The International Telecoms Union (ITU) has revealed that more than 4 billion people are still offline even as broadband growth slows down sharply in the past few months.
ITU in a report entitled State of Broadband said broadband internet is failing to reach those who could benefit most in the developing nations. According to the union, internet access is reaching near-saturation in the world’s rich nations but not advancing fast enough to benefit the billions of people living in the developing world.
The report reveals that the internet is only accessible to 35% of people in developing countries while 57% of the world’s people remain offline and unable to take advantage of the enormous economic and social benefits the internet can offer.
The situation in the 48 UN-designated Least Developed Countries is particularly critical, with over 90% of people without any kind of Internet connectivity.
“The UN Sustainable Development Goals remind us that we need to measure global development by the number of those being left behind,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
He said: “The market has done its work connecting the world’s wealthier nations, where a strong business case for network roll-out can easily be made. Our important challenge now is to find ways of getting online the four billion people who still lack the benefits of Internet connectivity, and this will be a primary focus of the Broadband Commission going forward.”
