New report explores how to get the world online and what this means for the global economy

PwC launched a new report, entitled Connecting the world: Ten mechanisms for global inclusion. The report analyes the best strategies to ‘bring the world online’, and the consequences of universal access on the economy. According to the report, access depends on the efficiency of three main markets: the connectivity market (providing affordable access), the content market (creating relevant content) and the retail market (efficiency of the Internet industry’s sales and service branch). Furthermore, based on an econometric analysis of 120 countris, PwC estimates that universal Internet pentration ‘could expand world output by 6.7 trillion dollars.’ Yet, ‘the most important change…may well be a new global sense of community,’ the report states, adding that ‘tomorrow, if the drive to provide genuinely global access succeeds, the Internet will truly be a world wide web.’