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ICT growth "unprecedented" over past 15 years: ITU report

Xinhua, May 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Tuesday said in a report that over the past 15 years information and communication technologies (ICT) have grown in an unprecedented way, providing huge opportunities for social and economic development.

According to the agency's report, today there are more than seven billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, up from 738 million in 2000. Globally, 3.2 billion people are using the Internet, of which two billion live in developing countries.

Between 2000 and 2015, internet penetration has increased almost seven-fold from 6.5 to 43 percent of the global population.

The proportion of households with internet access at home advanced from 18 percent in 2005 to 46 percent in 2015.

ITU noted mobile broadband is the most dynamic market segment, with mobile-broadband penetration globally reaching 47 percent in 2015, a value that increased 12-fold since 2007.

In 2015, some 69 percent of the global population will be covered by 3G mobile broadband, up from 45 percent in 2011.

There is also a rapid extension of 3G mobile broadband into rural areas, and ITU estimates that 29 percent of the 3.4 billion people worldwide living in rural areas will be covered by 3G mobile broadband by the end of 2015. Among the four billion people living in urban areas, 89 percent will have access to 3G mobile broadband.

However, fixed-broadband uptake is growing at a slower pace with a seven percent annual increase over the past three years.

"These new figures not only show the rapid technological progress made to date, but also help us identify those being left behind in the fast-evolving digital economy, as well as the areas where ICT investment is needed most," ITU secretary general Zhao Houlin told a press conference in Geneva. Endit