It will always be expensive and slow to send journals to the developing world. What is more, those in resource poor countries can access electronic journals at exactly the same time as those in the developed world. Even better, they can access what is relevant rather than being restricted to what is provided, much of which isn't relevant. Best of all, they can participate in the debate in a way that is almost impossible with the slowness of distribution on paper. The problem with this vision is the lack of access to the world wide web in the developing world.
Power cuts happen every day in many resource poor countries.
Yet there's every reason to expect that access should increase dramatically. India currently has a million people with Internet access, but this is expected to rise to 40 million within five years. Similarly dramatic increases are expected in Nigeria. Technological developments like access to radio and the proliferation of satellites will render irrelevant the many problems of telephone access in Africa. It is easy for donors to invest money and reap the rewards of short-term success.