NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

A new report from the World Bank says half the world’s population–that would be about 3.2 billion people if you go by U.S. Census Department world population figures–now has access to a telephone of some kind, either through a fixed line or a wireless network. That’s a fair improvement over the 2.5 billion who had access to a phone in 2003, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Interestingly, more than three-quarters of those people use wireless phones. Private telecom carriers, it seems, have jumped into the fray to fill the demand for connectivity by building their own network capacity as market demand and profit motives dictate.
Full article available here.