2013-03-15

Computers and cellphones in the developing world


A case study for our World Development text book
The number of people with access to mobile phones in developing countries surprises many in the developed world. According to the IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) there were 120 million people logging on to the internet each week in India at the start of 2012. That is nearly twice the total population of the UK - but it still represents only a small proportion (8.2%) of the 1.2 billion Indian population. The majority of internet users are male (83%) urban dwellers and only 24 million people living in rural areas have access to the internet. The Indian government has often stated its belief that increased internet access would bring huge educational and commercial benefits to the country and been involved in projects that attempted to provide cheap computers to poorer sections of the population.

Read more: http://newint.org/books/reference/world-development/case-studies/2013/03/14/computers-cellphones-in-developing-world/