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Growth of broadband access
Another indication of the spread of high-speed internet access, this from the International Telecommunication Union:
In 2002, broadband services were available in just 81 countries, mostly industrialized OECD countries, transition economies in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and some developing countries in Asia-Pacific. By 2006, the number of countries with commercial broadband service had more than doubled to reach a total of 166 countries, with a number of operators in African countries launching broadband services, including in Botswana, Ghana, Rwanda and Libya.
In all, the article reports that 170 countries now have at least some broadband access. This doesn’t mean that open educational resource projects can assume high speed access for end users, but it does offer opportunities for transferring and updating locally cached copies of resources. The growth in access is pretty dramatic, although I’m assuming broadband penetration in most countries is extremely low. (via Information Policy)
