Global Digital Connectivity: 5G Coverage, Usage Gap and Affordability

Connectivity has two parts: whether a network reaches people, and whether people use it. Network reach is now close to universal for mobile broadband, but ITU says quality and affordability gaps persist [4]. GSMA data show that most unconnected people now live within mobile broadband coverage [3].

From early commercial launches in 2019, 5G coverage expanded to 55% of the world's population in 2025 [5]. Growth has been uneven: 5G reaches 84% of people in high-income countries but only 4% of people in low-income countries [5].

ITU notes that 4G and 3G services are available to most of the global population, but that these technologies are not best suited to keeping pace with advancing technologies [1].

GSMA's State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025 splits the global population into three groups [3]:

• Coverage gap (no mobile broadband coverage): 19% in 2015, 4% in 2024 [3]
• Usage gap (covered but not using mobile internet): 49% in 2015, 38% in 2024 [3]
• Connected (using mobile internet): 33% in 2015, 58% in 2024 [3]

The usage gap is now more than nine times the coverage gap (FREEE.REPORT calculation). Sub-Saharan Africa has the largest usage gap, at 65% in 2024, with a coverage gap of 10% [3]. South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa each had a 50% usage gap in 2024 [3].

Between 2013 and 2025 the median price of entry-level mobile broadband fell by about 50% in inflation-adjusted PPP dollars, and affordability as a share of GNI per capita improved by about 40%, reaching 1.4% globally [2]. Even so, access remains unaffordable in around 60% of low- and middle-income countries [1].

Averages hide large gaps. For the bottom 40% of earners in Least Developed Countries and low-income economies, the cost of mobile broadband rises to about 20% of their GNI per capita [2]. ITU data for 2025 show that where a mobile broadband basket costs more than 5% of monthly GNI per capita, only about one third of the population uses the internet [6].

Coverage and affordability figures come from ITU Facts and Figures 2025 and the ITU Global Connectivity Report 2025 [1][2][4][5][6]. Population coverage is the share of people living within range of a network, regardless of whether they subscribe. Affordability compares the price of an entry-level mobile broadband basket with gross national income (GNI) per capita. Coverage gap, usage gap and connected shares come from GSMA's State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025 and refer to mobile internet; the three shares sum to 100% of the population [3]. The ratio of the usage gap to the coverage gap (38 / 4) is a FREEE.REPORT calculation.