Delegates from across Africa are meeting to discuss ways of narrowing the widening gap in information technology between the developed and the developing world.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi warned that Africa would remain marginalised in the global economy if more was not done to improve access to information technology and modern telecommunications on the continent.

Africa: Mostly unconnected

Africans are approaching the 21st century deprived of many of the basic telecommunications services which are considered essential in the developed world.

Currently, Africa has only 14 million telephone lines - less than most big cities in Europe and America.

Mobile telephone lines, computers and knowledge of the internet are common only among the rich urban elite.

The vast rural population remains isolated from the global telecommunications revolution.

The delegates, who have gathered in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, for a meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission, are considering ways of improving access to information technology across the continent in an attempt to close the growing gap with the developed world.

Technological leapfrog

Some analysts see Africa as one of the largest untapped telecommunications markets in the world and they believe that countries with outdated telephone systems could quickly leapfrog several stages in technology development if the right investment environment is created.

One of the biggest obstacles to development is the tendency in some countries, like Kenya, to block private enterprise in telecommunications.