Dive Brief:
- A new report from the United Nations Broadband Commission found more than half of the world's population is still offline, Reuters reports.
- Meanwhile, Internet access in more affluent economies is reaching saturation.
- The access growth rate in developed countries is expected to slow to 8.1% this year. Prior to 2012, growth rates were in the double digits for many years.
Dive Insight:
By the end of this year, 3.2 billion people will have some form of regular access to the Internet, up from 2.9 billion in 2014. But the Commission said the U.N. target of 60% worldwide is unlikely to be passed before 2020.
"Over half the world’s population — some 57%, or more than 4 billion people — still do not use the Internet regularly or actively," the report said.
Women in poorer countries tend to be particularly disadvantaged, with 25% fewer women than men having Internet access.
The Commission said the cost of extending last-mile infrastructure to rural and remote customers is a major challenge in worldwide Internet access expansion.
