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Network Coverage and Infrastructure (The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025) (GSMA)

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ReportGSMASeptember 202527 pages41 min readOriginal source
Key number
300 million people
People living in areas without mobile broadband coverage (4% of the global population) p.4
Largest segment
10%
Sub-Saharan Africa coverage gap, the highest of any region p.6
What changed
40 million people
Reduction in people living without mobile broadband coverage in 2024 p.6

Summary

  • 96% of the world's population live within the footprint of a mobile broadband network; around 300 million people, or 4%, live in areas without coverage.p.4
  • The number of people without mobile broadband coverage fell by around 40 million in 2024, with 75% of the reduction from Sub-Saharan Africa, which still has the highest coverage gap at 10%.p.6
  • 55% of those not covered by a mobile broadband network (around 170 million people) live in areas with no pre-existing mobile infrastructure.p.7
  • 4G covers 93% of the global population, while 5G now covers 54% (4.4 billion people), with more than 700 million additional people covered in 2024.p.11
  • Average data traffic per connection reached almost 16 GB in 2024, an increase of around 3 GB compared to 2023.p.20
  • Global average download speeds increased from 51 to 64 Mbps in 2024.p.22
  • Starlink's monthly subscription costs 12% of monthly income in 50 LMICs, six times the ITU affordability target of 2%.p.15

Key insights

  1. In Central Africa, the coverage gap reduced from 34% to 25%, and in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 46% to 32%.p.6
  2. Twenty-nine countries have a coverage gap larger than 10% of the population.p.6
  3. Energy can account for a third of operating costs in LMICs with poor grid access, and the average revenue for a rural site can be 10 times lower than an urban site.p.8
  4. The number of ESCO-operated mobile towers increased from 8,600 in 2015 to almost 110,000 in 2024.p.9
  5. The median cost of the cheapest 3G/4G device in LMICs in 2024 was around $54, compared to $100–200 for the cheapest 5G device.p.13
  6. 3G network coverage stood at 75% globally at the end of 2024, compared to 93% for 4G.p.13
  7. Starlink reached more than 5 million subscribers as of Q1 2025, double from the year before.p.14
  8. Satellite backhaul costs up to 10× more than microwave, which is why it only accounts for around 2% of all macro and small cell backhaul links.p.17
  9. In India, monthly 5G traffic increased threefold during 2024 and now accounts for 36% of total mobile traffic, compared to 15% in 2023.p.20

Topics and entities

GlobalInfrastructure investmentAmazonChina Satellite Network GroupGSMAStarlink

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