How is mobile communications linked with economic development and social advancement in Latin America?
Mobile communications are expanding access and reshaping delivery of social services, transforming the dynamics of social relationships, and connecting people. Ubiquitous and convenient accesses to relevant information are at the core of creating social and economic opportunities. These improvements are significant, as lower income people today can partake of the benefits of mobile communications for the first time. How does ICT development in the region fit with IDB development goals? The mission of the IDB Science & Technology Division is to support, through increased investment in science, technology and innovation, the efforts of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to become knowledge-based economies with high productivity, and less poverty and inequality. During the last years, there has been tremendous progress in terms of access and use of ICT in the region; more specifically, in the mobile communications area. Mobile telephony reaches 80 percent of the region’s populat
