Poor nations urged to tap Web fast for growth

With online business increasingly driving economic growth, developing nations' top priority should be the infrastructure their citizens need to get connected, delegates at an Internet conference in Nairobi said.

The Internet's potential to raise living standards is under-exploited in the developing world, where just 21 percent of the population have access, compared with 69 percent in the developed world. In a study published earlier this year, consultancy Mckinsey found that the Internet accounted for 21 percent of economic growth in mature economies, and that almost $8 trillion changes hands through e-commerce each year. But regions such as Africa, lacking the broadband infrastructure mature economies enjoy, have an uphill struggle to encourage telecoms operators to invest in the mobile networks needed to bring the Internet to the masses -- especially when the masses have little disposable income to repay their investment.