In 2023, 5G covered about 750 million more people, with operators in India alone responsible for over half of those rollouts, according to a new GSMA analysis released on Wednesday. With global average download speeds rising from 34 to 48 Mbps in 2023, the user experience on mobile networks continues to improve significantly.
"To date, this is the biggest growth in both proportion and absolute value. According to the GSMA's 'State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2024' study, the largest rise occurred in South Asia, where the introduction of 5G by India caused an increase in average download speeds of 70%.
In contrast to many other nations examined, smartphone ownership among Indian rural people rose between 2022 and 2023.
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Literate mobile internet users were more likely than those with low literacy levels to do a greater range of tasks on a weekly basis across all seven survey countries with a sample size large enough for analysis. "Interestingly, mobile internet users with low literacy levels in India are, on average, using mobile internet for at least eight different activities on a weekly basis, which is higher than both low-literacy and literate groups for all other countries analysed," stated the GSMA report.
According to the survey, mobile internet access is still increasing internationally, but there are still obstacles for the 3.45 billion people who are not connected. According to the research, connecting people who already have access to mobile internet services will increase GDP by an estimated $3.5 trillion between 2023 and 2030.
According to John Giusti, Chief Regulatory Officer at the GSMA, despite ongoing progress in expanding network infrastructure and growing mobile internet penetration, considerable digital gaps still exist.
"Even though the majority of users access mobile internet on a daily basis, they frequently only engage in one or two activities, despite the fact that many of them say they would like to do more. This demonstrates ongoing obstacles to facilitating meaningful connectivity, which keep people from connecting and reaping the rewards of mobile internet," Giusti said.
According to the report, 350 million people (4 per cent of the world's population) reside in primarily remote locations without mobile internet networks (the coverage gap), whereas 4.6 billion people (57 per cent of the world's population) currently use mobile internet on their own devices. Approximately 39% of the world's population, or 3.1 billion people, live in areas having mobile internet service but do not use it (the utilisation gap).