The ITU’s latest broadband report made for disappointing reading on Monday, as the UN telco body revealed it has missed its 2015 broadband targets and admitted those same targets are unlikely to be met by 2020.
The ITU and UNESCO’s Broadband Commission for Digital Development announced on Monday that global broadband uptake will reach 3.2 billion in 2015. This equates to around 43.4% of the world’s population, some way off the target of 60% set by the UN in 2011.
Broadband penetration in developed economies is nearing saturation, with 82.2% of people online as of 2015. The picture is somewhat different in developing countries though, where Internet penetration is set to surpass 35.3% by the end of the year, below the Broadband Commission’s 50% target. In so-called least developed countries (LDCs), penetration will reach 9.5%, missing a target of 15%.
"The UN Broadband Commission’s 2011 targets have not been achieved by the target date of 2015 and seem unlikely to be achieved before 2020," the ITU said.
Around 57% of the world’s population, some 4 billion people, still have no access to the Internet. The ITU described the situation in the world’s 48 LDCs as "critical", with more than 90% of people in those countries still lacking any kind of connectivity.
"The market has done its work connecting the world’s wealthier nations, where a strong business case for network rollout can easily be made," said ITU secretary-general Houlin Zhao, in a statement. "Our important challenge now is to find ways of getting online the 4 billion people who still lack the benefits of Internet connectivity, and this will be a primary focus of the Broadband Commission going forward."
The Broadband Commission also said that by 2015 every country should have a national broadband plan, and that entry-level broadband services in developing countries should cost less than 5% of average monthly income.
They were described back in 2011 as "ambitious but achievable targets".
The ITU said on Monday that the world has made progress on affordability and broadband policy, but has still not achieved its targets.
By the end of 2014, broadband cost more than 5% of the average monthly income in 85 of the world’s 196 countries. In addition, 42 countries still did not have any form of national broadband plan.
"We need to measure global development by the number of those being left behind," Zhao said.
