In most developing countries, mobile broadband (3G or above) is the main way — and often the only way — to connect to the Internet.
This kind of access is available to 95 per cent of the world population. Bridging the “coverage gap”, that is, connecting the remaining five per cent still off the grid is proving difficult: since crossing the 90 per cent threshold in 2018, global 3G coverage has increased only by four percentage points. In Africa, the gap constitutes 18 per cent, predominantly affecting the population of central and western Africa.
The coverage gap is almost the same in LDCs and LLDCs, falling short of target 9.c of Sustainable Development Goal 9: to “significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020.”
Between 2015 and 2022, 4G network coverage doubled to reach 88 per cent of the world’s population; but, as for previous technologies, growth is slowing down.
4G technology is now available to more than 90 per cent of the population in the Americas, the Asia-Pacific, the CIS and Europe. In the Arab States, one-quarter of the population still cannot access a 4G network, while in Africa that is true for half the population.
In many countries older-generation networks are being switched off in favour of networks that are more efficient and allow the development of a digital ecosystem compatible with 5G. This is particularly the case for 3G, which is often shut down so that the freed-up spectrum can be re-used for 5G, while keeping 2G for older legacy devices. This is the case for most European operators, who are planning to have their 3G networks switched off by December 2025, and for the Asia-Pacific region. However, in other regions of the world the path is less clear, mainly because 2G and 3G networks retain a significant presence. This is the case notably in lower-income countries, where both technologies are an important means of communication. In those countries, the main obstacles to 5G deployment include high infrastructure costs, device affordability, and regulatory and adoption barriers.
Preliminary data show that 19 per cent of the global population was covered by a 5G network in 2021. The highest roll-out was in Europe at 52 per cent, followed by the Americas (38 per cent) and the Asia-Pacific region (16 per cent).
While virtually all urban areas in the world are covered by a mobile broadband network, many gaps persist in rural areas.
In the Americas, 22 per cent of the rural population is not covered by any mobile signal at all, while an additional 5 per cent only have access to a 2G network, meaning that 27 per cent are unable to access the Internet. In Africa, those figures are 15 per cent (no coverage whatsoever), and 14 per cent (2G only).