In a press statement, Dr. Hamadoun Touré, the ITU Secretary- General describes this as a viable business opportunity. He said the African continent added over 60 million new mobile subscribers and it represents some 90 percent of all telephone subscribers, and mobile penetration in the region is close to 30 percent.

He added: “Less than 65 million new subscribers during 2007. At the beginning of 2008, there were over a quarter of a billion mobile subscribers on the continent. Mobile penetration has risen from just one in 50 people at the beginning of this century to almost one third of the population today. Mobile subscribers are also now more evenly distributed.”

“The fact that four billion subscribers have been registered worldwide indicates that it is technically feasible to connect the world to the benefits of ICT and that it is a viable business opportunity," said Dr Touré. “Clearly, ICTs have the potential to act as catalysts to achieve the 2015 targets of the MDGs.”

He was speaking at the high-level events on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in New York, where he also participated in the UN Private Sector Forums addressing the global food crisis and the role of technological innovation in meeting the MDGs.

Mobile penetration

The statement reveals that while in 2000, mobile penetration stood at only 12 per cent, it surpassed the 50 per cent mark by early 2008. It is estimated to reach about 61 per cent by the end of 2008. Some subscribers, particularly in developing countries reportedly share their mobile phone with others. According to ITU, this has often been cited as the success story of Grameen Phone in rural Bangladesh, for instance.

ITU further highlights that despite high growth rates in the mobile sector, major differences in mobile penetration rates remain between regions and within countries. It reveals that, the impressive growth in the number of mobile cellular subscribers is mainly due to developments in some of the world’s largest markets.

ITU recently published two regional reports for Africa and Asia which indicate how mobile telephony is changing peoples’ lives. Apart from providing communication services to previously unconnected areas, mobile applications have opened the doors to innovations such as m-commerce to access pricing information for rural farmers and the use of mobile phones to pay for goods and services.