The State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025: Key Findings (GSMA)

Summary

• 58% of the world's population (4.7 billion people) use mobile internet on their personal device.p.4
• In 2024, around 200 million people started using mobile internet on their personal devices, the strongest growth since 2021.p.4
• 4% of the world's population (nearly 300 million people) live outside the coverage of a mobile broadband network.p.4
• 5G now covers more than half of the world's population (54%), while 4G reaches 93%.p.4
• If the price of a device were set at $30, it would become affordable for nearly 1.6 billion people living in areas covered by mobile broadband who do not yet use mobile internet.p.5
• The 2024 GSMA survey collected responses from more than 17,100 participants across 15 low- and middle-income countries.p.2

Key insights

1. A further 9% of the world's population (about 710 million people) accessed mobile internet in 2024 on a device they do not own or do not use as their primary device.p.4
2. 60% of mobile internet subscribers in Sub-Saharan Africa still use 3G smartphones or basic mobile phones to access the internet.p.4
3. The Mobile Connectivity Index assesses the key enablers of mobile internet access in 173 countries, representing 99% of the world's population, using 32 indicators.p.2
4. Affordability of 1 GB and 20 GB data plans is relatively unchanged since 2023, while 5 GB plans continue to improve in most regions.p.5