ABSTRACT
The world was home to seven billion people in 2011, and 35 per cent of this population was connected to the Internet (International Telecommunication Union, 2011). Five years earlier, the world's population was 6.5 billion, and only 18 per cent of this population was connected to the Internet. In 2006, 34 per cent of Internet users were from developing countries whereas in 2011, the majority of Internet users, 62 per cent, were from developing countries (International Telecommunication Union, 2011). Even excluding Internet users from India and China, still more than 30 per cent of the world's Internet users belonged to developing countries (International Telecommunication Union, 2011). A few factors have contributed to this rapid growth in the developing world's share of Internet connectivity, such as a reduction of cost of Internet connection and data, and easy accessibility to mobile broadband.
