[Fsf-friends] OFFTOPIC: There are more Internet users in London than in the whole of Pakistan...

[Frederick Noronha (FN)]

Just sharing these figuress downloaded from a Tunis 2005-related
website... FN

http://www.itu.int/wsis/tunis/newsroom/stats/index.html

ASIA-PACIFIC

The world’s most diverse region, Asia-Pacific’s 41 economies span 30% of
the world’s land mass, encompass 3’500 languages, and are home to 57% of
the world’s population (or 3.6 billion people).

Nowhere is the digital divide more pronounced. Internet penetration
ranges from below 1% in countries like Bangladesh, Cambodia and Lao, to
above 65% in countries like Australia and the Republic of Korea. Mobile
penetration ranges from below 1% in countries like Bhutan, Myanmar,
Nepal and Papua New Guinea to 90% or more in countries like Hong Kong
(China) and Singapore.

China remains the region’s powerhouse. During 2004, the country added an
average 5.4 million new mobile subscribers every month. 

China already represents almost 50% of the entire Asian mobile market in
terms of subscriber numbers, yet domestic penetration still hovers at
around just 25%. That translates into another one billion more potential
mobile customers.

India has overtaken China to become one of the region’s fastest-growing
mobile markets, with growth rates of over 90% per annum every year since
1999. With just total mobile penetration rates of just over 4%,
potential for growth is enormous.

The Republic of Korea leads the world in broadband penetration, with
high-speed lines serving more than a quarter of the population.


Did you know that . . . ?

Figures can paint a striking picture of the ICT landscape around the
world. ITU provides some interesting snapshots, drawn from its 2004 ICT
World Telecommunication Indicators Database.


Internet

      * In 2004, less than 3 out of every 100 Africans use the Internet,
        compared with an average of 1 out of every 2 inhabitants of the
        G8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the
        UK and the US).

      * There are roughly around the same total number of Internet users
        in the G8 countries as in the whole rest of the world combined: 

              * 429 million Internet users in G8
              * 444 million Internet users in non-G8

      * The G8 countries are home to just 15% of the world’s population
        - but almost 50% of the world’s total Internet users.

      * It is estimated that top 20 countries in terms of Internet
        bandwidth are home to roughly 80% of all Internet users
        worldwide.

      * There are more than 8 times as many Internet users in the US
        than on the entire African continent.

      * There are more than three times as many Internet users in Japan
        as on the entire African continent.

      * There are more than twice as many Internet users in Germany than
        on the entire African continent.

      * The entire African continent - home to over 50 countries - has
        fewer Internet users than France alone.

      * There are more Internet users in Seoul (Republic of Korea), than
        all of sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa.

      * There are more Internet users in London than in the whole of
        Pakistan.

      * Switzerland, host of the first World Summit on the Information
        Society, has five times the Internet penetration rate of
        Tunisia, host of the second Summit.

      * Discrepancies in international Internet bandwidth - the critical
        infrastructure that dictates the speed at which websites in
        other countries can be accessed - are nothing short of
        astounding. Tiny Denmark has more than twice the international
        Internet bandwidth that the whole of Latin American and the
        Caribbean combined.

      * The high cost of international bandwidth is often a major
        constraint, with developing countries often having to pay the
        full cost of a link to a hub in a developed country. More than
        40 countries have less than 10Mbps of international Internet
        bandwidth, whereas in Belgium, a 9Mbps ADSL high-speed Internet
        package is available for just EUR 60 a month.

      * There are still 30 countries with an Internet penetration of
        less than 1%

Mobile

      * The 14% of the world’s population that lives in the G8 countries
        accounts for 34% of the world’s total mobile users.

Fixed

      * Of Africa’s 26 million fixed lines, over 75% are found in just 6
        of the 55 African nations.

      * Africa has an average of 3 fixed lines per 100 people.

      * The Americas region has an average of 34 fixed lines per 100
        people.

      * Europe and the CIS has an average of 40 fixed lines per 100
        people.