GENEVA – More than half the world’s population now have a mobile phone account, according to a UN report published yesterday.
By the end of last year an estimated six out of 10 people, or 4.1 billion, had subscriptions globally, compared with about a billion in 2002, the International Telecommunication Union said.
Fixed line subscriptions increased at a much slower pace to 1.27 billion from about a billion over the same period.
“There has been a clear shift to mobile cellular telephony,” the agency said, noting that developing countries now account for about two-thirds of mobile phones in use.
In 2002 less than half of mobile subscriptions globally were in the developing world, it said.
Internet use more than doubled. An estimated 23 per cent of people on the planet used the net last year, up from 11 per cent in 2002. Poor countries still lag far behind on internet access, with only 1 in 20 people in Africa going online in 2007 – the most recent year for which firm figures were available.
Fixed broadband use increased to almost 20 per cent in rich countries, while globally just over one in 20 had access to fast internet connections at home.
The Geneva-based agency recorded the sharpest rise in mobile broadband subscriptions. The technology, which allows users to access the web at high speed with mobile devices, was available to 3 per cent of people worldwide, increasing to 14 per cent in developed countries.
The 106-page report also ranked countries according to how advanced their use of information and communications technology, or ICT, is. Sweden came first, followed by South Korea and Denmark. Small, densely populated countries such as Luxembourg (7) and Hong Kong (11) also did well, while large developing countries like China (73) and India (118) were hampered by the size of their populations.
Ireland ranks 18th, up from 26th in 2002.
The so-called “digital divide” between rich and poor countries remained unchanged between 2002 and 2007.
“Despite significant improvements in the developing world, the gap between the ICT haves and have-notes remains,” the report found. – (AP)