IT and Society: Number of Internet users worldwide tops 2 billion mark

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues that brings together companies and government organizations from more than 190 countries of the world, has announced that nearly every third person on a planet has Internet access.

The number of web audience by the end of 2010 reached a symbolic two billion mark. For example, in 2009 there were 1,86 billion Net surfers, while in 2000 — around 250 mil. In developing countries the web is surfed by about 21% of the population, whereas in developed the figure totals 71%. By the way, in developing countries only 22.5% have a computer compared to 71% in developed countries.

Apart from it, ITU’s report reads that by the end of 2010 there were 5.3 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide. Access to mobile networks is now available to 90% of the world population.

There has been strong growth in fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions, in both developed and developing countries: at the end of 2010, fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions reached an estimated 555 million globally. The number of subscriptions to 3G services amounted to 940 million.

In 2010, 143 countries were offering 3G services commercially, compared to 95 in 2007.

As estimated by OVUM company, by the middle of this decade Internet access will be available to half of the whole planet’s population.