The startling slowdown in internet access growth could reinforce global inequality

Alex Netherton
A youngster uses his mobile phone to connect to internet in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Photo credit should read YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)
A youngster uses his mobile phone to connect to internet in Havana, Cuba. Photo: Photo credit should read YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)

An “alarming slowdown” in internet access growth could lead to increased inequality across the world.

A report from the World Economic Forum (WEF) highlights the achievement of getting 50% of the world online in the 30 years since the invention of the world wide web.

However, it stated that user growth has tumbled over the last 11 years, slowing from 17% in 2007 to 5.5% in 2018. The report also suggested that there is a lack of access across different regions, generations of technology and gender and age demographics, causing a “digital divide.”

The divide in usage gives financial and other advantages to those with the best internet access. For example, mobile banking has been a proposed solution for developing populations as a means to improve credit access and stimulate business growth. If users are unable to access anything but rudimentary internet services, that could hamper small-scale entrepreneurs.

For countries outside the OECD, the majority of businesses operate offline, “holding back innovation, entrepreneurship and the development of digital economies,” the WEF report says.

Additionally, companies reliant on e-commerce, such as Amazon in America and Alibaba in China, depend on reliable internet connections to speed up both ordering and logistics. There is no e-commerce site operating on the same scale as either company in Africa.

The report notes that there are large differences between regions. The International Telecommunication Union estimates that in Africa, user levels are as low as 22%, in Asia Pacific 44%, 66% in the Americas, and the highest levels are in Europe at 80%. With the richest nations able to gain most of the benefits of internet access, this could reinforce inequality levels across the globe.

Access could continue to be limited in the least developed countries (LDCs), the report forecasts — estimating that less than 25% of the one billion people in LDCs will have internet access by 2020. The WEF’s Sustainable Development Goals call for all of these populations to be given broadband access by then.

Internet affordability is another obstacle. The cost of 1GB of mobile date is considered affordable if it is 2% or less of the average monthly income. In countries suffering from severe poverty and inequality, access to the internet remains out of reach.

Lack of content in the languages of developing nations is also a problem, as English is used on 53.8% of all internet homepages.

With internet user growth slowing, the report predicts that innovation will be driven by the leap from 4G to 5G rather than a wider user base for the internet. That will only serve to reinforce the benefits gained by richer countries, with developing countries losing out again.