Mobile phones now outnumber landline phones lines by nearly five to one in Africa, although they may not be evenly spread across the large continent.

The study, released in time for a month long meeting of the UN’s Economic and Social Council slated to begin June 30, said investment in information and communications technologies in Africa has also “improved dramatically,” totaling $8 billion in 2005, up from $3.5 billion in 2000.

“These figures reflect an increasingly vibrant private sector investment environment which has been stimulated by the opening of most African telecommunications markets, coupled with the establishment of independent regulators in almost 90 percent of the countries in the region,” the report said.

Still, according to the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union, fewer than four out of every 100 Africans have internet access while broadband penetration is below 1 percent.

As a result, Africa’s 900 million inhabitants—nearly 14 percent of the world’s population—have access to less than a fifth of 1 percent of the world’s international connectivity.

In contrast, Ireland’s 4 million people have better international connectivity than the entire African continent.

The International Telecommunication Union, a specialized agency of the United Nations, believes that information and communications technologies are essential for creating new skills, generating growth and technological change, and are also critical for Africa’s overall economic growth.

The theme of the high-level segment of the UN’s Economic and Social Council meeting is “Promoting an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development, taking into account current challenges.”

Asked about the striking progress of information and communications technologies in Africa, Sanjay Acharya, the International Telecommunication Union’s chief of media relations and public information, described the spread of mobile telephony as one of the big “success stories in Africa.”

Africa’s mobile market, he said, has been the fastest-growing of any region over the last five years and has grown twice as fast as the global market. It has also been a significant contributor to expanding access opportunities to a vast majority of its population.

Mobile phones overtook fixed lines in 2001 and now account for more than 90 percent of all telephones, with more than 250 million mobile cellular subscribers in 2007.

“The growth has been fueled by factors such as market liberalization and increased levels of national and international competition,” Mr. Acharya said.

Broadband, too, is expected to make the connectivity leap across Africa, leading to increased convergence and migration to next-generation networks.

“The primary reason for this unprecedented growth in Africa is the establishment of effective regulatory frameworks, which have created an enabling environment driven by competition for new business investment in the (information technology) sector,” Mr. Acharya said.

Many African countries have demonstrated that they are open for business. Africa remains the region with the highest annual growth rate in mobile subscribers, and mobile subscribers are also now more evenly distributed. In 2000, South Africa accounted for over half of all Africa’s mobile subscribers, but by 2007, almost 85 percent were in other countries.

Asked if the average African person can afford a mobile phone, Mr. Acharya said competition has led to lower prices, especially in the mobile sector.

“The fact that more and more Africans are subscribing to mobile phones indicates it is becoming increasingly affordable. It is also seen as an investment to enhance business opportunities and increase incomes,” he added.

While mobile services have become more accessible and affordable, Internet access has generally not, he pointed out.

It is estimated that there were some 50 million Internet users in Africa in 2007, translating into around one person among 20. Over half of the region’s Internet users are estimated to be located in North African countries and South Africa.

In sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Acharya said, only three percent of the population is online.

The scarcity of international Internet bandwidth and lack of Internet Exchange Points drives up prices. “Africa, the poorest region in the world, has the most expensive internet prices,” Mr. Acharya said.

The average monthly internet subscription is almost $50 in Africa, close to 70 percent of average per capita income.

Broadband penetration is low across the continent. There were around two million fixed broadband subscribers in Africa in 2007, less than a quarter of the population of metropolitan Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria, he added.

Only five African countries had a broadband penetration of more than one per 100 inhabitants in 2007.