New York: Africa has been the fastest growing market worldwide for communication technology in the past three years and will emerge as an important market for the industry, according to the head of the United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

"African information and communication technologies industry is an exciting place to be. Market liberalisation continues and most countries have established regulatory bodies to ensure a fair, competitive and enabling environment, Hamadoun Tour, Secretary-General of the ITU said yesterday.

The secretary-general was speaking at the opening of a major trade fair "ITU Telecom Africa" in Cairo inaugurated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Around 200 companies from 45 countries are exhibiting products at the trade fair, which has attracted some 70 heads of international companies and 50 government ministers.

ITU Telecom Africa runs till Wednesday. An ITU report released yesterday said growth in Africa's mobile telephone sector had "defied all predictions". Africa had 65 million new subscribers in 2007 alone and mobile phone penetration has risen from just one in 50 people in 2000 to one third of the population today.

Mobile phone use is now more evenly distributed across the continent, the report said. At the beginning of the century, South Africa accounted for over half of all Africa's subscribers, but by last year almost 85 per cent were in other countries of the continent.

Source : PTI