SO fast is the growth of telecoms around the world that many of the statistics collected for the World Telecomunications Report are already way out of date, but they are a good start for anyone wanting an overview of the world industry.
There were 647 million fixed lines in place at the end of the year, up from only 388 million in 1984, a compound annual growth rate of 5.2 per cent over the period.
Worldwide there were 11.57 telephones per 1,000 people, and the disparity between regions was stark; Europe had 32 phones per 1,000 people, the Americas 28, Africa 1.67 and Asia 4.79.
Africa's fixed lines showed the strongest growth between 1984 and 1994, increasing by 8.6 per cent, followed by Asia with growth of eight per cent.
Desite the growth in the availability of telephones, far more people around the world owned television sets.
So much for basics. Much of the report is devoted to the convergence of telephony, computing and audiovisual industries and the development of the information society.
'The global economy is currently undergoing an information revolution which will be equally as significant in effect as the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century,' the ITU said. Service sectors around the world were outpacing agriculture and industry in economies as diverse as Hong Kong, Senegal and Hungary. 'From the re-mapping of the economic landscape to fundamental changes in the way we learn and are entertained, we are witnessing the birth of a new society,' it said. The ITU said public telecommunications operators (PTOs) were, arguably, the best-placed to develop multimedia networks. The PTOs generated profits of about US$50 billion a year. This, and their billing and customer service skills, would count as strengths if they entered multimedia markets.
