A new report from GSMA Intelligence and Huawei calls for digital skills training to accompany broadband investment, arguing that a mobile signal is insufficient if people cannot afford a device or use online services confidently.
Released during UNESCO’s Digital Learning Week in Paris, the report examines how artificial intelligence could help more people use digital services while creating new demands for privacy awareness and the ability to identify false information.
Huawei’s September 9 announcement describes the work as a collaboration with GSMA Intelligence, the mobile industry’s research business. Its recommendations should be read in that context: both organisations have an interest in wider technology adoption.
Coverage and use measure different things
The report draws attention to an estimated 3.1 billion people living within mobile broadband coverage but not using mobile internet on their own device. That figure comes from the GSMA’s 2025 connectivity research, which describes conditions at the end of 2024.
The GSMA calls this a usage gap. It differs from the coverage gap, meaning people beyond the reach of a mobile broadband network. It also should not be treated as a count of everyone with no internet access of any kind.
The same GSMA research separately records people using mobile internet on devices they do not own. Its measures concern how mobile connectivity is adopted, while wider internet statistics can include other forms of access.
For comparison, the International Telecommunication Union estimated that 2.2 billion people remained offline in 2025. The two figures cover different years and definitions, so they cannot be used interchangeably.
Training cannot remove every cost barrier
Digital literacy means being able to use digital tools and assess what appears on them. It extends beyond knowing which button to press to recognizing suspicious messages, understanding permissions and checking information before acting.
Skills are one obstacle. The GSMA identifies handset affordability alongside literacy and digital skills as leading barriers for people who know about mobile internet but have not adopted it. Buying a phone and maintaining a data connection can remain difficult even after someone learns to use them.
The ITU reaches a similar conclusion about access more broadly. Its 2025 findings point to persistent gaps in service quality and cost, with mobile broadband still unaffordable in around 60% of low- and middle-income countries under its affordability assessment.
AI can reduce typing, but adds verification work
The new report argues that voice interfaces and tools using images or audio could help people who struggle with text. It also recommends measuring whether trainees can complete tasks independently and resist fraud, instead of relying solely on attendance totals.
For businesses moving customer services online, that would mean paying attention to whether customers can finish a transaction safely. Our earlier coverage of invoice fraud in digital payments explains why a familiar-looking message is not enough to establish that a payment request is genuine.
Huawei says a new DigiTruck mobile classroom program will begin in France this autumn. Whether such training produces lasting gains will depend on what participants can do afterwards and whether affordable access remains available.
