According to a new United Nations report, India has fallen down in global broadband penetration rankings, but has improved in terms of people with access to data connectivity. The document also revealed that over 57% of the world’s population is still offline.
The information was released by the UN Broadband Commission in a report titled ‘The State of Broadband 2015’. India ranked 131 out of 189 countries in 2014 when it came to fixed-broadband subscriptions, a slight slip from the 125th position it held a year earlier. The country did even worse when it came to mobile-broadband, from 113 in 2013 to 155 in 2014.
In good news, India now holds the 136th rank in terms of individuals using the internet. 18% of the population now has access to data, a step up from the 142nd position in 2013 when it had 15.1% penetration among the masses. The nation held the 80th spot in 2014 among developing countries in terms of households with internet access, a drop from the 75th rank it had in 2013.
This fall occurred in spite of a rise in penetration from 13% to 15.3% within the space of a year. It indicates that while India is steadily improving, it’s not been able to keep up with other countries who are adopting the internet at a faster rate. The document states that it is essential for more languages to be represented online in order to increase accessibility.
Also Read: IAMAI report says internet users in India now at 354 million
This is especially needed in dialect-rich places such as India, Africa and South-East Asia. Houlin Zhao, co-vice chair of the Broadband Commission, said the focus of the body in the future would be to find ways to connect the 4 billion people who are deprived of data connectivity across the globe.