Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, October 13 (Xinhua)-- the Global Association for Mobile Communications Systems (GSMA) today released a report on mobile Internet connectivity in 2023, showing that 54 percent of the world's population (about 4.3 billion people) now own smartphones.

Its data show that the number of mobile Internet users has reached 4.6 billion, of which 4 billion access services through smartphones.

The GSMA report reveals differences between regions and their mobile Internet access. 69 per cent of smartphone users in North America, East Asia and the Pacific are using 4G-enabled devices, while most users in sub-Saharan Africa still rely on 3G connections, and 1/3 of mobile users in the Middle East and North Africa are still using 3G Internet.

About 3.4 billion people around the world are still unconnected. According to GSMA, 38 per cent of the world's people live in areas with mobile broadband but do not use the Internet. The gap in connectivity between sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia is alarming, with 59 per cent and 52 per cent of the population respectively without access to the Internet.

The Tu Yuan Pixabay report also shows that 600 million people (CTOnews.com) are still connected to the Internet through functional phones (non-smartphones), further expanding other barriers for mobile users including digital skills, literacy, security issues and the availability of related content-all of which prevent smartphone users from making full use of their devices to access the Internet.

GSMA Director General Mats Granryd said the lack of connectivity has deprived billions of people of access to critical services and income-generating opportunities, particularly affecting poor, poorly educated, rural and female users.

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