3.5 Billion people globally are connected to the internet. That is 50% of the world population. Majority of the connected people are from the developed world. ITU estimates that 79.1% of the European, 65% of the Americans, 81% of the developed world, 41% of the developing world, and only 15.2% of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) are connected to the internet in the year 2016. There is a significant difference between rest of the developing world and the LDCs. Afghanistan falls under the LDC category. An estimate of 5-7.5% of the population are online in Afghanistan. MCIT shows that 2.4 million people were online in Afghanistan in 2013. International organizations’ estimate about Afghanistan, however, seems pretty lower than that. Internetlivestats.com estimates 2.2 million people were connected in 2016.

No matter how accurate number we try to estimate, this number is low for a number of reasons. One of the significant reasons is the price of the internet that the citizens get in order to go online, whether through 3G/2G services or DSL.

Although government shows one Megabit per month speed internet price to be USD 35 in 2014 but that was never the case. Up until Nov 2016, the price of one Megabit per month internet price is 4000 Afghanis, which is equivalent to ~USD 61.

This discrepancy in price also puts in doubt the exaggerated number of individuals that are online.

The USD 61 is lower as compared to the earlier years but the important thing to keep in perspective is the Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of Afghans. World Bank estimates it to be USD 630 in the year 2015. Which means the cost of 1 mbps internet is way more (USD 732) than an individual’s income throughout the year. The cost of the internet for households and small businesses is 116% of GNI per capita. There are, however, 25 countries globally where the cost of the internet is less than 1% of GNI per capita.

So it will be safe to say that the price of the internet in Afghanistan is UNAFFORDABLE by any means to an average citizen.

There are five major categories of people that are hit the hardest by such pricing schemes, which in return greatly affects the economy of the country and the social wellbeing of these people.