The lowest levels of Internet access are mostly found in sub-Saharan Africa, with Internet available to less than 2 per cent of the populations in Guinea, Somalia, Burundi and Eritrea.
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Women in poorer countries were also far more likely than others to be without Internet access, it said, with 25 percent fewer women than men using the Internet in developing world.
At present, the ITU estimates that 3.17 billion people (roughly 43 per cent of the global population) are hooked up to the net.
That’s where balloons, drones, and lasers come in.
The report showed the Asia-Pacific region as having the largest share – 46.6 percent – of the total global market for fixed broadband subscription, a rough indicator for overall Internet usage.
Released to coincide with the forthcoming United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York and the parallel meeting of the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development on 26 September, the fourth edition of the State of Broadband report confirms the ITU’s forecast from earlier this year, adding that the internet is only accessible to 35 percent of people in developing countries.
The Commission seeks to fully utilise the potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to serve as a major accelerator of development.
Iceland has the highest percentage of individuals using the Internet with 98.2 percent, ahead of Norway 96.3 percent and Denmark 96 percent.
“One factor contributing to the slowing of Internet growth is that the business case is less compelling for the areas in which the remaining 57 percent of unconnected people live”, the report said.
The top ten countries for Internet use are located in Europe.
The report blamed the shortfall on costs of extending infrastructure to include rurual and remote customers, and a dramatic global downturn in the growth of mobile cellular subscriptions.
The Commission’s advocacy around the importance of broadband has seen the number of countries with a National Broadband Plan in place grow from 102 in 2010, when the Commission began its work, to 148 today, according to the report.
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For the demand-side measures, the report advised that the policymakers should ensure availability and affordability of broadband-enabled devices and services for poor and at-risk households, development of local content and broadband applications, promoting effective ICT skills and literacy.
