Mobile phones help lift poor out of poverty: UN study

Mobile phones -- spreading faster than any other information technology -- can improve the livelihoods of the poorest people in developing countries, a United Nations report finds. But governments must design responsive policies to ensure that the benefits reach the broadest number in the most effective way, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in its Information Economy Report. Mobile phone subscriptions will reach five billion this year -- almost one per person on the planet, UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi told a news conference on the report. Penetration in developed countries is over 100 percent, with many people having more than one phone or subscription. In developing countries, the subscription rate is now 58 per 100 people, and rising rapidly, with the rate in the poorest Least Developed Countries (LDCs) up at 25 from only 2 per 100 a few years ago, UNCTAD figures show.