Closing the Usage Gap: More Than 3 Billion People Remain Offline

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of the world's population—4.7 billion people—now use mobile internet services on their own device, according to the annual State of Mobile Internet Connectivity report from GSMA.

However, despite 96% of the global population living in areas with mobile internet coverage available to them, 3.1 billion people are still not using it. These people—38% of the world's population—sit within what is known as the Usage Gap, with barriers other than coverage availability keeping them offline.

A further 300 million people (4% of the global population) live in what is labelled the Coverage Gap, lacking any available mobile internet connectivity.

This means that 3.4 billion people globally remained unconnected to mobile internet services in 2024. The overwhelming majority live in areas with available coverage but they remain unable or unwilling to use it.

Mobile remains the primary, and in many cases only, way most people access the internet in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and now accounts for 84% of global internet connections. The vast majority (93%) of the unconnected live in LMICs.

Across LMICs, the affordability of an entry-level, internet-enabled device has remained relatively unchanged since 2021 and represents 16% of an average monthly income, increasing to 48% for the poorest 20%.

Vivek Badrinath, Director General of GSMA, provided the following comments:

A device at $30 could make handsets affordable to up to 1.6 billion people who are currently priced out of connecting to available mobile internet coverage.
To produce this will require a concerted, collaborative effort between the mobile industry, device manufacturers, policy makers, financial institutions and more, but it is a responsibility we all must shoulder.
Getting online has undeniable socioeconomic benefits to individuals and societies. Essential services such as healthcare, education, and banking are now most commonly accessed online, and for billions of people this primarily means on mobile.
In 96% of the world, the infrastructure is in place for people to get online via mobile. Removing the remaining barriers is essential to ensuring existing digital divides are reduced rather than deepened and many more of these 3.1 billion people can benefit from life-changing connectivity.

Source: GSMA