The world risks a widening divide between people who can participate in the artificial intelligence economy and those who cannot, as rising smartphone component costs threaten to put mobile internet access beyond the reach of billions, the GSMA has warned.
According to the State of Mobile Internet Connectivity Report 2026, more than 3.4 billion people do not use mobile internet, even though more than 90% of them live within areas covered by mobile broadband networks. Without affordable internet-enabled smartphones, these users could be excluded from emerging AI-enabled services in healthcare, education, financial services and public administration.
The report found that 4.8 billion people now use mobile internet on their own device. However, adoption is slowing, with about 160 million people coming online in 2025, compared with 190 million in the previous year. A further 3.1 billion people live within mobile broadband coverage but remain offline, creating what the GSMA calls the “usage gap”.
Handset affordability was identified as the biggest barrier to mobile internet adoption across surveyed low- and middle-income countries, followed by a lack of digital skills. By the end of 2025, an entry-level internet-enabled handset cost the poorest 20% of people in these markets the equivalent of 44% of average monthly income.
The GSMA said the affordability challenge is intensifying as global demand for AI infrastructure and data centres drives up the cost of memory and chipsets. Citing data from Counterpoint Research, it said memory prices more than doubled between the third quarter of 2025 and the first quarter of 2026, before rising by a further 80–90% in the second quarter.
“Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve lives on an unprecedented scale, but AI is meaningless if people cannot get online in the first place,” said Vivek Badrinath, director general of the GSMA. “The greatest risk is not simply an AI divide between countries, but between people who can afford to participate in the digital economy and those who cannot.”
The GSMA is calling on component suppliers, device manufacturers, mobile operators, policymakers and multilateral financial institutions to work together to protect the availability of affordable entry-level handsets. It is also urging action on taxation, distribution, device reuse, digital skills, online safety and locally relevant content.
The organisation estimates that closing the mobile usage gap could generate US$3.5 trillion in additional GDP between 2023 and 2030, with more than 90% of the benefits flowing to low- and middle-income countries.
