Evidence shows that the high cost of mobile internet remains a persistent barrier for women in LMICs, who are more price-sensitive to both handsets and data due to structural income inequalities. Combined with uneven coverage and service quality, these constraints disproportionately limit women’s use of mobile internet. Without addressing affordability, the gender gap is likely to persist or widen, restricting women’s ability to build digital capability and engage in digital financial services.

Beyond handset costs, the affordability of mobile data is a key driver of the gender gap in mobile internet access and usage. Lower levels of experience with mobile devices and the internet further limit women’s ability to build digital capability, reducing their ability to benefit economically from connectivity.

• Data affordability remains a key barrier to both adopting and using mobile internet. While affordability affects both men and women, research shows that gender disparities, such as the pay gap and lower employment rates among women, make mobile handsets and data plans disproportionately less affordable for women than for men. (GSMA, 2025) 
• According to the 2024 Global Findex Report, Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest mobile data cost in the world as a percentage of household income. This region contains 6 of the world's 10 most expensive economies for mobile data. In Sub-Saharan Africa, many adults buy smaller data bundles weekly or even daily, despite using the internet less frequently than in other regions. This pattern suggests that high data costs and limited disposable income prevent people from affording larger, more cost-effective bundles, even when they match their usage needs. (Global Findex, 2025)

Mobile network availability varies greatly within countries and across regions. Variability of access and quality limit regular usage. 

• Only a quarter of countries in Africa met the 2% affordability target for the entry-level mobile-broadband basket, while in Europe, all economies except one met the target (ITU, 2024)
• Most South Asian countries have expanded 4G mobile networks in the last five years, but broadband internet and smartphones remain unaffordable for the region’s poorest people. 61% of South Asians live within range of a telecom network, but still do not use the internet, the largest usage gap in the world. International bandwidth is especially expensive in landlocked countries such as Nepal. (World Bank, 2022)