Nepali slips nine places in global internet access report

The country has slipped nine places to 148th position among the 192 countries in terms of the percentage of population having internet access, according to The State of Broadband-2013 published by the UN Broadband Commission today.

Some 11.1 per cent of Nepalis have the access to the internet services, the report said, adding that last year Nepal was ranked 139^th with internet penetration rate of nine per cent. “However, 2.1 per cent internet penetration has increased in a year, despite rapid development in the telecom sector.”

The last one year has seen slowdown in extending fixed and mobile broadband connection, according to the report that has placed Nepal at 136th position – down from the 127^th last year – on the basis of fixed broadband lines service that is wired broadband service including cable internet, ADSL and cable modem. “It has reached 0.4 per 100 inhabitants.”

Likewise, Nepal ranked 99^th among 128 developing countries with 4.1 percentage of the households having internet connection.

According to the report, South Korea has the highest household broadband penetration at over 97 per cent, whereas Switzerland leads in fixed broadband subscriptions per capita, at over 40 per cent.

In terms of internet use, in more than 70 countries over five per cent of the population is online, according to the UN Broadband Commission.

Iceland (96 per cent), Norway (95 per cent), Sweden (94 per cent), Denmark (93 per cent) and the Netherlands (93 per cent) are the top five countries having maximum internet penetration rate, whereas Burundi, Myanmar, Timor Leste, Eritrea and North Korea are at the bottom five.

The 2013 edition of the State of Broadband Report – prepared by the UN Broadband Commission based on the total number of users in the member countries of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) by 2012 – has termed mobile broadband as the ‘fastest growing technology’ in human history. “Mobile broadband subscriptions, which allow users to access the web via smartphones, tablets and WiFi-connected laptops, are growing at a rate of 30 per cent per year,” it concluded.