Now that more than 1 billion people use the Internet, international policymakers and computing experts are struggling with how to link the world's other 5 billion to the increasingly crucial network.
Ten years ago, to talk about 1 billion
Internet users sounded exaggerated, unthinkable, but now we talk about the next billion," said Markus Kummer, the official heading a U.N. forum here Tuesday on governing the Internet. "It is clear sooner or later we will reach that number. It is also clear that next billion will be poorer than the first."
The challenges to expanding the network to less-developed regions are daunting. Technology costs and government regulations stand in the way. Or there are questions about how to produce Web content in local languages and combat illiteracy.
In some parts of the world even access to electricity is an issue.
"We should think of new forms of financing the information society."
She suggested mobile phones might be the answer for many
clipped from: physorg.com