Vodafone Group Announces Action To Connect 3.4 Bln People With Smartphones By 2030

(RTTNews) - Vodafone Group Plc (VOD.L, VOD) and ITU, the United Nations' specialised agency for information and communication technologies, launched a major new initiative to address the global digital divide, with the aim that an additional 3.4 billion people could have the ability to access and use the internet through a smartphone by 2030.

Of the 3.7 billion people not connected to the internet, 3.4 billion live within range of mobile networks but are currently not accessing the internet, partly due to a lack of smartphone ownership, the company said.

With mobile broadband (4G) networks now covering 82% of the population of Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), the mobile usage gap is 6x larger than the mobile coverage gap, the company said.