Mobile phones can help drive out poverty in developing countries, a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says.

The report said, “In more and more low-income countries farmers, fishermen and entrepreneurs have used mobile phones and other forms of communication technology to improve their livelihoods.”

With examples of success from India as evidence, the report added that mobile phones have become critical tool for fishermen in efficient accessing of markets and improve livelihoods. According to the report, “In Southern India, for example, fishermen’s profits have increased by 8 percent thanks to better market coordination.”

The report, released on Thursday, also took note of high rate of success in the states like Rajasthan. It said that a new phenomenon known as ‘social outsourcing’ is helping poverty alleviation. “’Source for Change,’ a BPO services firm, is a socially responsible enterprise that employs poor women in rural Rajasthan.”

The enterprise which aims to employ 5,000 women in rural India by the end of 2012, according to the report, has helped women to generate higher incomes and improved social standing within their communities.

The report titled ‘Information Economy Report 2010’ also highlighted that personal-computer use in low-income countries is extremely low and virtually negligible in rural areas.

The report brings some cheer for India when it comes to assessing technology usage for development and economic inclusion. A recent study by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and market research firm IMRB has found that a high percentage of people in rural India are not aware of internet.

“Poor people often lack access to information that is vital to their lives and livelihoods, including weather reports, market prices and income-earning opportunities,” the UNCTAD report said highlighting how mobile phones are important for poor families in gathering information.

The report cited examples of some countries and how mobile technology is helping the poor there in improving their livelihoods. Some of the examples, the report discussed are:

• In Bhutan, mobile phone use has transformed the everyday lives of dairy farmers. The phones help farmers to get information about market prices and to stay in direct contact with their customers.

• The ‘village phone’ service developed by Grameen Phone in Bangladesh has allowed rural women to establish micro-enterprises.

• The cell phones have reduced transaction costs and better market prices of grain markets in Niger, dairy farmers in Bhutan and onion traders in Ghana.

• In Gambia, former street beggars have been offered the opportunity of working for a mobile telecom company, Gamcel, which resulted in higher incomes and improved social status for them.

The report predicted that mobile phone subscriptions will reach five billion in 2010, almost one per person on the planet. But the UNCTAD said that while developed countries have greater access to mobile phones, the developing countries have a long way to go.

“Penetration in developed countries is over 100 percent, with many people having more than one phone or subscription. In developing countries, the subscription rate is now 58 per 100 people, and rising rapidly, with the rate in the poorest Least Developed Countries (LDCs) up at 25 from only 2 per 100 a few years ago,” UNCTAD study said.

Noting the success of the lowest ‘prepaid’ prices in India, the UNCTAD suggested governments must make mobile technology affordable. “India has been a pioneer in reducing operational and investment costs which contribute to lower prices,” the report mentioned and asked other countries to follow it, “It would be desirable if the South Asian model spread also to low-income countries.”

The UNCTAD has also urged governments around the world to make better use of mobile phones in fight against poverty.