World’s Population Still Not Using The Internet (source: itu.int)

Note: The map above is based on 2016 estimates. The base map for this infographic is based on the UN map database of the United Nation Cartographic Section. (Source: ITU.int)

ITU, the UN specialized agency for information and communication technology (ICT), says 3.9 billion people remain cut-off from the vast resources available on the internet, despite falling prices for ICT services.

Digital divide means more than half the world is still offline: By the end of 2016, more than half of the world’s population – 3.9 billion people – will not yet be using the internet. While almost one billion households in the world now have Internet access (of which 230 million are in China, 60 million in India and 20 million in the world’s 48 Least Developed Countries), figures for household access reveal the extent of the digital divide, with 84% of households connected in Europe, compared with 15.4% in the African region.

ICT Facts & Figures 2016 shows that developing countries now account for the vast majority of internet users, with 2.5 billion users compared with one billion in developed countries. But Internet penetration rates tell a different story, with 81% in developed countries, compared with 40% in developing countries and 15% in the Least Developed Countries.

“Access to information and communication technologies, particularly broadband, has the potential to serve as a major accelerator of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Global interconnectedness is rapidly expanding, however more needs to be done to bridge the digital divide and bring the more than half of the global population not using the Internet into the digital economy.”--ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao

ITU’s ICT Facts & Figures also reveals that mobile phone coverage is now near-ubiquitous, with an estimated 95% of the global population – or some seven billion people – living in an area covered by a basic 2G mobile-cellular network. Advanced mobile-broadband networks (LTE) have spread quickly over the last three years and reach almost four billion people today – corresponding to 53% of the global population. But while the number of mobile-broadband subscriptions continues to grow at double digit rates in developing countries to reach a penetration rate of close to 41%, mobile-broadband penetration growth has slowed overall. Globally, the total number of mobile-broadband subscriptions is expected to reach 3.6 billion by end 2016, compared with 3.2 billion at end 2015.

Fixed broadband growth strongest in developed countries. Growth in China is driving fixed-broadband in Asia and the Pacific, where penetration is expected to surpass 10% by end of 2016. Mobile-broadband services have now become more affordable than fixed-broadband services, with the average price for a basic fixed-broadband plan more than twice as high as the average price of a comparable mobile-broadband plan. By the end of 2015, 83 developing countries had achieved the Broadband Commission’s affordability target.

Internet bandwidth: By early 2016, international Internet bandwidth had reached 185,000 gigabits per second, up from a low of 30,000 gigabits in 2008. However, bandwidth is unequally distributed globally, and lack of bandwidth remains a major bottleneck to improved Internet connectivity in many developing and Least Developed Countries.

Read the full ICT Facts & Figures 2016 report. See also: ICT Facts and Figures 2016 | itu.int.

feedback & comments via twitter @DomainMondo
Follow @DomainMondo

DISCLAIMER

Truths About Tech in Africa: Internet Access, Affordability (a16z Podcast)

"We often hear stats like “more people have mobile phones than toilets” about places like Africa, but what does that actually mean for people? “It is b.s.,” (no pun intended!), argues one of the guests on this episode. Then there are statistical predictions about mobile penetration and usage — for example, that there will be one mobile phone per African within just three years. But how do we make sense of such stats, in context? It may make more sense to measure household per device(s) not just per person … and whether women, too, truly have such access given power structures. Finally, since access is mainly about affordability, what good is a smartphone with an internet connection if data plans are prohibitively expensive? Watching just one 7-second YouTube video could cost a low-income African family an entire month of groceries. 

"With three experts from various backgrounds and regions of Africa — Nkiru Balonwu of international music media company Spinlet; Alan Knott-Craig of free wi-fi non-profit Project Isiszwe; and Nanjira Sambuli of Kenyan startup incubator iHub — we explore the nuances of what connectivity in Africa really means. How does this change app design? What does it mean for doing business with Africa? What does it mean for businesses in Africa trying to compete with Silicon Valley (is there really local advantage)?" Internet access, affordability--all this and more in this episode of the a16z Podcast.

