Closing Broadband Connectivity Divides for All

Executive summary

High-quality connectivity at affordable prices for all is the foundation of digital transformation

The interconnected world of today and tomorrow relies on access to high-quality broadband connectivity at affordable prices. As such, ensuring that everyone and everything is connected “well” in terms of broadband availability, network quality and affordability is at the heart of the policy agenda in OECD Member countries. While the number of fibre connections and 5G rollouts has increased, showing progress to deploy next-generation networks, connectivity gaps persist between and within countries. With respect to gaps between urban and rural areas, high-quality connectivity is far from ubiquitous.

As societies become more connected and accelerate their adoption of digital technologies, divides between rural and urban areas, and differences in adoption of digital technologies between population groups, can continue and even widen. Ensuring all members of society are included in digital transformation is a top priority for countries, but also a complex challenge to assess and solve. Measuring these divides is critical to have a clear understanding of the state of connectivity. This will enable evidence-based policies to help bridge digital divides for all.

With the aim of expanding connectivity in un- or underserved areas and increasing the quality of broadband networks, many governments have prioritised investment in broadband in their economic recovery packages. Granular data on broadband quality and coverage at a subnational level are needed to ensure these funds are spent in the most efficient way to close connectivity gaps and design evidence-based policies. Complementary policy responses are needed to bridge digital divides (e.g. the full suite of skills needed to thrive in the digital world, improved services) and make the most of broadband investments.

Measuring the availability and quality of broadband networks at a granular level is essential for evidence-based policymaking

This report contributes to the evidence base of the state of connectivity across and within more than 60 countries – 38 OECD Member countries and 23 partner economies beyond the OECD – and identifies policy recommendations that can help close spatial connectivity divides. The report applies established geographical classifications to broadband performance data from third-party providers allowing harmonised subnational indicators of the state of connectivity within countries. The results show persistent and substantial territorial gaps to high-quality broadband across and within countries from 2019 and 2024.

Across countries, OECD Member countries on average had more than twice the level of fixed broadband penetration – 36.3 subscribers per 100 inhabitants – than the world average (excluding OECD Member countries) of 16.2 per 100 in June 2024 (OECD and ITU). Within OECD Member countries, people living in metropolitan regions experienced median fixed broadband download speeds that were 43.8% higher than speeds for people living in regions far from metropolitan areas at the end of 2024 (Ookla^®). In addition, with regards to mobile broadband with a slightly different territorial classification, people living in cities experienced overall mobile broadband download speeds 37.2% higher than in rural areas: the OECD average in cities was 74.5 Megabits per second (Mbps) compared to 54.3 Mbps in rural areas at the end of 2024 (Opensignal^®). These trends are similar for other important indicators on broadband performance such as upload speeds and network response times (i.e. latency). While median fixed and mobile download speeds increased across all regions between 2019 and 2024 on average across the OECD, the gap between regions with the fastest and the slowest speeds widened over this period.

Partner economies report similar trends as observed in OECD Member countries but with more accentuated differences in the quality of connectivity of urban compared to rural areas. While the challenges to expand broadband infrastructure are common across jurisdictions, partner economies outside the OECD included in the report have steeper obstacles to overcome to advance broadband deployment. These include the availability and reliability of electricity grids, as well as transport infrastructure such as roads or motorways. There may also be significant demand-side challenges, such as income and skills constraints that limit full participation in the digital world. These challenges underline the importance of a sound institutional and policy framework.

The public sector plays an important role by promoting competition, fostering investments in communication infrastructure and enabling tailored approaches to bridge connectivity divides

With a strengthened evidence base, policy makers can evaluate their institutional and policy framework to ensure it is well positioned to address the challenges. To that end, the 2021 OECD Council Recommendation on Broadband Connectivity sets out a roadmap to support countries in unleashing the full potential of connectivity for the digital transformation. The Recommendation, which is relevant for all countries, calls for the use of both overarching policies, and tailored policies or approaches.

Sound regulatory and institutional frameworks lay the foundation to promote competition and provide incentives to invest in networks. An effective spectrum management framework works together with other overarching policies to lower barriers to infrastructure deployment. Such overarching policies are essential to bridge connectivity divides in all areas, including rural and remote regions, as they reduce the size of the market segment that requires alternative approaches to meet policy goals. To complement, a range of further tailored approaches can address areas or people underserved by the private sector. These can include spectrum coverage obligations, public-private partnerships, community-led approaches and direct public funding programmes, among others. With regards to public financing to bridge connectivity divides, mapping of broadband infrastructure, sometimes complemented with estimates of investment gaps, is an important prerequisite to the effective disbursement of public funds for communication infrastructure. Broadband mapping carries complex challenges, but the benefits extend beyond good administration of funds to areas such as transparency, accountability and competition analysis.

Official Development Assistance (ODA) from multilateral organisations and bilateral arrangements is important to ensuring low- and middle-income countries are not left behind in the digital transformation. Financial assistance is provided for both digital infrastructure and policy, with countries from sub-Saharan Africa as the top recipients of this kind of development assistance.

