Half of the world’s population will be using mobile devices to access the internet by 2020, according to new data released by GSMA Intelligence.

At the GSMA Mobile 360-Africa event recently, it said that it is calculated that there were 2.2 billion mobile internet subscribers last year, representing approximately 30 per cent of the global population.

GSMA Intelligence has forecast that an additional 1.6 billion citizens worldwide will become mobile internet users over the next six years, bringing the total number to 3.8 billion, or around half of the world’s expected population in 2020.

Anne Bouverot, director general, GSMA, said: “Our new findings underline how mobile is now the gateway to the internet for billions of citizens across the world and will be responsible for connecting millions of currently ‘offline’ global citizens to the internet in the years to 2020 and beyond.

“Developing innovative ways to accelerate digital inclusion in the form of affordable mobile internet access is now a key focus for the GSMA, its operator members and the broader mobile industry ecosystem.”

Almost all of the additional mobile internet users expected over the next six years will come from the developing world, according to GSMA.

The number of mobile internet users in the developing world will double from 1.5 billion last year to three billion by 2020, rising from 25 per cent of the developing world population to 45 per cent over the period.

About 17 per cent of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa were mobile internet subscribers last year, but penetration is forecast to increase to 37 per cent by 2020.

Many users in the developing world still access the mobile internet via 2G connections – over 60 per cent do so in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, a rapid technology migration is currently underway towards mobile broadband (3G/4G) internet.

As many as 900 million of the 2.2 billion mobile internet subscribers connected via 2G, while 1.3 billion connected via mobile broadband last year.

By 2020, it has been forecast that, of the 3.8 billion total mobile internet users globally, the number of 2G mobile internet subscribers will shrink to 800 million and mobile broadband internet users will have more than doubled to reach three billion.

The GSMA also published a Digital Inclusion report, which focused on the challenges in extending mobile internet services to currently unconnected populations.

The GSMA’s Digital Inclusion programme is collaborating with mobile operators, governments, broader mobile ecosystem players and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to address the barriers to mobile internet adoption in the developing world.

The report highlighted four critical areas that need to be addressed to enable ‘offline’ populations to access mobile internet services - extending network coverage, removing the affordability barrier, tackling illiteracy and the lack of internet awareness and ensure that mobile internet connect is available on as many devices as possible in the correct languages.

“Mobile technology is already playing an invaluable role in the social, economic and environmental development of the developing world; the mobile internet has the potential to trigger a new wave of growth and innovation if we can remove the barriers to digital inclusion,” added Bouverot. - TradeArabia News Service