Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
Technology
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Internet
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Environment
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Mobile phone growth helps poorer states: U.N.
Mon Mar 2, 2009 4:40am EST
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Laura MacInnis
GENEVA (Reuters) - Two thirds of the world's cell phone subscriptions are in developing nations, with the highest growth rate in Africa where a quarter of the population now has a mobile, a United Nations agency said on Friday.
While just 1 in 50 Africans had a mobile in the year 2000, now 28 percent have a cellular subscription, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
The world has more than three times more mobile cellular subscriptions than fixed telephone lines, and in some countries in Asia and Europe people have more than one contract each, pushing the mobile access rate above 100 percent.
In its Measuring the Information Society report, the ITU said the Internet is far less accessible in poorer parts of the world, for instance in Africa where just 5 percent of the population now uses the Internet.
"Fixed Internet access in developing countries is still limited, and, where available, often slow and/or expensive," it said in the report that ranked countries' information and communication technologies (ICT) as of 2007, the last year for which figures were available.
Sweden topped the index, which measured countries' relative access to telephones, computers and communications networks and literacy rates, and South Korea placed second. Nordic states and high-income European, Asian, and North America also scored high.
But dramatic mobile cellular growth in developing countries, including Pakistan (ranked 127th), Saudi Arabia (55th), China (73rd), and Vietnam (92nd), helped bolster emerging economies since the last index was compiled, in 2002, the ITU said.
Companies that have invested heavily in emerging markets include India's Bharti Airtel, Norway's Telenor, South Africa's MTN and Egypt's Orascom Telecom.
Following is a ranking of the top 10 and bottom 10 countries on that index of 154 countries. The full ICT Development Index is available on: www.itu.int
ICT DEVELOPMENT INDEX 2007 RANKING (2002 RANKING):
1 - SWEDEN (1)
2 - SOUTH KOREA (3)
3 - DENMARK (4)
4 - NETHERLANDS (6)
5 - ICELAND (2) Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
CeBit aims to entice cash-strapped consumers
Also on Reuters
Highlights of Warren Buffett's annual investors' letter
Women better at money matters than men: survey
Reuters Travel Summit: Grappling with weak demand
More Technology News
iPhones and PCs take fitness to heart
CeBit aims to entice cash-strapped consumers
PC shipments to sink record 12 percent in 2009: Gartner
Amazon to allow disabling of Kindle 2 audio
Depeche Mode debuts season-pass model on iTunes
More Technology News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Doctor tells Venezuela's Chavez to stop talking
AIG gets new aid after record $61.7 billion loss
HSBC slashes 6,100 U.S. jobs, sets huge share sale | Video
Rebellion on "Sarah Silverman" set
Combative Obama vows to fight for his budget
French farmer is new sun king
Abu Dhabi reviewing Citigroup investment: sources
Credit crisis turns financial titans into pygmies
Boris Becker gets engaged, again, on TV game show
Buffett says economy in shambles
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Blair visits Gaza
India train crash kills and maims
Chinese bidder in relics row
Diplomats plan Gaza reconstruction
S. Korea protests against N.Korea
And Finally... Exerthighs.
Bangladesh soldiers back at base
U2 play surprise London rooftop show
HSBC to unveil $18 bln rights issue
Japan's mud festival
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
The Great Debate
Facebook's privacy snag
Eric Auchard
Social networking phenomenon Facebook has beaten out arch-rival and former market leader MySpace by most measures, except the one that pays the bills. Commentary
Follow The Great Debate on Twitter @reutersgr8db8
Reuters Deals
The global destination for corporate leaders, deal-makers and innovators
Knowledge to Act
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Interactive TV |
Labs |
Reuters in Second Life |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.