There will soon be more than 3 billion people with Internet-connected devices.

The claim gives no date; 'soon' is read as within about two years, so it is judged at end-2016. True if ITU or comparable estimates (e.g., GSMA or World Bank) show more than 3 billion people using the internet or internet-connected devices by end-2016. Mostly true if the threshold was crossed by roughly 2017. Mostly false if it was crossed only well later, around 2018 to 2019. False if it had not been crossed by 2019.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 ICT FACTS AND FIGURES 2016 - ITU International Telecommunication Union (ITU) · June 2016

   “By end 2016, 3.9 billion people - 53% of the world’s population – is not using the Internet.”

2. E2 ITU releases annual global ICT data and ICT Development Index country rankings International Telecommunication Union (ITU) · 24 November 2014

   “Over three billion people are now online and information and communication technology (ICT) growth remains buoyant in just about every country worldwide, according to ITU’s flagship annual Measuring the Information Society Report.”

3. E3 Press Release: ITU releases 2016 ICT figures ... International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

   “By the end of 2016, more than half of the world's population – 3.9 billion people – will not yet be using the Internet.”

4. E4 Digital Divide International Monetary Fund (Finance & Development)

   “The number of Internet users has more than tripled in the past decade—from 1 billion in 2005 to an estimated 3.2 billion at the end of 2015.”

An ITU press release from November 2014 says that "over three billion people are now online" (E2). An IMF piece puts internet users at about 3.2 billion at the end of 2015 (E4). ITU's 2016 figures say 3.9 billion people, or 53% of the world's population, would not be using the internet by end-2016 (E1, E3). That implies roughly 47% were online, which is well above 3 billion. So independent estimates show the 3-billion threshold was crossed before the end-2016 cutoff.