Every 10% increase in high-speed Internet connections in developing countries resulted in an increase of 1,3% in economic growth, the World Bank’s ‘Information and Communications for Development 2009: Extending Reach and Increasing Impact’ report highlights.

The report, released by the bank on Tuesday, found that access to affordable, high-quality Internet and mobile phone services enabled development across all levels of the economy and society.

It also identified 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, the World Bank noted in a statement.

“Internet users in developing countries increased tenfold from 2000 to 2007, and there are now over four-billion mobile phone subscribers in developing countries,” commented World Bank global information and communication technologies director Mohsen Khalil.

He added that these technologies offered developing economies tremendous opportunities. “Governments can work with the private sector to accelerate [the] roll-out of broadband networks and to extend access to low-income consumers.”

Broadband also provided the basis for local information technology (IT) services industries, which created youth employment, increased productivity and exports, and promoted social inclusion, noted the researchers.

With less than 15% of the potential global market for IT services industries currently exploited, developing countries could benefit from this largely untapped opportunity.

The bank estimated that this market represented about $500-billion in 2007.

“Governments should proactively encourage the development of local IT services industries through policies and incentives directed at entrepreneurs and the private sector, and through investments in skills and infrastructure,” stated World Bank economist Christine Zhen-Wei Qiang.

The report also highlighted that modern, technology-enabled governments could become more efficient, transparent and responsive, with the bank adding that Brazil, Ghana and India were examples of this.

“Access to broadband completes the information foundation for a modern economy and should be a priority in national development plans. Governments can play a key role in expanding broadband access by policies and incentives that encourage competition and private investment,” added World Bank vice-president for sustainable development Katherine Sierra.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Meanwhile, the report stated that the expansion of access to advanced information and communication technology (ICT) services would be a key factor in sub-Saharan Africa’s economic and social development.

Data had indicated that ICT investment fostered higher long term economic growth, while small businesses with access to mobile phones could generate sustained increases in the income of poor people in developing countries.

While African governments have begun to focus on providing affordable ICT services to as many people as possible, the World Bank stated that capacity was one of the constraints facing the sub-Saharan region’s development of broadband connectivity.

The widening gap between this region’s broadband connectivity and that of other developing countries was a major policy issue for a number of countries in the region, noted the bank.

It added that the main challenges facing policymakers in the region, was to ensure that entrants had access to existing infrastructure developed by private operators, as most incumbent operators in the region were not strong enough to offer this backbone infrastructure.

Networks also had to be built in areas where commercial operators were not currently willing to invest, the researchers noted.