WEB DESK
More than half of the global population is online according to United Nations. The UN said around 3.9 billion people are now using the Internet. The UN agency for Information and Communication Technologies, ITU, said that by the end of this year, 51.2 per cent of people around the world will be using the Internet.
In a statement, ITU chief, Houlin Zhou said that this represents an important step towards a more inclusive global information society. He called for more support to technology and business innovation so that the digital revolution leaves no one offline.
3.9 billion people (51.2% of the population) will be using the Internet by end-2018 https://t.co/aaoPCEwF86#ITUdata pic.twitter.com/67QWPcQ9Yj
— Int’l Telecommunication Union (@ITU) December 7, 2018
The world’s richest countries have been showing slow and steady growth in Internet use between 2005 and 2018. The gains have been more dramatic in developing countries, with Africa experiencing the strongest growth over the same period.
The report also showed that the number of mobile-cellular telephone subions is now greater than the global population.
It also found that mobile broadband subions have skyrocketed.
At the same time, the report said that nearly the entire world population, at 96 per cent, now lives within reach of a mobile cellular network, and 90 per cent of people can access the Internet through a 3G or higher speed network.