However, the good news is that these gaps are narrowing. During the 1990s, the teledensity of the region rose from below four lines per 100 inhabitants to above six. The Arab States region is coming closer to the world average which is around 14 lines per 100 inhabitants. Within the Arab States region itself, there is also a measure of convergence with the fastest rates of growth being in North Africa which has much lower levels of teledensity than the Gulf States. For instance, Morocco, Egypt and Mauritania each experienced rates of fixed-line growth of above 10 per cent per year during the 1990s.
Telecommunications is a reflection of economic activity.
In order to remedy the telecommunications gap, it is necessary to address the economic gap in living standards between regions. However, the telecommunications revolution offers new hope because the trends I described earlier are leading to more ubiquitous communication services at much lower costs. In the past, high-priced international calls have been a barrier to economic growth. Now, low-priced telecommunications services are serving to facilitate trade and commerce. Recently, thanks to telecommunications, e-commerce is allowing a small mountain village in Peru to introduce its agricultural products to the people in New York.