Although the world’s most dense global cities are often packed with commercial internet access points, in many countries the cost of an hour of internet use is higher in primary cities than it is in secondary cities.

We estimated the cost of an hour of internet access in a sample of 14 densely urbanized, global cities and contrasted these estimates with the cost of an hour of internet access in 69 regional cities and provincial capitals in 2000 and 2005.1 For the purposes of this study, global cities are defined as those with a population over 10 million in the year 2000, and regional centers are defined as cities with a population of over 1 million in the same country as a global city.2 The number of secondary cities with internet access grew significantly between 2000 and 2005. In 2000, 33 of the 83 secondary urban centers we surveyed had commercial internet access points. By 2005, 71 secondary urban centers reported internet access.

GRAPHIC: Average Cost of One Hour of Internet Access

Average Cost of One Hour of Internet Access

The average cost of hourly internet access in a country’s secondary cities is usually less than that in a country’s primary cities. Adjusting to 2005 dollars, the average cost in 2000 in all cities was $4.46 an hour, and the average cost in 2005 in all cities dropped to $1.67. By comparison, the cost of internet access in primary cities dropped from $5.92 to $1.89 per hour, and the cost of access in secondary cities dropped from $3.52 to $1.74.

GRAPHIC: Cost of One Hour of Internet Access: Global Cities v. Regional Centers

Average Cost of One Hour of Internet Access

The urban digital divide between primary and secondary cities is closing, but in different patterns around the world. Today, in Brazil, India, and Indonesia the cost of internet access in primary cities is about the same as in secondary cities. The cost of access has also dropped in Russia cities, Japanese cities, and China’s secondary cities. But in China, Japan, and Russia there is still a digital divide between primary and secondary cities.

  1. All valued adjusted to 2005 U.S. Dollars [back]
  2. Using over 40 travel guides, published between 2000 and 2007, we compiled multiple reports of the cost of going online for one hour in as many cities as possible. [back]