Using annual data from 192 countries over the period 1990—2007, we assess the impact of mobile telecommunications on economic growth. We find that this impact is smaller for countries with a low mobile penetration, usually low income countries. While in low income countries the mobile telecommunications contribution to annual GDP growth is 0.11%, for high income countries this is 0.20%. The increasing returns from mobile adoption are also emerging when assessing the impact on productivity growth. To promote mobile telecommunica-tions penetration liberalization policies along with appropriate regulatory frame-works are recommended. Such policies should be pursued more forcefully in cases where serious shortcomings exist.
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