GSMA report highlights mobile internet usage gaps in Pakistan and Nigeria

A new GSMA report, the State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2026, highlights significant mobile internet usage gaps in Pakistan and Nigeria. The report identifies a major disparity between urban and rural populations regarding connectivity and hardware access.

In Pakistan, only 50% of rural adults use mobile internet, compared to 65% in urban areas. While awareness of mobile internet is high in rural regions at 84%, the primary obstacle is hardware access; only 46% of rural adults own an internet-enabled handset, whereas 62% of urban adults possess such devices.

Nigeria faces a similar scale of connectivity challenges, with an estimated 140 million people falling into the mobile internet usage gap. This gap consists of individuals living within the footprint of mobile broadband networks who still do not use mobile internet services. In Nigeria, 66% of urban respondents use mobile internet, while only 33% of rural respondents do. The device gap is also evident, with 79% of urban respondents owning internet-enabled handsets compared to 51% of rural respondents.