World's Digital Divide is Narrowing: Study

WORLD'S DIGITAL DIVIDE IS NARROWING: STUDY
[SOURCE: Reuters, AUTHOR: Lucas van Grinsven]
The digital divide is narrowing as citizens in emerging markets get online via computers and mobile phones, with some regions now on a par with developed nations, a ranking of Web-savvy nations showed on Wednesday. "Encouraging is the apparent narrowing of the digital divide," said the annual study published by U.S. computer company International Business Machines Corp. and the intelligence unit of British magazine The Economist. "This is particularly evident in basic connectivity: emerging markets are providing the vast majority of the world's new phone and Internet connections," the study found. Within China and India, regions such as Shanghai and Bangalore have almost the same level of Internet and mobile phone connections as developed nations, said Peter Korsten, European director at IBM's Institute for Business Value. The difference between the world's Web-savviest nation Denmark and the least "e-ready" country Azerbaijan remains nevertheless huge, with respective scores of 9.0 and 2.9 out of a possible 10. India and China, including their less developed provinces, scored 4.25 and 4.02, ranking No. 53 and 57 respectively.
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID...