TRENDING
and help us accomplish our mission:
to make use of the full potential of
ICTs for the timely achievement of
the SDGs.”
Mobile broadband growth
slowing
The new edition of ITU’s ICT Facts
& Figures reveals that mobile phone
coverage is now near-ubiquitous,
with an estimated 95% of the global
population, or some seven billion
people, living in an area covered by a
basic 2G mobile-cellular network.
Advanced mobile-broadband networks
have spread quickly over the last three
years and reach almost four billion
people today, corresponding to 53%
of the global population. But while
the number of mobile-broadband
subscriptions continues to grow
at double digit rates in developing
countries to reach a penetration rate
of close to 41%, mobile-broadband
penetration growth has slowed overall.
Globally, the total number of mobilebroadband subscriptions is expected
to reach 3.6 billion by end 2016,
compared with 3.2 billion at end 2015.
Fixed broadband growth
strongest in developed
countries
Global fixed-broadband subscriptions
are expected to reach around 12
per 100 inhabitants in 2016, with
Europe, the Americas and the
Commonwealth of Independent
States regions having the highest
rates of penetration. Strong growth
in China is driving fixed-broadband
in Asia and the Pacific, where
penetration is expected to surpass
10% by end of 2016.
ICT prices continue to fall
Mobile-broadband services have now
become more affordable than fixedbroadband services, with the average
price for a basic fixed-broadband
plan more than twice as high as
the average price of a comparable
mobile-broadband plan. By the end
of 2015, 83 developing countries
had achieved the Broadband
Commission’s affordability target.
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