Less Than Half World's Population Uses Internet Despite Lower Prices, Says ITU

More than half the world’s population doesn't use the internet, despite falling prices for information and communications technology, ITU said in a Friday news release about its 2016 ICT Facts & Figures report. About 3.9 billion of 7.4 billion people don’t use the internet, the ITU said. There are 2.5 billion internet users in developing countries, more than the 1 billion users in developed countries. But developed countries have higher internet penetration, it said. About 81 percent in developed countries use the Internet compared with 40 percent in the developing nations, it said. The report also said 2G mobile networks cover about 95 percent of the global population, and 4G LTE networks cover 53 percent. The number of mobile-broadband subscriptions has grown at double-digit rates in developing countries to reach a penetration rate of nearly 41 percent, but overall mobile-broadband growth has slowed, it said. The ITU predicted the total number of mobile-broadband subscriptions globally will hit 3.6 billion by year-end. Mobile broadband is cheaper than fixed, said ITU, with the average price of fixed more than twice as high as the average price of mobile, it said. “Global interconnectedness is rapidly expanding, however more needs to be done to bridge the digital divide and bring the more than half of the global population not using the Internet into the digital economy,” said Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.