A report from the WorldWatch Institute has said that in 1992, only one in 237 people worldwide used a mobile phone. A decade later, by 2002, this had soared to one in five.
Cellular phones are helping to bridge the telephonic divide between rich and poor. Building cell phone towers is cheaper than stringing traditional wires. As a result, mobile service has dramatically boosted phone access in Africa. In 1999, Uganda became the first African nation to have more mobile than fixed-line customers. Some 30 other African nations have since followed.
Within just one decade, the ranks of people communicating by wireless phones and wired computers have swelled significantly. In 1992, only one in 237 people worldwide used a mobile phone, and one in 778 used the Internet; by 2002, the numbers had soared to one in 5 and one in 10, respectively. Today, well over 90% of all nations have local cell phone and Internet service, whereas in 1992, a person could use a cell phone in only one third of all countries and hook up to the Internet through a local number in just 19%.
The Worldwatch Institute says such developments will have tangible benefits on people's lives.
"By linking rural farmers to market information, craft workers to customers, patients to doctors, and students to teachers, the internet can aid economic development," it says."
Posted to the site on 6th January 2004
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/10370.php