Paris – September 15, 2026 -- More than one in three people, or 38%, remain offline despite living within mobile broadband coverage zones, according to a new report from GSMA Intelligence produced in collaboration with Huawei and unveiled at UNESCO's Digital Learning Week. The report, titled "Bridging the Divide: Enhancing Digital Literacy in the AI Era," attributes the gap to shortfalls in digital skills, user trust and AI literacy affecting 3.1 billion people worldwide.
Physical network coverage has outpaced actual usage
Mobile broadband infrastructure now physically reaches 96% of the global population, the report states, yet usage lags far behind due to capability barriers rather than access constraints. Closing this capability gap could add approximately $3.5 trillion to global GDP by 2030, with more than 90% of those gains projected to flow to low- and middle-income countries.
AI literacy commands a 36% wage premium, World Bank data shows
The report cites World Bank statistics identifying generative AI literacy as the highest-value skill category in labor markets, with wage premiums reaching 36% -- exceeding returns for both general digital skills and traditional AI competencies. AI-powered voice assistants and image, audio and video tools can help low-literacy users bypass text-input barriers, the report notes, but the same technologies raise the bar for security awareness and critical thinking needed to avoid fraud and deepfakes. Without targeted training interventions, the authors warn that rapid AI adoption risks entrenching existing inequalities even in fully networked regions.
Solar-powered mobile classrooms have trained 130,000 people since 2019
The report highlights Huawei's Skills on Wheels initiative, including its solar-powered DigiTruck mobile classrooms, as a field-tested model for reaching rural and off-grid communities. Training courses delivered through the program have reached more than 130,000 people across 21 countries since 2019. A survey conducted by Kenya's Ministry of Information, Communications and Digital Economy found that 79% of DigiTruck trainees had passed on their newly acquired digital skills to family members and peers.
Report urges four policy priorities for AI-era literacy
The report calls on policymakers, telecom operators and technology vendors to: treat practical AI awareness and fraud verification as a baseline national qualification; adopt multilingual voice interfaces across public services; scale mobile learning units through cross-sector partnerships; and measure success by independent task completion and fraud resilience rather than raw trainee counts.
"Connectivity alone is insufficient -- capabilities, system design and trust must evolve together,