Broadband News
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Massive digital divide highlighted by UN figures
07 Sep 2010 | 10.05 Europe/London
American broadband subscribers may not believe it when they receive each month’s bill but they are actually enjoying the fourth most affordable broadband services in the world.
The UN has researched the cost of internet connections compared to average earnings and the findings make interesting reading.
The most expensive country in the world to go online is the Central African Republic where monthly subscriptions fees are forty times the average monthly wage. In stark contrast, at 0.3% of monthly wages, Macao (in China) is the cheapest location in the world.
Israel comes in second with 0.33% of average monthly earnings and then in third place is Hong Kong (0.49% ), hotly followed by the USA (0.5%).
Unsurprisingly, where broadband is affordable, penetration figures are healthy – nearly a third of citizens in Hong Kong and the United States are record by the UN as being broadband subscribers.
Hence it follows where it is most expensive, penetration rates are very low, too low even for official figures to have been collected. There is only a figure provided for Malawi, the third most expensive country, where the result of a connection costing more than twenty times the monthly average way means only 0.3% of citizens are believed to be online.
The figures will be presented at the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York on the 19th September which is part of the UN’s drive to reduce poverty and improve living standards by 2015.
The UN has researched the cost of internet connections compared to average earnings and the findings make interesting reading.
The most expensive country in the world to go online is the Central African Republic where monthly subscriptions fees are forty times the average monthly wage. In stark contrast, at 0.3% of monthly wages, Macao (in China) is the cheapest location in the world.
Israel comes in second with 0.33% of average monthly earnings and then in third place is Hong Kong (0.49% ), hotly followed by the USA (0.5%).
Unsurprisingly, where broadband is affordable, penetration figures are healthy – nearly a third of citizens in Hong Kong and the United States are record by the UN as being broadband subscribers.
Hence it follows where it is most expensive, penetration rates are very low, too low even for official figures to have been collected. There is only a figure provided for Malawi, the third most expensive country, where the result of a connection costing more than twenty times the monthly average way means only 0.3% of citizens are believed to be online.
The figures will be presented at the UN Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York on the 19th September which is part of the UN’s drive to reduce poverty and improve living standards by 2015.