"Next Billion" Internet Users Mostly Use Mobile Access

The next billion Internet users are coming online faster than many believe, and are using many of the same tools as users in developed countries, suggested Jimmy Wales. Wikipedia co-founder.

Mobile access appears to be the difference. About 32 percent of mobile users in Asia appear to buy mobile-based Internet access service.

Wales noted that in 2000, only 0.1 percent of Nigerians had access to the Internet. Now, 38 percent of NIgerians have a connection.

In Asia, about 35 percent of people have Internet access, for example. But usage varies from about six percent in Cambodia to 20 percent in India. Internet access adoption is about 28 percent in Indonesia and 67 percent in Malaysia.

Wikipedia is among the top five sites visited in the developing world alongside Facebook, Twitter and various local and international news sites, according to Jimmy Wales. Wikipedia co-founder.