| Internet penetration rates (overall and by region/demographics) | Approximately 95% of female and 88% of male respondents in rural areas | Reported that the internet is rarely or never accessible | Urban areas show greater telecommunication adoption than rural ones |
| 89% of female and 83% of male respondents in urban areas |
| 30% of rural women | Reported never having access to a telephone |
| 27% of urban women |
| 49% of rural women | Have phone access rarely or never |
| Mobile phone/smartphone ownership and usage | 81% of households | Owned a mobile phone | According to the household budget survey, these data were foundDespite the ongoing conflict, Yemen’s population uses mobile phones widely, with Samsung and Huawei being popular choices |
| 84% to 92% among households | An increase in mobile phone ownership among households between the year 2014 and 2021 |
| Availability of broadband internet access | 6 subscribers per 100 people | Rate of mobile-broadband subscriptions | Despite frequent reliability issues, the internet is available in most urban areas, while remote and rural regions are deeply underserved |
| Less than 2 subscribers per 100 people (only 391 thousand people) | Rate of fixed-telephone services subscriptions |
| 18% of respondents | They declared access to the internet from their homes, cafés, and workplaces, respectively | Highlighting the limited connectivity available to conduct day-to-day activities |
| 34% of respondents |
| 6% of respondents |
| 0.7 (Mbp/s) | The estimated download speed in Yemen | This is primarily driven by the limited availability of 3G and 4G technologiesThat means it takes about 17 h to download a 5 GB file, which places Yemen 223rd in the global ranking of download speed |
| 29.8 (Mbp/s) | The average of the world’s download speed |
| 11.7 (Mbp/s) | The average of the regional download speed |
| Electricity access and grid reliability | 12 h to 23 h a day | Number of hours of electricity blackouts in urban areasFrequent and prolonged interruptions (mainly if sourced from the underdeveloped national grid) and blackouts | The telecommunication network’s infrastructure is crucial for delivering sustainable digital services like distance education, digital health, smart energy grids, and cash transfers. Damage to the electricity infrastructure poses another challenge to the telecommunication network. Frequent power outages due to electricity supply damage can result in extended internet service disruptions. The severe damage limits both access to and the affordability of internet services at the household level |
| Up to 20 h per day | Number of hours of electricity blackouts in rural areas |
| 40% | Percentage of the Yemenis population having access to electricity |
| 35% | Percentage of Yemenis living without any access to electricity |
| 30% | The percentage of Sabafon coverage was out of service due to high fuel-related electricity costs |
| 2,444 MW | The total value of national power generation |
| 3,102 MW | The total value of national power generation demanded |
