Global telecoms industry body GSMA is calling for urgent action to make smartphones more affordable for people living in low- and middle-income countries so that everyone can “benefit from the AI revolution”. The call to action comes as the organisation launches its State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report 2026, an annual study of global mobile connectivity. The report found that while 4.8 billion people now use mobile internet on their own device, 3.4 billion do not, despite 90% of them living within mobile broadband coverage. GSMA refers to this as the “usage gap”. Growth in the world’s digital population is also slowing, with roughly 160 million new users coming online in 2025, compared with 190 million in 2024.
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