In 2003, the World Summit on the Information Society declared internet access to be a human right.
If your internet provider isn’t working properly and you have no access for a longer period, you can accuse them of being inhumane. Ok, that might be a stretch, but you get the idea.
Back in 2003, people didn’t have 4 G and 5 G networks on their mobile phones. Smartphones weren’t invented yet. Almost 20 years later, things are pretty different, aren’t they?
Now, around 3.5 billion people own smartphones. Most of them have internet access. Smartphones are now used for all kinds of things, from playing mobile games to paying the bills.
The average US citizen spends 5.4 hours on their phone every day. When they are not doing something important, they’re simply playing games. Did you know that online smartphone games are now the biggest part of the entire gaming industry? According to mobile gaming statistics, gamers playing on the go are responsible for 45% of the entire gaming industry.
It’s worth around $68.5 billion. 2.4 billion people are playing mobile games, and 63% of them are female. Cool stuff, isn’t it?
How Does Mobile Internet Work?
Most people don’t know how smartphones get internet access. The internet you have on your phone is basically a radio wave being transmitted back and forward to a connection tower in the area. Phones have a built-in antenna that transfers data. It is basically the same technology we use to make calls and send SMS messages. The only difference is – data is being transmitted through different channels so it won’t interfere with other data.
What Does Mobile Internet Traffic Mean for the Economy?
The eCommerce industry is one of the biggest industries in the world. It’s not about to stop growing either. It is now estimated to be worth almost $4 trillion, and it’s expected to reach $4.5 trillion in 2021.
In 2018, 40% of all eCommerce transactions happened via mobile devices. In other words, around $1.5 trillion were spent by just a few taps and scrolls on people’s smartphones. This tells you how important a good smartphone connection is for the industry.
Companies need to optimize their web pages for the best customer smartphone experience. If you’re into the retail business, having a web page that is optimized for smartphone use is a must. Companies who fail to do this will simply lose clients and miss the opportunity to make higher revenue. On top of everything, they’re risking losing the brand’s popularity, which is one of the most important issues in marketing.
How Many People in the World Have Trouble Getting a Fair Connection?
Seeing the people around you and traveling to other parts of the world makes you feel like everyone’s connected to the internet. However, this is far from reality. The facts from Statista say that there were 4.54 billion internet users in January 2020. About 3 billion people were offline. This means that almost 40% of the entire world population had no internet access.
In the United States, one of the most developed countries in the world, 33 million people are living every day without internet. Rural households are more likely to have no internet. One of the reasons for this is people choosing to not be connected. There are even some parts of the country with no internet connection.
Can you imagine that – the greatest country in the world has no internet access in some populated areas? What can be expected for places in Africa or Asia?
Conclusion
It’s obvious that we, as humanity, need to work much harder on providing this basic right to people around the world. It doesn’t matter whether users employ the internet for games, shopping, learning, or business. Everyone deserves to have internet access on their phone.