Mobile phones — spreading faster than any other information technology — can improve the livelihoods of the poorest people in developing countries, a United Nations report released last week said.

But governments must design responsive policies to ensure that the benefits reach the broadest number in the most effective way, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in its Information Economy Report.

Mobile phone subscriptions will reach five billion this year — almost one per person on the planet, UNCTAD Secretary-General Supachai Panitchpakdi told a news conference on the report.

Penetration in developed countries is over 100 percent, with many people having more than one phone or subscription.

In developing countries, the subscription rate is now 58 per 100 people, and rising rapidly, with the rate in the poorest Least Developed Countries (LDCs) up at 25 from only 2 per 100 a few years ago, UNCTAD figures show.

The potential of mobile phones in developing countries has been highlighted by the efforts of Russia’s Vimpelcom to tie up with the telecoms assets of Egypt’s Orascom, which include Algerian operator Djezzy that Algiers wants to nationalise.

UNCTAD said the economic benefits of mobile phones, whose use in LDCs far outstrips technologies such as the Internet or fixed-line phones, go well beyond access to information.

Read more of the Reuters report here