It’s not Internet access. According to Measuring Information Society Report in 2016, many areas have been penetrated by mobile-broadband networks covering 84% of the world’s population but 3.9 billion people globally remain offline. Here are reasons why:
• High prices prevent from access to many developing areas around the world from benefitting from the Internet. The UN has called policy-makers to address socioeconomic inequalities and help people gain skills to take full advantage of the Internet.
• Poor quality of service is a major barrier to get more people to enter the digital world
• Internet users with low levels of education and income mainly use the Internet for communication and entertainment rather than use it for advanced opportunities such as e-commerce, government and financial services, etc.
• Data on Internet use in many developing countries are not available, causing a serious challenge for ICT policy-makers, investors and content producers.
