Jamaica's growth in internet penetration over the five years to 2008 was the sixth highest amongst the 35 listed nations in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to the Information Economy Report 2009 published last month by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Jamaica also ranked 22nd in the Americas, which includes North America, Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of mobile subscriber penetration at 78.97 per cent of the Jamaican population, or 2.1 million.

The report published October 22, did not give an overall country ranking but had subcategory ranking for internet, mobile and information communication technology (ICT) trade.

Roughly half the Jamaican population now use the internet according to the report, which represents a 22.13 percentage point rise since 2003 (from 25.5 per cent to 47.65 per cent).

The countries with faster percentage point growth were Argentina at 35.27, Columbia at 28.09, Antigua at 27.67, Barbados at 24.1 and St Kitts at 23.8...
Read full Article