The latest issue of Developments, the international development magazine published by DFID, features two good stories about how mobile technology is reducing poverty throughout the developing world.

The first points to a new study by the London Business School that researched the effects of mobile phone penetration in 92 countries over more than 20 years, and found that "a rise of 10 mobile phones per 100 people boosts the rate of growth of GDP by 0.6 percentage points a year." The poorer a country is, the bigger the positive impact becomes since - unlike more developed countries - the mobile phone isn't a replacement for a fixed line but rather is often the only connectivity option readily available.

Mobile phones are now being used to provide many of the same services computer-enabled telecenters have been set up for - namely, providing access to timely information. Small businesses, entrepreneurs and farmers use phones to get better market information, the unemployed are being connected with job opportunities, and long and costly journeys are being replaced by a quick call. Phones are also being used for money transfers, both local and international, and pilot schemes are under way to use mobile phones to deliver micro-credit loans to poor people with no other banking options.