The most expensive broadband in the world

If you ever complained about broadband access prices here in the UK then spare a thought for those who would have to pay 40 times their month’s salary to get online. New research from the UN throws up some unlikely findings for both the most expensive and cheapest places on the planet for broadband access.

Niger in Central Africa is the most expensive place in the world to get a fixed broadband connection with prices costing nearly 40 times the monthly wage, UN figures revealed.
The cheapest is Macao in China, with prices equating to 0.3% of monthly salaries.
Dr Hamadoun Toure, secretary general of the International Telecommunications Union, stressed: “Access to broadband in an affordable manner is our greatest challenge.”
Niger becomes the most expensive place to access communication technologies, when landlines and mobiles are also taken into account.
The statistics were highlighted ahead of the UN 2010 Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York on 19 September.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of targets intended to reduce global poverty and improve living standards by 2015.
Specific goals target education, fighting disease and promoting gender equality.
Access to communications technology is a part of one of the targets.
With five years to go until the deadline to achieve the goals, progress remains uneven. Some countries have achieved many of the goals, while others – mostly in the developing world – may not realise any.
Many development experts question how the goals will be achieved and how they will be paid for. Some even question whether the approach is neccessary or helpful.
********************************
Get Netimperative updates on Twitter