Digital divide in Asia still wide despite mobile industry growth

A study by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) showed that both phone and Internet use has increased over the last five years in the Asia-Pacific region since the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was first held in 2003.

The UN-ESCAP said that the number of mobile phone users in South Asia increased by nearly 70 times from 2000 to 2007, by over 40 times in Central Asia and by about 10 times in Southeast Asia. Fastest growth was noted in the least developed countries in the region where the number of mobile phone users rose by close to 80 times.

But the UN agency said that "the gap between rich and poor nations in Internet access has widened over the same period of time".

"At the top end, the most connected five countries – New Zealand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Malaysia – have between 55 per cent to 80 per cent of their populations with access to the Internet by 2007.

Less than one percent of the population, however, have access to the internet in Burma, Timor-Leste , Tajikistan , Bangladesh and Cambodia.

The regional average for the Asia-Pacific region is 20 per cent.

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