The Hidden Internet in Developing Nations

Internet access is ubiquitous in the developed nations of the West. Penetration is close to 100% and we access the Web not just from a PC but from our smart phones and tablets like the iPad or Playbook. We’ve learned over our years of research that when it comes to developing nations, we in the West or the Global North if you will, tend to think that access in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, India and across most of Africa is minimal and only for the Elites who can afford it. This is a dangerous assumption that may cost governments their power or at least a little troubles. Companies doing business in the Global South may also suffer from boycotts of products to organized protests, especially when it comes to the extractive resource sector.

Governments, larger NGO’s and NPO’s and corporations of the Global North often make their assumptions on Internet usage from generally available data on Internet usage stats. For example the World Bank database on Internet stats and the oft referred Internet World Stats published by for-profit marketing company Miniwatts. While their data is good it tends only to look at numbers published by ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) and Telco’s in those countries. Our research indicates that the gap between official and unofficial online populations in developing nations is as much as 60% in many cases. This is a significant disparity. Here is some data visualized in Google from World Bank data, perhaps the closest to reality, but still not entirely accurate.

The Hidden Internet

What we’ve come to find through our ongoing research projects, is that the number published by most organizations is often just the surface of real access and rarely accounts for mobile device connectivity to the Internet. We call it the Hidden Internet. It’s vibrant, it’s alive and it’s growing. It’s hidden, essentially, because there is no formal mechanism for recognizing or evaluating its presence or that of the people contributing. Here’s how it works;

Pirate Connections: Illegal access through wireless networks directly by hackers. This most often happens for criminal organizations that send out those mass emails about their cousin who died with millions in the bank and only you can help them get the money, with a generous reward for your time of course!

Unofficial ISP’s: We’ve found a number of times that a person may subscribe to service from the local, official Telco or ISP for a broadband connection to their home. They then install a wired or wireless router and resell connection to their neighbours to help cover the cost of access and sometimes turn a small profit. They are unofficial and may even rent out access to their PC in their own homes.

Education System: Then there’s the universities and high-schools with multiple students online. Often times parents and friends can gain access to these services as part of literacy training for the community. We’ve seen this in Kinshasa, Nairobi, Amman and many other cities. These numbers are not officially counted though. We estimate that for every student, two additional community members are regularly accessing the Web.

Internet Cafe’s: One of our favourite examples here is Haiti. The assumption by many aid agencies and some governments has been that Internet access by non-elites is minimal. The reality however, is far different. Shortly after the earthquake in 2010, Internet cafe’s popped up in tents in the tent communities; they remain active to this day. These Internet cafe’s are increasingly popular throughout the developing world and play a crucial role in connecting communities, improving literacy both in ICT and language.

Mobile Devices: With most developing nations building sophisticated wireless networks from 3G to 4G and up, mobile device use of data services is surging. In fact Africa is one of the fastest growing mobile regions in the world. The Congo went from 2% population penetration in 2000 to approaching 50% in 2010. Some research on low income urban youth using mobile devices shows it’s not just texting, but social media use that is growing on mobile devices. Some other research in southern Africa countries shows over 54% of the time mobile devices are used to access social media channels. We forecast that mobile device access for social media services will be the biggest growth sector in mobile data usage, not texting. The role of texting in online communications behaviour is limited at best. Accessing image sharing and the conversation streams possible in status updates and rich content sharing to Facebook, Zoopy or PlentyAfricans.com for example brings a deeper, richer layer of engagement that is a natural element of human communications through digital media.

Summary & Moving Forward
Organizations such as the World Bank and Internet World stats or Africa Analysis have been well done, but the methodologies and the questions have been the issue. We would argue that additional research can be carried out through technologies such as our mediasphere360 and digging a little deeper in on-the-ground research. Even with the capabilities of our technology it is hard to truly quantify the real numbers. But the volume of conversations we measure and analyse for clients and the anecdotal data we collect on the ground is indicative of a larger, more engaged online population in the Global South than we have a tendency to acknowledge. Empirical methods alone are proving inadequate to gain the deeper insights necessary to understand how digital citizens in developing nations are engaging. Different, complimentary approaches will be needed in the future. Traditional methodologies are still and will remain, necessary. But layered online analysis is now vital. The role of digital diaspora is also key to understanding connectivity and engagement.