| Communications prices falling worldwide: UN |
By A Staff Reporter
Prices for information and communication technology (ICT) services
are falling worldwide, and services continue to grow, propelled
by mobile cellular use, but broadband Internet remains outside the
reach of many in poor countries, the United Nations telecom agency
said recently.
The UN International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Measuring the
Information Society 2010 report, “confirms that despite the
recent economic downturn, the use of ICT services has continued
to grow worldwide,” ITU’s Sami Al Basheer Al Morshid
said releasing the study.
All 159 countries featured in the report’s ICT Development
Index (IDI) have improved their levels, and mobile cellular technology
continues to be a key driver of growth. In 2010, ITU expects the
global number of mobile cellular subscriptions to top 5 billion.
“At the same time, the report finds that the price of telecommunication
services is falling -- a most encouraging development,” said
Mr. Al Basheer, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development
Bureau.
Fixed broadband services showed the largest price fall (42 per cent),
compared to 25 and 20 per cent in mobile cellular and fixed telephone
services respectively, yet a person in the developing world is nearly
seven times less likely to have access than someone in a developed
country.
The world’s top 10 most advanced ICT economies feature eight
countries from northern Europe, with Sweden topping the IDI for
the second year in a row. The Republic of Korea and Japan rank third
and eighth, respectively.
The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain top the list of Arab States,
with Russia and Belarus leading ICT development in the ex-Soviet
Union. In Africa, only the Seychelles, Mauritius and South Africa
are included in the top 100.
Given the close relationship between ICT uptake and national income,
most poor countries rank at the low end of the IDI. In particular,
the least developed countries (LDCs), many of them in Africa, still
have very limited access to ICTs, especially in terms of broadband
infrastructure and household access.
The gap between the high and the low groups is still significant
although it is shrinking slightly, going from a value of 5.5 in
2002 to 5.3 in 2008, ITU Statistician Esperanza Magpantay told a
news briefing in New York. “What we have found in our research
is that sometimes it takes a certain threshold level of use of internet
and new technology before the economy and the country take off and
you have the network effect and all the other benefits kicking in,”
she said.
Mobile cellular technology continues to be the main driver of ICT
growth, especially in the developing world, where average penetration
surpassed the 50 per cent mark in 2009. Today, over 70 economies
worldwide have surpassed the 100 per cent penetration mark, with
developed countries averaging 113 per cent by the end of last year.
While high-speed Internet access is now available in almost all
countries, fixed broadband penetration in the developing world remains
as low as 3.5 per cent, compared to 23 per cent in developed countries. |
