The number of mobile subscriptions in use worldwide, both pre-paid and post-paid, has grown from fewer than 1 billion in 2000 to over 6 billion now, of which nearly 5 billion are in developing countries. Ownership of multiple subscriptions is becoming increasingly common, suggesting that their number will soon exceed that of the human population.

The report, Information and Communications for Development 2012: Maximizing Mobile, says more than 30 billion mobile applications, or “apps,” were downloaded in 2011 – software that extends the capabilities of phones, for instance to become mobile wallets, navigational aids or price comparison tools.

This trend is also benefiting developing countries where people are increasingly using mobile phones to create new livelihoods and enhance their lifestyles, while governments are using them to improve service delivery and citizen feedback mechanisms.

“Mobile communications offer major opportunities to advance human and economic development – from providing basic access to health information to making cash payments, spurring job creation, and stimulating citizen involvement in democratic processes,” says World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte.

She adds that the challenge now is “to enable people, businesses, and governments in developing countries to develop their own locally-relevant mobile applications so they can take full advantage of these opportunities.”

This new report, the third in the World Bank’s series on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development, analyzes the growth and evolution of mobile telephony, and the rise of data-based services, including apps, delivered to handheld devices.

The report explores the consequences for development of the emerging “app economy,” especially in agriculture, health, financial services and government, and how it is changing approaches to entrepreneurship and employment.

For Tim Kelly, lead ICT policy specialist at the World Bank and one of the authors of the report, “The mobile revolution is right at the start of its growth curve: mobile devices are becoming cheaper and more powerful while networks are doubling in bandwidth roughly every 18 months and expanding into rural areas.”

“We have included the latest available data and indicators for the mobile sector for more than 150 economies in the report,” explains Shaida Badiee, director of the World Bank’s Development Data Group, adding that, “the spread of mobile phones means we now have data that can be used for cross-country comparisons.”

The report emphasizes the role of governments in enabling mobile application development. In the agriculture sector, for instance, many of the mobile services that are being developed – such as information services for Senegalese farmers or a traceability scheme for coffee-growers in Colombia – are reliant on public funding and are still in pilot stages.

“Government support is needed to develop sound business models, foster ICT skills, and ensure that the infrastructure is in place and affordable,” explains Kelly.

The study also highlights how mobile innovation labs – shared spaces for training developers and incubating start-ups – can help bring new apps to market. For instance, infoDev, in collaboration with the Government of Finland and Nokia, has established five regional mobile innovation labs (mLabs) in Armenia, Kenya, Pakistan, South Africa, and Vietnam.

The new legislation revises the current regulation, which will expire on 30 June 2012, by introducing pro-competitive structural measures and extending its validity until 30 June 2022.

The structural measures introduced by this regulation aim to tackle the lack of competition and consumer choice, which leads to high roaming prices. From 1 July 2014, customers will be allowed to sign up for an alternative mobile roaming offer, separate from their contract for national mobile services, whilst using the same phone number. The regulation sets out the conditions for wholesale access to public mobile communications networks to provide roaming services. In addition, in order to allow alternative operators to enter the roaming market, the regulation allows for a reasonable margin between the tariff ceilings for wholesale and retail prices. The regulation also lays down rules aimed at increasing price transparency and improving the provision of information on charges to roaming customers.The Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications will be involved in the technical implementation of the regulation. The Commission will review the functioning of this regulation and will report to the European Parliament and the Council no later than 30 June 2016.

View new prices here.

“So.cl combines search and social networking for the purpose of learning and is the latest experiment from FUSE Labs,” according to Microsoft.

The features and apps in this new Microsoft So.cl are quite similar to Pinterest and Google+, in terms of design and populating the links. Strangely, it posts search request on a news feed so it is better to avoid any kind of explicit activity that might cause potential embarrassment, writes Arabiangazette.com.

The social network offer users to share rich information that contains images, videos and links. A standout feature of So.cl (pronounced ‘social’) is the ability to create “video parties” that allow users to search for and assemble videos they can share with other users.

“We expect students to continue using products such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other existing social networks, as well as Bing, Google and other search tools,” said Microsoft in its FAQ section, adding, “We hope to encourage students to reimagine how our everyday communication and learning tools can be improved, by researching, learning and sharing in their everyday lives.”

“In its December 2011 report, Microsoft asserted the site is not meant to compete with Facebook or search engines, but to allow students to share materials for academic purposes,” as reported by Mashable.

The new social networking site, earlier blogged as “experimental research project,” was made available to information and design schools at the University of Washington, Syracuse University and New York University, according to Arabiangazette.com.

As the government continues to ban many forms of social media and foreign reporters from entering Syria, the people of Syria still find ways to get their stories out. The mobile phone has proven highly effective in fueling the Syrian uprising. In a repressive country like Syria, cell phones can enable protesters to communicate, rally support for uprisings and film events of the revolution making its users what are often referred to as citizen journalists.

Many still remember the 1982 Hama massacre, when there was no such a thing as citizen journalism and social media networks, the government killed 10.000-40,000 according to Amnesty international in a few weeks. It also managed to hide the massacre from the world for a long period of time.

But this is no longer possible. It’s been almost ten months since the “Arab Spring” fever hit Syria and the same government is reported to have killed more than 5,250 people, a number far lower than the 1982 death toll. They carried forward the rallying cry into Syria last March, using mobiles to document their own protests and inspire an ever-growing number of Syrians to join the movement. In Syria’s case the mobile might indeed be mightier than the gun; only the process seems bloodier.

Through the use of mobile phones Syrians have risked their lives to film crackdowns on protesters by the government’s armed and security forces. The images of tortured and mutilated bodies have undoubtedly made their contribution in heavily censored Syria as they provide some of the only images of the struggle there. These videos are uploaded on websites such as Facebook and YouTube to keep the world informed of events during this difficult time in many parts of the country. In fact, according to a study conducted by the World Bank mobile phones appear as the most predominant and most rapidly growing form of communication in developing economies throughout the world. This is mainly due to its vast network, its ubiquity and to inexpensive mobile service in emerging countries.

And while smartphones like the iPhone may be another hot topic, they are out of the economic reach of most due to their high cost. The Syrian opposition has launched an iPhone app called Souria Wa Bas which roughly translates to Syria and that’s all to disseminate news and information according to Mobile online Portal. This application broadcasts breaking news, videos, photos and even jokes about the incumbent regime. This application is not likely meant to reach only the people in Syria but also people abroad. Shortly after this application was released, the German Association Press reported that the Syrian government had banned the use and import of iPhones in Syria.

Mobile technology is providing opposition groups a unique and unprecedented opportunity to disseminate news and propaganda about their cause, something that previously would have been crushed by government censors.