United Nations in its report titled “State of Broadband 2015” has stated that India’s mobile broadband penetration ranking has fallen from 113 in 2013 to 155 in 2014. This is despite the growth in the proportion of people having broadband access, which has increased from 3.2 per cent in 2013 to 5.5 per cent in 2014. While India's overall broadband penetration (mobile and fixed line) ranking improved to 136 from 142, during the same period, it is still behind countries such as Syria, Zimbabwe and Ghana.

According to the UN, globally 3.2 billion people (43 per cent of the global population) have been connected with broadband, which is up from 2.9 billion in 2013. The access to the Internet is approaching saturation levels in the developed world; however it is only accessible to 35 per cent of population in developing countries. The situation in the 48 UN-designated least developed countries is particularly critical, with over 90 per cent of people having no access to Internet connectivity.

In 2014, the top 10 countries for household Internet penetration were all located in Asia or the Middle East. The Republic of Korea has the world’s highest household broadband penetration, with 98.5 per cent of homes connected; followed by Qatar (98 per cent) and Saudi Arabia (94 per cent).