In 2024 the two connectivity benchmarks, namely the data-only mobile broadband basket and the fixed broadband basket, have become more affordable in all regions of the world and for all income groups. Globally the median price of the mobile broadband basket, expressed as a percentage of gross national income (GNI) per capita, dropped from 1.3 to 1.1 per cent, while that of the fixed broadband basket dropped from 2.8 to 2.5 per cent.
Nonetheless, lack of affordability continues to be a key barrier to Internet access, particularly in low-income economies. A wide gap persists between high-income economies and the rest of the world, despite small improvements. Compared with the average mobile broadband subscriber in a high-income economy, subscribers in a lower-middle-income economy pay around 6 times as much of their income for such a basket, while subscribers in a low-income economy pay 19 times as much. A fixed broadband subscription, where one is available, costs the equivalent of nearly a third of the average person’s income in a low-income country.
The United Nations Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development set itself the goal of making broadband in developing countries affordable by 2025, affordability being defined as the availability of broadband access at a price that is less than two per cent of monthly GNI per capita. In the last two years, the availability of relevant price data has greatly improved. Out of the 208 economies for which data are available, 140 economies currently meet the affordability target for at least the data-only mobile broadband or the fixed broadband basket; this is 9 more than in 2023. However, among the low-income and middle-income economies, only 65, around one-half, have met the Broadband Commission’s affordability target for at least one of the two baskets. Given recent trends in ICT prices and income levels, it is looking increasingly inevitable that most of the remaining 66 economies in that income group will miss the 2025 objective even for entry-level broadband access.
Detailed global, regional, and country-level analysis for all five price baskets along with the full country-level dataset of ICT prices in 2024 will be released in early 2025.[1].
[1] More information on ICT prices available at //1f8a81b9b0707b63-19211.webchannel-proxy.scarabresearch.com/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Pages/ICTprices/default.aspx.