Mobile phone subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa are driving the cost of handsets and services down, creating investment opportunities for the private sector to connect millions of users in developing countries, a report published by ITU, the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies has revealed.
The 2016 Measuring the Information Society Report and its accompanying ICT Development Index have unearthed new findings that indicate the average monthly cost for a 100 SMS and 30 mobile calls has dropped below 5 percent of per capita gross national income in developing countries. Costs in the world’s least developed countries have also fallen by 20 percent, marking the strongest decrease in five years.
Brahima Sanou, director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, said: “Nearly all the 175 countries covered by the index improved their IDI values between 2015 and 2016.”
“Stronger improvements have been made [in] ICT use than access, mainly as a result of strong growth in mobile-broadband uptake globally, [but] this has allowed an increasing number of people, in particular from the developing world, to benefit from the many services and applications provided through the Internet,” he added.
Tumbling mobile phone costs in developing countries appear to be in line with global trends, with the report suggesting that handset-based mobile-broadband prices dipped to an average of US$18 purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2015, from US$29 per month in 2013.
Yet, despite increasing access to mobile banking and other important services, adoption of information and communications technologies continues to be hindered by low levels of economic development.
Affordability of the handset, rather than the cost of the service itself, is said to be the main barrier to owning and using a mobile phone.
The ITU ICT Development Index (IDI), a benchmark of the level of ICT development in countries across the world, takes as its latest global average a ranking of 4.94 out of 10. The index combines eleven indicators on ICT access, which include active mobile-broadband subscriptions, households with a computer, and individuals subscriptions to mobile phones, allowing for comparisons between countries. Against the average, the 39 African countries in the report measured at just 2.48.
Other important barriers observed by the report are the lack of perceived benefits and skills necessary to access the Internet through a mobile phone.
Houlin Zhao, ITU secretary-general said “education and income levels are strong determinants of whether or not people use the Internet”, adding that “ICTs will be essential in meeting each and every one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals”.
The global report was launched at the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium in Botswana, with the Republic of Korea taking the top spot in the 2016 rankings.