Breaking Barriers

The Usage Gap prevents individuals from being able to access critical digital services such as healthcare, education, ecommerce, financial services, and income-generating opportunities. It’s time for this to change.

How we can close the Usage Gap

Breaking Barriers is our campaign to break the usage gap fronted by Asisat Oshoala, a Nigerian professional footballer. Asisat is the six-time and reigning African Women’s Footballer of the Year and plays for the National Women’s Soccer League club Bay FC.

3.1 billion people – 39% of the world’s population – live in an area covered by mobile broadband but do not use mobile internet services. Only 4% of the global population live in areas not covered by a mobile broadband network.

Almost 90% of the unconnected have access to mobile broadband but face other barriers preventing them from using digital services.

This is the Usage Gap. And it currently affects 3.1 billion people globally.

How the barriers are affecting people’s lives

The GSMA’s State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report identifies and outlines five key barriers preventing people with mobile broadband coverage from connecting to it and getting online. These are affordability, digital literacy and skills, lack of relevant content, online safety and access.

Affordability

Inability to afford devices, data plans or other service fees

“I sold (my phone) because I wanted to support my family… [at least] we could survive for about three weeks after selling that phone.”
– A woman in Kenya explains how she and her family coped financially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Digital literacy and skills

Lack of digital skills and literacy and a lack of awareness and understanding of mobile internet and its benefits

“The internet is for intelligent, educated people. Those of us with half knowledge won’t use it.”

– A woman from urban India highlights the digital skills gap.

Lack of relevant content and services

A lack of relevant content, products and services that meet users’ needs and capabilities

“If you don’t have proper English, it can be a barrier… everything is in English. It would be good if there’s something in Sinhala.”

– A Sri Lankan woman comments on the lack of relevant local content, which prevents her from utilising mobile connectivity.

Online safety

Concerns about the negative aspects and risks of mobile and the internet, such as harassment, theft, fraud and online security

“We’ve seen girls and boys get in trouble using the internet — girls can get raped or even killed.”

– A man from Bangladesh warns how security fears prevent people from getting online.

Access

Lack of access to networks and enablers, or devices and services that are not easy to use.

“I previously had to walk three hours to another town to charge my phone, but now that there is a mobile charging booth in my village, I’m now able to use my phone and access the internet more often.”

– A Tegea village resident (250 km northwest of Nairobi, Kenya) explains how a lack of access to electricity meant she was only able to use mobile internet infrequently.

Taking action

The GSMA is calling upon all stakeholders to commit to breaking these barriers and closing the usage gap.

This starts with global commitments to addressing handset affordability, one of the most significant barriers people globally face in making use of available connectivity.

The whole industry ecosystem – GSMA members, partners, regulators and policymakers – needs to work collaboratively to find solutions for millions of people worldwide being priced out of internet-ready devices.

These solutions can range from exploring and enabling solutions to the high cost of handsets, from reducing taxation on manufacturers to improving microfinancing solutions in more challenging regions.

Collaborative action by all stakeholders is needed to break all the barriers and address the usage gap, accelerate digital inclusion and ensure we are not leaving anyone behind in an increasingly connected world.

Why this matters

Mobile is the primary – and in some cases only – way people access the internet, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

By not having access to the internet, the unconnected – who are more likely to be poorer, less educated, rural, women and people with disabilities – are less able to cope with the continuing economic and social disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, rising energy prices and the cost-of-living crisis.

The usage gap is the most pressing challenge to achieving digital inclusion globally as it impacts 3 billion people. This is equivalent to the entire populations of China, India, USA and Spain combined being unable to benefit from their access to mobile broadband networks. It is a global issue but disproportionately affects the world’s lowest-income countries, it is especially prevalent in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Case studies

Find some examples of work mobile operators have done to close the usage gap and identify digital barriers in the lead-up to our Breaking Barriers awareness campaign.

MTN Data Smart Case Study

This report examines digital barriers and provides an overview of the MTN Data Smart campaign and looks at how it has increased mobile internet use among MTN customers in two key markets: Benin and Cameroon. It highlights how MTN successfully incorporated the lessons from the 2019 pilot to reach over 18 million people and empower their customers’ lives through a campaign that continues to expand.

Find out more

Multiplying the impact of mobile internet skills training

To tackle the lack of digital skills, the Connected Society programme launched the Mobile Internet Skills Training Toolkit (MISTT). The toolkit provides resources to teach mobile users the most critical internet skills.

In 2019, MTN Uganda piloted a mobile-related digital skills training programme, using MISTT resources to equip their customers with digital skills and increase their active data user base and revenue. This case study explores whether and how a customer’s newly acquired knowledge and skills are shared with others in their social network – what we call the digital skills multiplier effect.

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Connected Women – Mobile Internet Brings Down the Digital Barriers

Watch the case study video on how women in low and middle income countries have used mobile internet and apps in areas such as farming, home education, retail and catering to improve their livelihoods and lives

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M-KOPA: Applying the pay-as-you-go model to smartphones in Africa

This case study highlights how M-KOPA, a connected asset financing company, is making smartphones more affordable for underserved customers in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. It outlines the key success factors that enabled M-KOPA to reach a million customers since launching its smartphone offering in 2020.

Find out more

Founding partners

The GSMA works with partners to address the usage gap, including through its Connected Society and Connected Women programmes. These programmes are currently funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and are supported by the GSMA and its members.