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Mobile phones are a ticket out of poverty for millions. No argument there. But check out this global ICT study by Christine Zhen-Wei Qiang, an economist at the World Bank for a surprising comparison with broadband Internet.

Note the broadband boost vs. mobile phones

She found that for every 10 percentage points increase in broadband penetration, there is an incremental increase in economic growth of 1.3 percentage points. This compares to the 0.8 percent increase for mobile phones. I would not have expected such a great differential - almost a 2x greater GDP boost via broadband than mobiles,

Yet, because of the greater reach and density of mobile phone usage - more mobiles than light bulbs in Uganda - they have a larger aggregate effect than broadband, for now. Soon though, we should see the new broadband connections in East Africa competing with mobile phones in penetration and usage.

Back at the macro telecommunications level, developing countries received a greater boost from all ICT formats than developed countries. Christine says this is because telecommunications services in the developing world have more to gain when ICT helps public and private sectors:

1. improve the functioning of the markets,
2. reduce transaction costs,
3. and increase productivity through better management.

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On Appfrica, there is a fascinating conversation about "eliminating" the countries with the lowest contribution to global GDP:

Why is it not a surprise that so many of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia? But why is it a surprise that there are a full 81 countries on this list - representing nearly 3 billion people - and that they contribute a total of only 5% to worldwide economic activity?!

(Follow the link below to read the entire blog post, but see also this list of the countries, in reverse order of magnitude):

Zimbabwe (1), Burundi, DR Congo, Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, Eritrea, Malawi, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Afghanistan, Togo, Guinea, Uganda, Madagascar, the Central African Republic, Nepal, Myanmar (Burma), Rwanda, Mozambique, East Timor, the Gambia (2), Bangladesh, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Lesotho, Ghana, Haiti, Tajikistan, the Comoros, Cambodia, Laos, Benin, Kenya, Chad, the Solomon Islands, Kyrgyzstan, India (3), Nicaragua, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Mauritania, Pakistan, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, Ivory Coast, Zambia, the Yemen, Cameroon, Djibouti, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Nigeria (4), Guyana, the Sudan, Bolivia, Moldova, Honduras, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mongolia, Bhutan, Egypt (5), Vanuatu, Tonga, Paraguay, Morocco, Syria, Swaziland, Samoa, Guatemala, Georgia, the Congo, Iraq, Armenia, Jordan, Cape Verde, the Maldives, Fiji and Namibia (6).

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/397-eliminating-the-bottom-5/