Connecting everyone to internet 'would add $6.7tn to global economy' - Polidicks

[quote]ringing internet access to the 4.1 billion people in the world who do not have it would increase global economic output by $6.7 trillion (£4.6tr), raising 500 million people out of poverty, according to a study by PwC. The report, titled Connecting the world: Ten mechanisms for global inclusion, was prepared for Facebook by PwC’s strategy consultants Strategy&. Getting everyone in the world online is not as tall an order as one might think, according to the company: affordability, rather than infrastructure, is the main barrier to internet adoption in most areas. More than nine-tenths of the the world’s population live in places where the infrastructure exists to get them online, but the majority of them cannot afford to do so. For 66% of the world, a 500MB data plan costs more than 5% of their monthly income, the level the report’s authors describe as “unaffordable”. But some people decide to get online despite the cost – in China, just 22% of people can have a high enough income by that measure to make internet access affordable for them, even though 46% of the population is online. Even if it’s expensive, if there’s enough of a reason for someone to get online, they may look past the cost.[/quote] source: [url]https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/17/connecting-everyone-to-internet-global-economy-poverty[/url]

Dats a lot of Amazon packages and Alibaba sales

I have to wonder what the profit margin is on companies selling internet. I suspect it's huge.

[QUOTE=download;50342951]I have to wonder what the profit margin is on companies selling internet. I suspect it's huge.[/QUOTE] Hosting the hardware capable of providing a stable service is not cheap though.

[QUOTE=download;50342951]I have to wonder what the profit margin is on companies selling internet. I suspect it's huge.[/QUOTE] Back in the day when SMS was experiencing huge year on year growth I recall reading several stories of telcos installing brand new servers/equipment and being able to pay it off in like 3 minutes. Telcos and ISPs make a huge profit margin. Also cable TV and satellite TV companies have a vested interest in holding back the development of the internet.

[QUOTE=Hoffa1337;50342978]Hosting the hardware capable of providing a stable service is not cheap though.[/QUOTE] Not cheap, but ISPs tend to gouge to ridiculous levels. This is because upgrading their infrastructure is expensive, and in order to make back their investment in as short a time as possible, they make the service extremely expensive. And once they've made that investment back, what reason have they to lower their prices?

[QUOTE=Hoffa1337;50342978]Hosting the hardware capable of providing a stable service is not cheap though.[/QUOTE] While the capital is probably a lot, I expect amortised over its lifetime the profit margin is pretty healthy.

[QUOTE=archangel125;50343020]Not cheap, but ISPs tend to gouge to ridiculous levels. This is because upgrading their infrastructure is expensive, and in order to make back their investment in as short a time as possible, they make the service extremely expensive. And once they've made that investment back, what reason have they to lower their prices?[/QUOTE] I believe it depends on the locality and the laws/practices on a country to country basis; for instance in some countries cable internet companies hold a monopoly on jurisdictional basis and try to thwart any investment. In other countries the people/government argue that investment in infrastructure isn't worth it. The most recent research on the world's most connected countries is actually pretty surprising: [img]https://www.theatlas.com/i/atlas_H1Ti3wWM.png[/img] [url]http://qz.com/682510/hong-kong-has-the-worlds-most-connected-consumers/[/url] This is probably directly reflected by how much investment is put into infrastructure; especially when it comes to undersea cables--which is what provides internet access for a large proportion of the world. These are hugely expensive investments. I'd give it a few years and we'll start seeing India, China and some African countries jumping up the list.

[QUOTE=icarusfoundyou;50343048] The most recent research on the world's most connected countries is actually pretty surprising: [img]https://www.theatlas.com/i/atlas_H1Ti3wWM.png[/img] [url]http://qz.com/682510/hong-kong-has-the-worlds-most-connected-consumers/[/url][/QUOTE] It makes absolutely no sense to me on why they put "North America" into statistics with individual countries

[QUOTE=B!N4RY;50343058]It makes absolutely no sense to me on why they put "North America" into statistics with individual countries[/QUOTE] [quote]GfK’s Connected Consumer Index provides a single measure of how much, and on what devices, consumers in each of 78 countries and 8 world regions digitally connect with each other and with digital content. It enables a quick comparison of how ‘connected’ the different regions and countries are per capita, giving trends over the last five years and a forecast for the current year. The index incorporates 11 device types (smartphone, tablet, mobile PC, desktop PC, wearables, smart TV, TV set-top box, videogame console, e-reader, connected cars, smart home) with data weighted for usage. The index base starts at 100 points (the global average from the year 2010).[/quote]

Why is japan not on that list of connected peoples? Wtf? Japan has some of the most advanced digital infrastructure on the planet.

[QUOTE=Amplar;50345404]Why is japan not on that list of connected peoples? Wtf? Japan has some of the most advanced digital infrastructure on the planet.[/QUOTE] I was honestly surprised that South Korea didn't make the list. In any case they don't make full information available. The source PDF is only like 3 pages long.

[QUOTE=B!N4RY;50343058]It makes absolutely no sense to me on why they put "North America" into statistics with individual countries[/QUOTE] Maybe Canada and Usa had the same score

[QUOTE=SebiWarrior;50345977]Maybe Canada and Usa had the same score[/QUOTE] There is no way that Canada, US, and every country in the Caribbean and central America all had the same score.

[QUOTE=cdr248;50346001]There is no way that Canada, US, and every country in the Caribbean and central America all had the same score.[/QUOTE] [B]north[/B] america but i get what you mean

[QUOTE=Mechanical43;50347464][B]north[/B] america but i get what you mean[/QUOTE] Central America and Caribbean usually said to be part of the North American continent (pretty sure it's just the Caribbean that is a sometimes-is-sometimes-isnt thing).