Casting a wide net, McKinsey estimates that the economic impact of wireless is up to 8% of a country's GDP. To unlock this value, they encourage wireless providers and/or regulators to lower the minimum (but not average) cost of owning a cell phone and push coverage into rural areas. This is from a recent whitepaper, Wireless Unbound, which they were kind enough to send me. Check here to find your way behind the firewall and read the whole thing.
GrameenPhone has done as much as anyone to bring wireless to rural areas, and they've announced plans to set up 500 Internet access points in Bangladesh by year's end. A twist is that Internet access comes via their GSM mobile network, with speeds between broadband and dial-up.
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