130m Nigerians still without mobile internet access – GSMA

About 130 million Nigerians remain without access to mobile Internet, according to the latest “State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2025” report by the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).

The report shows that Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) continues to have the lowest mobile Internet usage globally, with only 25 per cent of the population using mobile Internet and the largest coverage gap at 10 per cent.

In contrast, regions such as North America, Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific boast the highest mobile Internet adoption rates, with more than 75 per cent of their populations connected via mobile devices.

The GSMA report noted that global Internet adoption rates remained largely stagnant in 2024, except for East Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean, which saw modest growth. Southeast Asia recorded the highest percentage increase in mobile Internet usage.

Nigeria Among Top 20 Countries With Largest Usage Gap

The report ranked Nigeria among the top 20 countries with the largest number of people not using mobile Internet.

Globally, India leads with 690 million unconnected people, followed by China (240 million), Pakistan (130 million), Ethiopia (100 million), Indonesia (110 million), Egypt (60 million), Congo (60 million), the United States (60 million), Brazil (50 million), the Philippines (50 million), Mexico (40 million), Kenya (40 million), Iran (40 million), Uganda (40 million), Sudan (40 million), Iraq (30 million), and Russia (30 million).

The GSMA emphasized that connectivity remains significantly lower in least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and small island developing states (SIDS) compared to other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

While about 60 per cent of people in LMICs use mobile Internet, this figure drops to 25 per cent in LDCs, 29 per cent in LLDCs, and 38 per cent in SIDS. Notably, these groups have not recorded any growth in mobile Internet adoption since 2021.

The report revealed that although the rural-urban gap in mobile Internet adoption is slowly closing across LMICs, it remains significant, especially in Africa.

In 2024, adults in rural areas were 25 per cent less likely to use mobile Internet than those in urban areas.

The gap is even wider in Sub-Saharan Africa (48 per cent) and the Middle East and North Africa (29 per cent).

Gender inequality in mobile Internet use has also persisted.

Across LMICs, women are 14 per cent less likely than men to you use mobile Internet — a figure unchanged from 2023. The widest gender gaps are in South Asia (32 per cent) and Sub-Saharan Africa (29 per cent).

The GSMA noted that around 250 million people began using smartphones for mobile Internet in 2024.

By the end of the year, 4.4 billion people, representing 54 per cent of the global population, were accessing the Internet via their own smartphones.

More than 80 per cent of mobile Internet users now connect through 4G or 5G smartphones, with 5G adoption rising rapidly.

However, 16 per cent of users globally still rely on 3G devices or feature phones, a figure that rises to 60 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the GSMA, most of the 3.1 billion people who remain offline despite being within mobile broadband coverage lack access to an Internet-enabled device.

Of this number, two billion people have no device at all, while about one billion own devices but cannot or do not use them for Internet access — a situation that remained unchanged in 2024.

The GSMA urged policymakers and industry stakeholders to address barriers to device affordability, digital literacy, and gender inclusion to accelerate mobile Internet adoption, especially in developing regions like Sub-Saharan Africa.