Companies/organizations referenced:

Spinlet @spinlet - Music, music app (Lagos, San Francisco & Tampere) - Domain: spinlet.com

Project Isizwe @ProjectIsizwe - free wi-fi for South Africa - Domain: projectisizwe.org

iHub @iHub - Nairobi's Innovation Hub - Domain: ihub.co.ke

Tweets by @iHub

Andreessen Horowitz (domain: a16z.com) is a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm that "backs bold entrepreneurs who move fast, think big, and are committed to building the next major franchises in technology." Founders: Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. The firm "provides entrepreneurs with access to expertise and insights in innovation, executive and technical talent, market intelligence, policy and regulatory affairs, business development, and marketing and brand-building."


Follow @DomainMondo

DISCLAIMER

Internet Broadband Affordability Map, A Global Digital Divide

Internet Broadband Affordabiity Map, A Global Digital Divide - source: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford
This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 3.0.

The above Oxford Internet Institute (OII) map presents an overview of broadband Internet affordability, as the relationship between average yearly income per capita and the cost of a broadband subscription.

Data: The map uses the “Fixed (wired)-broadband monthly subscription charge, in USD” indicator published by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in the 17th edition of the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, using 2011 data--the most recent information available for this indicator in the dataset. The ITU defines the indicator as the following: “Fixed (wired)-broadband monthly subscription charge refers to the monthly subscription charge for fixed (wired)-broadband Internet service. Fixed (wired) broadband is considered to be any dedicated connection to the Internet at downstream speeds equal to, or greater than, 256 kbit/s. If several offers are available, preference should be given to the 256 kbit/s connection.”

The data also refers to the monthly cost of the cheapest entry-level subscription in any place. These values have been multiplied by twelve to obtain a yearly cost, and weighted over the gross national income per capita (Atlas method, current USD) data available from the World Bank, referring to the same year (2011). The graph on the lower-left corner illustrates the evolution of the cost of broadband over time.

Findings: This visualization speaks to one of the core themes of the global digital divide: the relative cost of being connected to the Internet. The price of a broadband connection in most parts of Africa is out of reach for people on average incomes. Africans need to pay ten times as much of their salary (if looking at the ratio of income to connectivity costs) for broadband as people in the rest of the world.

A monthly broadband subscription costs about 60 USD both in Australia and Mozambique. However, while the average yearly gross income in Australia is around 50,000 USD, the same figure in Mozambique is less than 500 USD. This means that while an average worker in Australia could pay for a year’s worth of connectivity with one week’s salary, a Mozambican worker would need over one and a half year’s salary. The average cost of an African Internet connection is now half of what it was four years ago, thanks to a series of cables laid around the African continent in 2009. Kenya and Nigeria, for instance, have 2011 broadband costs that are respectively 21% and 8% of what they were in 2008. These changes have undoubtedly contributed to the significant growth in the number of Internet users seen by both countries. The most striking drop in broadband cost has been observed in Burkina Faso, which has gone from over 1,700 USD a month to a most reasonable 55 USD (which still, however, represents 100% of the salary of an average worker).

Eritrea is the country where the Internet is least affordable. A yearly subscription there is the equivalent of almost fifty year’s worth of an average salary: an entire life of work! Over 18 countries still face costs of Internet subscriptions higher than the average income, including 14 Sub-Saharan African countries, the landlocked countries of Afghanistan and Tajikistan, and the islands of Kiribati and Solomon Islands. A broadband Internet connection cost over 500 USD a month in the Central African Republic, Guinea, Malawi, and Swaziland, as well as in Cuba, where, according to the ITU, 1,700 USD was still not enough to buy a subscription.

India and Sri Lanka have the cheapest broadband access prices, where access can be obtained for as little as 6 USD a month. Europe and North America have higher absolute costs, ranging between about 10 and 40 USD a month, but have some of the lowest relative costs in the world: with a couple of hours of work a month being sufficient for an average worker to afford the cost of connectivity.

Without the ability and means to connect, opportunities, information, and communication made possible by the Internet remain "out of reach."(Source: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford under CC BY-NC 3.0)

Conclusion: if you are trying to establish a viable market for domain names in an area where internet is not affordable--examples: Africa, Cuba, and areas of the developing world--good luck! 

See also:

• Domain Mondo: Domain Name Registrations and the Global Internet Population
• expVC.com: Connecting the Next Billion, Goals for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 

Follow @DomainMondo