Some 4.3 billion people now own a smartphone, according to the GSMA’s annual State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report 2023 (SOMIC) published recently.
Smartphone owners are much more likely to be aware of and adopt mobile internet services, as well as use it more frequently and for a wider variety of tasks.
For example, of the 4.6 billion people now using mobile internet, almost four billion do so using a smartphone, representing just under half (49 percent) of the world’s population. Meanwhile, 600 million people (eight percent of the global population) are accessing the internet using a feature phone.
For the first time, the SOMIC 2023 report breaks down mobile internet connections by device type, revealing significant regional variations. The global expansion of 4G and 5G networks has paved the way for over two-thirds (69 percent) of smartphone owners accessing mobile broadband to be doing so on a 4G-enabled device, while 17 percent are doing so on a 5G-enabled device, driven largely by mature markets such as North America and East Asia and Pacific.
Meanwhile, 69 percent of smartphones used to access mobile internet in Sub-Saharan Africa and 33 percent in the Middle East and North Africa are still only 3G-capable, meaning 2G and 3G networks remain an important source of coverage for millions of users in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
The GSMA’s sixth annual SOMIC report, published ahead of MWC Kigali 2023, analyses the latest trends in global connectivity since 2015, provides insights into mobile internet usage and barriers to adoption in LMICs and outlines the key challenges that must be addressed to ensure everyone can connect to the internet.
While more people are using mobile internet than ever before (57 percent of the global population) 3.4 billion people remain unconnected. The majority of those who are not using mobile internet live in areas covered by a mobile broadband network.
This usage gap has fallen slightly from 40 percent of the global population in 2021 to 38 percent in 2022, representing three billion people, but remains substantial. By comparison, only five percent of those not using mobile internet live in areas without mobile broadband coverage.
Regional discrepancies and a digital divide persist. For example, Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia represent the regions with the least connected populations and where the usage gaps are 59 percent and 52 percent, respectively.
In LMICs, adults in rural areas are still 29 percent less likely to use mobile internet than those in urban areas, while women are 19 percent less likely to use mobile internet than men.
In addition, the report revealed that two-thirds of the individuals who live within areas covered by a mobile broadband network but who are not using mobile internet do not own a mobile phone, highlighting the importance of tackling issues such as handset affordability.
However, even where people do own smartphones, many are still unable to use them due to barriers such as digital skills and literacy, safety and security concerns, accessibility of enablers or services and the availability of relevant content in local languages.
The remaining third of the usage gap, representing 950 million people, consists of users who own or have access to a smartphone (350 million) or basic or feature phone (600 million), but are only using basic services like voice or SMS.
Smartphone owners should, in theory, face fewer barriers to accessing the internet, given they already have a device, is often a primary barrier to using the internet.
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