IMT and “connecting the unconnected”

As indicated on the ITU-D Home Page, the mission of the ITU-D is closely linked to enabling everyone to communicate through access to infrastructure and information and communication services.

As the field of telecoms has developed since the founding of the ITU in 1865, there has been a series of technological advances. Telecommunications services were initially out of reach for all but the wealthiest, were initially limited to voice, and were initially restricted to fixed locations. The technological advances have made it possible to reduce the costs, shorten the installation and deployment intervals, and increase the capabilities of what can be offered to end users.

This has resulted in telecommunications being affordable to a much larger segment of society, the provision of a much broader range of services, and the freedom to be mobile. The number of mobile subscribers overtook the number of fixed subscribers several years ago due to the cost of mobile access having declined significantly compared to that of fixed access, along with the great reduction in the time required to provide mobile service vs. fixed service, especially in underserved markets. As a consequence, the world is approaching 4 billion mobile subscribers[1] worldwide, with the vast majority of new subscriptions being mobile.

Despite some 80% of the world’s population (about 6.8 billion as of August 2009) living in areas with mobile telecommunications coverage, it is currently still too expensive to be a economically accessible for 40% of the world’s people: there is an affordability barrier preventing about 3 billion of the world’s poorest people from gaining access to telecoms and the advantages that come with it.

Nevertheless, we have seen a significant number of the “unconnected” being “connected” in the last few years. At the same time there remains a large number of people who cannot yet afford what much of the rest of the world increasingly takes for granted and increasingly applies in improving their economic situation. Significant efforts are being made to address this.

For more information, click on:

- Connect the World aims to connect the unconnected by 2015

- ITU ICT Eye website provides ICT information, indicators and statistics, regulatory and policy profiles, national tariff policies and scientific institutions, and more.