The 2020 edition of the Measuring Digital Development: Facts and Figures report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) revealed a concerning trend: the global rollout of communications infrastructure is decelerating. The report did not definitively attribute this slowdown to the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that signs of slowing infrastructure deployment were already present in 2019, suggesting other contributing factors might be at play.

Despite the overall slowdown, 4G network coverage experienced significant growth between 2015 and 2020, doubling globally to reach nearly 85% of the world's population by 2020. Presently, 90% of the global population has access to a mobile broadband network, a marginal increase from the previous year. However, substantial gaps persist in regions like Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), where 23% and 11% of their respective populations lack mobile broadband access. In 2020, Africa achieved a 21% growth in 4G rollout, contrasting with negligible growth in other regions. Overall, 44% of Africans have 4G access, 33% have 3G, and 11% have 2G.

The report highlighted a significant urban-rural divide in internet connectivity, particularly during lockdowns. Globally, approximately 72% of urban households had internet access. In Africa, this figure was much lower at 28% for urban households, yet still 4.5 times higher than the 6.3% access rate in rural areas. In other global regions, urban household internet access ranged from 70% to 88%, while rural access varied between 37% and 78%. A similar disparity was observed for households owning computers, though computer ownership is generally lower than internet access as it is no longer the primary gateway to the internet.

Analyzing the demography of internet users, the report indicated that the proportion of young people (15-24 years old) using the internet grew to 69% in 2020, up from about 50% in 2019. Despite this growth, approximately 369 million young people and a total of 3.7 billion people globally remain offline. Regional representation varies, with Asia and the Pacific showing the most impressive youth-to-overall user ratio, and developed countries having nearly all young persons online. Africa, however, presented the least impressive ratio. A gender disparity also exists, with 55% of the global male population connected compared to 48% of the female population, resulting in a gender parity score of 0.87 (with 1 being total parity). The gender parity score has slightly decreased since 2013, though not as severely as reported in 2019 due to new data.

For the first time in history, the total number of mobile/telephone subscriptions declined in 2020, falling from 108 per 100 inhabitants in 2019 to an estimated 105 in mid-2020. The reasons, whether related to the COVID-19 pandemic or other socio-economic forces, remain unclear. This decline was primarily driven by trends in Africa, South America, Asia, and CIS countries, where subscriptions dropped from 103 to 99 per 100 inhabitants. Conversely, European and North American countries continued to experience an upward trend in subscriptions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, networks faced unprecedented strain, leading to a temporary drop in internet speed in many countries due to increased traffic. Despite this, international bandwidth usage globally surged by an estimated 38%, surpassing the previous year's growth rate by 6%. Asia and the Pacific recorded the highest international bandwidth use, exceeding 300 Terabits per second (Tbit/s), followed by Europe (over 150 Tbit/s) and the Americas (over 140 Tbit/s). Notably, the growth of international bandwidth usage in developing countries outpaced that in developed countries.

Several barriers hinder broadband uptake and meaningful participation in a digital society. Low ICT skills remain a significant impediment. Measured by recent activity requiring specific skills (e.g., writing computer programs, sending emails, sharing documents), the 2020 report indicated that only 15% of countries had up to 10% of their citizens writing computer programs. About 40% of countries had over 40% of citizens sending emails, and over 70% had 40% of citizens sending documents or files via the internet. It is evident that countries with large populations and low ICT skills generally have the smallest proportion of internet users. Another critical factor is the cost of data. In 2018, the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development set a 2025 target for entry-level broadband services to be affordable in developing countries, costing less than 2% of monthly income. The average cost of a 1.5 GB mobile-data basket in developing countries remained substantially above this target.