To put that in context the total number of telephone lines in the 48 LDCs stands at just over 1.5 million. That figure is one per cent of the total number of lines in the US which has a population less than half that of all LDCs combined. Much of the problem, says Donald Heath, president and chief executive officer of the US-based Internet Society, is due to the lack of basic infrastructure. In some cases, it is so bad, that in order for you to 'call' an adjacent country, for instance in Africa, it is necessary to go through some European country, and back to the neighbouring country. There is simply no interconnecting infrastructure.
Similar situations exist in much of the underdeveloped world.
The telecoms infrastructure is literally the backbone for just about everything to do with emerging on-line communications, ranging from basic telephone access, to email, the Internet and a range of other multimedia services, such as video conferencing. For countries that do not have it, now commonly referred to as the information poor, the disadvantages are immense and are set to get considerably worse by the millennium as the developed world, or the information rich, continues to increase its use of computers and technology. What it isn't is a question of ignorance. They will have access to markets, competitive knowledge, and data that can assist in making better and more timely decisions. And the situation does have its ironies.