In-House Counsel

A 10 percentage-point increase in broadband results in a 1.3 % increase in economic growth

For every 10 percentage-point increase in high speed Internet connections there is an increase in economic growth of 1.3 percentage points.

This is one of the conclusions from the World Bank report “Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact” just published last week. The report takes an in-depth look at how ICT impacts economic growth in developing countries.

The findings are forceful and I see them as an urgent call for action. The reports also identifies the mobile platform as the single most powerful way to reach and deliver public and private services to hundreds of millions of people in remote and rural areas across the developing world.

Broadband networks and ICT are a critical foundational element for the information economy and countries’ ability to compete. Countries that take wise and forceful steps to create a competitive ICT market will be able to bring the benefits of the information economy to their citizens.

Full post as published by Cisco High Tech Policy Blog on July 08, 2009 (boomark / email).