Going forward: Strengthening the evidence base to continue bridging connectivity divides

This report presents available data measuring various territorial gaps in connectivity over time (2019‑24), coupled with overarching and targeted policies with which to close them. It offers the first metrics of this kind applying harmonised spatial definitions to OECD Member countries and beyond using the degree of urbanisation for over 60 countries within and outside the OECD. Leveraging this, the report offers guidance for countries to close connectivity divides and help everyone, everywhere, to have access to high-quality connectivity fit for the digital age. Looking forward, harmonising subnational indicators across the OECD – such as through a “cross-border” OECD broadband map – would greatly facilitate cross-country comparison and offer a better understanding of broadband availability and quality across regions.

Key findings

Connectivity as the backbone of an inclusive digital transformation

• Most OECD Member countries have set connectivity targets as part of a national broadband plan or digital strategy, and 50% consider access to the Internet as a basic right, equivalent to water or electricity.

• While progress has been made on ensuring everyone is well connected, the situation remains unequal, requiring concerted policy action.

Being connected well: Broadband coverage

• Fixed broadband coverage is not yet ubiquitous in all areas. Around half (14) of OECD Member countries with available data (27 countries) had access to fixed broadband services capable of providing at least 30 Megabits per second (Mbps) download speeds for 95% or more of total households. However, on average across the OECD, only 78.5% of rural households had access to similar service in 2023 (Figure 2.1, Panel A).

• While population coverage of 5G networks across the OECD is high, most users still rely on 4G networks. Across the OECD, 5G mobile networks reached 83.6% of the population in Q4 2024 (Figure 2.2, GSMA Intelligence), but users spent only 8.8% of their time on 5G networks during the same period (Figure 2.3, Opensignal).

• In many low- and middle-income countries, people rely heavily on mobile networks for connectivity. In Q4 2024, 4G networks reached at least 95% of the national population among the partner economies included in the report except in Nigeria, the Solomon Islands and United Republic of Tanzania, where 3G networks were more prevalent (Figure 2.2, GSMA Intelligence).

• Countries adopt different definitions of what is considered “rural”, making comparisons of broadband metrics challenging on a subnational level. Established geographical classifications can be used to enable accurate cross-country comparisons with harmonised data.

Being connected well: Broadband performance

• Gaps between regions in quality of connectivity are persistent over time and recur with deployments of new broadband access technologies. Within OECD Member countries, people living in metropolitan regions experienced median fixed broadband download speeds that were 43.8% higher than for people living in regions far from metropolitan areas at the end of 2024 (Figure 2.5, Ookla).

• While modern applications increasingly call for symmetrical upload and download speeds, median fixed download speeds were on average 2.3 times higher than upload speeds in regions far from metropolitan areas across the OECD at the end of 2024 (Figure 1.3, Ookla).

• Over the past five years, network response times (i.e. latency) over fixed networks in the OECD has steadily improved across all regions. The territorial gap is narrowing, falling 23.0% between Q4 2019 and Q4 2024 (Table 2.1, Ookla).

• Median mobile download speeds across the OECD have improved across all regions from 2019 to 2024, coinciding with the launch of 5G networks. These speed improvements coincided with an increase in the absolute gap (in levels) between metropolitan regions and regions far from a metropolitan area, which grew from 4.7 Mbps to 44.9 Mbps (Figure 2.10, Ookla).

• At the end of 2024, users in cities across the OECD experienced mobile download speeds 37.2% higher than those in rural areas, or 74.5 Mbps in cities and 54.3 Mbps in rural areas (Figure 2.12, Opensignal). Where 5G networks have been deployed, the OECD average 5G download speed in rural areas was 173.5 Mbps compared to 222.6 Mbps in cities in Q4 2024 (Figure 2.13, Opensignal).

• Beyond the OECD, urban users experienced higher mobile download speeds than rural users in Q4 2024; for example, urban users in the G20 experienced mobile download speeds of 63.8 Mbps, on average, compared to 48.5 Mbps in rural areas in Q4 2024 (Figure 2.14, Opensignal).

• Across the OECD, users in cities have more consistent mobile broadband service; 78.3% of tests in cities benefited from consistent quality compared to 73.1% in rural areas in Q4 2024 (Figure 2.17, Opensignal).

Policies to achieve high-quality and affordable connectivity for all

• Communication networks that provide ubiquitous high-quality coverage require significant investment, and policies have important effects on market structures and private sector investment decisions. As such, a sound institutional and regulatory framework that promotes competition and investment is key.

• Lowering barriers to entry, easing infrastructure deployment and managing spectrum efficiently are important overarching policies. Tailored policies and approaches – like public-private partnerships, community-led approaches and direct public funding programmes – are also adopted to complement overarching policies.

• Infrastructure sharing and open access models are important tools to expand communication networks. For example, several Latin American countries are adopting innovative shared-infrastructure models to deploy wholesale infrastructure, such as open access fibre networks, as a way to secure funding to bridge digital divides while preserving competition.

• Broadband maps have important policy purposes such as planning public funding programmes, market analysis and empowering communication users. In fact, broadband mapping is often a prerequisite to allocating funds to close connectivity gaps in underserved areas. Most OECD Member countries (82%) have published broadband maps and almost half (47%) use crowdsourcing and open data to assess the quality and coverage of broadband from both a network and end-user perspective.

• Priority access to spectrum for community-led networks and local spectrum licences are playing an important role in fostering bottom-up approaches to close connectivity divides.

• Development assistance for both digital infrastructure and policy has grown since 2016, with sub-Saharan African countries being the top recipients of support from international donors to low- and middle-income countries over 2018‑23.