The information and communication technologies

(ICT) sector has seen a revolution since the last ICT
sector strategy of the World Bank Group (WBG) was
prepared in 2000. The number of mobile phone
subscriptions in developing countries has increased
from 200 million in 2000 to 3.7 billion in 2010, and
the number of Internet users has grown more than
tenfold. The progress in the ICT Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) indicators has been
remarkable: In 2010, the proportion of the
population in developing countries with access to
fixed or mobile telephone has reached 70 percent;
and more than 20 percent of the populations of
developing countries are Internet users. ICT is thus
no longer a luxury good but an essential utility for
the poor including those in low-income countries.
As a result, its vital role in advancing economic
development and reducing poverty has been
expanded and increasingly recognized.
Technological progress has lifted more than 10
percent of the world’s population out of poverty
since 1990, making it the biggest driving force
behind economic growth1.Development of ICT
infrastructure in particular has attracted
considerable amounts of investment, and
generated significant fiscal revenues and
employment opportunities in developing countries.
2 More recently, the information technology (IT)
service industry has become another engine of job
creation in developing countries -- especially for
youth and women -- and it has promoted trade and
competitiveness through exports.


In addition, by providing access to information,
making markets more efficient, fostering social
inclusion, and equalizing opportunities in rural
areas, ICT offers an innovative and unprecedented
tool to directly reduce poverty3. The wireless
communications networks, with more than 5 billion
subscriptions globally, are now the world’s largest
platform to deliver useful information as well as a
wide range of public and social services, including
to those in rural and poor areas. Examples of such
services emerge continuously. Farmers in remote
villages of Kenya are using mobile phones to access
the most current crop prices. Rural fishermen in Sri
Lanka know where to fish based on satellite
mapping of fish colonies. Migrant workers in Sierra
Leone have cut out intermediaries and can now
transfer money almost instantly through mobile
banking to relatives in remote villages. Land
registration, education programs, health care, and
voting are other examples of services that are often
difficult to access by poor people in remote areas
but are now being extended to these communities
in a timely, cost effective manner.
ICT also has strong spillover effects on long-run
productive activities in other sectors. In the last 10
years, high-speed communications networks and
the innovative applications they carry have made
the impact of ICT as an enabler significantly more
powerful. It is not just a technological phenomenon;
ICT promotes innovation and can trigger
fundamental economic transformation. Individuals,
by accessing global knowledge, are unleashing the
potential of their human capital.