The International Telecommunications Union ITU’s new report warns that billions remain offline in 2025 and lays out an action plan to achieve universal connectivity by 2030
Nilambar Rath
In 2025, the Internet has become indispensable for education, healthcare, commerce, and civic life. Yet billions remain excluded from this essential resource.
According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations agency for information and communication technologies, more than 2.3 billion people around the world are still offline, while another 1.5 billion are only partially connected, relying on slow or unaffordable access.
The recently released “Connecting Humanity Action Blueprint” (September 2025) is ITU’s most urgent call yet to bridge this divide. It maps out a comprehensive strategy to ensure that by 2030, every person on the planet enjoys meaningful, affordable broadband access.
As ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin underlined in the report’s preface: “Leaving no one offline is not just a moral obligation, but an economic imperative. By 2030, every person should have access to meaningful connectivity that empowers them to learn, work, innovate, and thrive.”
The report documents how digital exclusion perpetuates inequality across sectors. Children in households without reliable connectivity are three times less likely to complete higher education. In communities with poor network coverage, opportunities for business, jobs, and entrepreneurship are sharply limited. Even healthcare outcomes are affected, as countries with strong internet penetration were able to respond faster to the COVID-19 pandemic and reduce mortality through telemedicine and digital health platforms.
The economic loss is staggering. ITU estimates that without universal broadband, global GDP growth will slow, while inequality will deepen. In contrast, expanding access to all households could add nearly $6.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
ITU’s Five-Pillar Action Plan
The Action Blueprint sets out a framework for governments, telecom companies, development banks, and civil society to work together in five areas.
First, infrastructure must be expanded through investment in fiber optics, mobile broadband towers, and satellite networks to cover the hardest-to-reach regions. ITU calculates that $428 billion will be needed worldwide to close the gap.
Second, affordability remains crucial. To meet the 2030 target, the cost of one gigabyte of mobile data must fall below 2 percent of monthly income.
Third, digital skills training must ensure that women, elderly citizens, and marginalized groups can make full use of connectivity.
Fourth, policy frameworks should support fair competition and innovative regulation that reduces costs.
And finally, connectivity must be meaningful—local language content, services tailored to community needs, and apps that genuinely improve lives are as important as the physical infrastructure.
India’s Dual Reality
India occupies a prominent place in the regional analysis of the report. With more than 900 million internet users, the country represents the second-largest digital population in the world. Yet, around 350 million Indians remain unconnected, concentrated mostly in rural and tribal areas.
This means India, despite being a digital giant, still faces the risk of a “two-speed society”—urban areas charging ahead while rural regions lag behind.
The ITU praises initiatives such as Digital India, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and BharatNet as models of scalable inclusion. India’s mobile data prices, among the lowest globally, have played a key role in expanding usage. But the affordability of devices, low digital literacy, and patchy rural coverage remain stubborn barriers. For a nation that is positioning itself as a global digital hub, closing these gaps is critical to ensuring inclusive growth.
What stands out clearly in the ITU’s analysis is the role of affordable broadband in driving socio-economic progress. In households where the internet is accessible and affordable, average incomes rise significantly. Communities with broadband see new job opportunities emerge through e-commerce, online services, and remote work. Digital platforms alone could create over 250 million new jobs globally by 2030, many of them in developing economies.
This is particularly relevant in India, where the digital economy is already transforming retail, banking, and governance. Universal broadband could unlock a new wave of growth, bringing online education to rural schools, enabling farmers to access AI-powered agricultural advice, and empowering entrepreneurs in small towns to connect with global markets.
The AI Factor
The report makes a strong connection between universal connectivity and the age of Artificial Intelligence. By 2030, seven out of ten new jobs will require digital skills. AI-driven learning platforms, digital health diagnostics, and precision agriculture apps are already reshaping sectors. But their benefits will remain out of reach for billions unless broadband access is universal.
For India, where both a youthful workforce and rapid digital innovation coexist, this could mean a golden opportunity—if connectivity becomes truly inclusive. Without it, millions risk being locked out of the very opportunities that AI promises.
Why 2030 is the Deadline
The ITU emphasizes that the world has only five years left in this decade to connect the unconnected. Failure to do so will jeopardize the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, from poverty reduction to gender equality.
For India, the priorities are clear: expand good quality internet network to every village, subsidize devices for low-income households, invest in local-language digital literacy programs, and incentivize telecom players to extend rural coverage. The report makes it clear that the stakes are not only technological but also human and developmental.
Connectivity as a Human Right
The Connecting Humanity Action Blueprint is not just a technical roadmap but a social manifesto. It frames the Internet as a human right—vital for education, livelihood, healthcare, and civic participation. In today’s world, to be offline is to be excluded.
As ITU’s Secretary-General noted, leaving no one offline is both a moral and economic necessity. The blueprint is therefore a call to action for governments and societies alike.
For India, with its vast population and ambitious digital drive, the message is especially urgent: bridging the divide is not just about technology, it is about ensuring every citizen has a fair chance to learn, innovate, and thrive in the digital era.
(The author is a Senior Journalist, Communications Specialist, and Digital Media Expert. Views expressed are personal.)