Half the world’s population has a mobile

MORE than half the world’s population have a mobile phone account, according to a UN report.

By the end of last year an estimated six in 10 people, or 4.1 billion, had subscriptions globally, compared with about a billion in 2002, said the International Telecommunication Union.

Fixed line subscriptions increased at a much slower pace to 1.27 billion from about a billion over the same period.

In 2002, less than half of mobile subscriptions globally were in the developing world. Internet use more than doubled. An estimated 23% of people on the planet used the net last year, up from 11% in 2002. Poor countries still lag far behind on internet access, with only 1 in 20 people in Africa going online in 2007, the most recent year for which firm figures were available.

Fixed broadband use increased to almost 20% in rich countries, while globally just over 1 in 20 had access to fast internet connections at home.