Facebook released their second annual study of global Internet access. While the company has met resistance in various countries that it has tried to provide Internet access, this report still shows an improvement to Internet availability. The report addresses four barriers to Internet access including availability, affordability, relevance, and readiness.
- At the end of 2014, there were 2.9 billion internet users globally. By the end of 2015, this figure was predicted to have reached 3.2 billion, 43% of the world’s population.
- During 2014, lower prices for data and rising global incomes have made mobile data packages of 500MB per month affordable to 500 million more people.
- The highest estimates of 3G and 4G coverage suggest that 1.6 billion people live outside mobile broadband coverage, an improvement compared to 2 billion at the end of 2014.
- Most people connect to the internet using mobile devices, which are the only way to get online in many parts of the world. An estimated 2.7 billion people did not have mobile phone subscriptions in 2015.
You can read the full 61-page report from Internet.org linked from the Facebook Newsroom.
(Credit: Facebook Newsroom)