International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Wednesday said Maldives has the highest internet usage percentage of the population, amongst the countries in South Asia.
According to an ITU report, the Maldives has the highest internet usage in South Asia, with 54.46% of the population having connectivity to the internet. Bhutan comes second with 39.8% while Bangladesh has the lowest internet penetration in South Asia, with just 14.40% of the population having connectivity to the internet.
As of December 2015, Maldives has 23,175 fixed broadband subscriptions, which is 6.47% of the total population, according to the ITU report. Mobile cellular subscription totals to 739,790 which is which 206.66 subscriptions for every 100 inhabitants by end of 2015. Number of fixed phone lines has decreased to 21,911 in 2015 from 46,925 in 2008.
New data released by ITU, the UN specialized agency for information and communication technology (ICT), show that half the world or 3.9 billion people remain cut-off from the vast resources available on the Internet, despite falling prices for ICT services. Internet penetration rates tell a different story, with 81% in developed countries, compared with 40% in developing countries and 15% in the Least Developed Countries.
ITU statistics are widely recognised as the world’s most reliable and impartial global data on the state of the global ICT industry. They are used extensively by leading intergovernmental agencies, financial institutions and private sector analysts worldwide.