From Bhutan to Beijing, Tamil Nadu to Tuvalu, these days, getting away from it all -- at least in Asia -- can be just about impossible.
Asia is in the midst of a telecommunications revolution that is bringing the Internet and mobile phones to even the remotest rural villages, as developing nations leapfrog into the 21st century with communications technology that in some cases surpasses that found in most American or European homes.
"Even in the poorest countries, there is a tremendous desire to communicate," said Tim Kelly, coordinator of the strategies and policies unit of the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union, whose biennial industry show ended here Friday. "The potential for catching up will drive the market."
Though Afghanistan's communications minister, Masoom Stanekzai, lamented the violence that has moved his nation "backward toward the stone age when we need to enter the digital age," elsewhere in Asia, the trend has been overwhelmingly forward.
Isolated Philippine resorts now offer Internet connections -- no more hiding from reality in straw huts.
In Bangladesh, the number of mobile phones raced passed the number of fixed line subscribers last year -- mirroring a trend seen in Cambodia, where mobile subscriptions now exceed fixed lines eight-to-one. In 1990, only about a third of rural Indians had access to telephones; now almost all do.
By the end of this year, more than one-third of all telephone subscribers in the world were in the Asian-Pacific region, up from just over one-fifth in 1991.
Wireless Internet technology called WiFi that allows people to share Internet access inexpensively and relatively easily -- increasingly popular in cafes, airports and hotels in the West -- is being used to link up hard to reach Himalayan villages. The question is how to make such advanced technology affordable to both consumers and providers.
Ubiquitous mobile phones haven't meant universal service for all in rural Bangladesh. Villagers often share a cell phone, as they would a television set, and tend to use it only to receive calls from wealthier relatives working abroad, according to conference participants. In many places, local services remain backward or nonexistent.
"It's ironic because they can probably call their cousins in New York and not the fire department down the road," said Michael Minges, head of the ITU's data and statistics unit.
It's relatively easy to lay broadband cable in tiny, congested Hong Kong, but not in rural areas, where constructing communications facilities can be difficult and revenues scarce.
"There's plenty of WiFi activity even in Bhutan. But not enough people paying to use the services," Kelly said.
Financing universal telecoms services is an issue faced by all, from the poorest countries to the wealthiest: US officials say they are considering ways to revamp a national fund created to ensure all Americans have access to affordable local phone service.
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