How Did the Next Billion Users Become Collateral Damage in the AI Race?

The world added 160 million new mobile internet users in 2025, down from 190 million the year before. Network coverage keeps expanding and speeds keep climbing, yet the number of people coming online for the first time keeps falling. That’s the puzzle at the heart of the GSMA’s State of Mobile Internet Connectivity 2026 report: better infrastructure isn’t translating into more users.