Broadband: delivering social and economic benefits for all

Over the past decade we have made astonishing progress in bringing the benefits of information and communication technologies – ICTs – to most of the world’s people. There are now well over five billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide, and more than two billion people have access to the internet. Mobile cellular penetration exceeds 100 per cent in almost 100 countries. Indeed, today, a world without ICTs is unthinkable, with ICTs integrated into almost every single part of the social and economic fabric worldwide. The big challenge now will be to bring equitable, affordable access to broadband networks to all the world’s people.