It’s been little more than two decades since the accessibility of mobile phones started to rise across the industrialised world. In the mid-1990s, manufacturers such as Nokia and Motorola found ways to make their devices small and affordable enough to appeal to the masses – essentially, they began eradicating an exclusivity that had seen mobile phones become closely associated with wealthy businesspeople and no one else. In the time since, communication infrastructure has influenced the world economy significantly and the challenge of improving it is growing rapidly in importance.

Perhaps one of the most prominent areas of this development is wireless networking. In countries like the UK and the US, Wi-Fi is on the verge of becoming an essential part of everyday life – people simply expect to be able to connect, wherever they are. So how is this technology impacting developing regions such as Africa, South America and Central Asia?

The hardware

As mentioned, the world of mobile has come a long way in recent years and as the technology becomes even cheaper, its impact is spreading to markets that it wouldn’t previously have been able to reach. Between 2000 and 2010, for instance, mobile adoption in Africa rose at a compound annual growth rate of 30 per cent. While much of this increase can be put down to feature phones, there’s little to suggest that their modern equivalents – smartphones – won’t do the same. In many ways, the surge has already begun.

It’s obvious that smartphones have the power to positively influence a struggling economy, but the impact they have in any one region will depend largely on the infrastructure that’s in place to support them. In the past this would have involved the erection of masts and securing the sufficient radio frequency spectrum to allow for calls and messages to be sent and received. Many of the features boasted by the latest handsets, however, rely on Wi-Fi connectivity and in order for the potential to be fully realised, the appropriate networks must be established quickly.

Communication

In a global business environment where collaboration is so crucial, businesses rely heavily on the ability to communicate with their peers and audiences. For the enterprises of developing countries to compete and contribute on an international level, they must have the power to connect with each other and those around them – the capabilities that Wi-Fi allows in this area are hugely significant. Take Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), for instance; the ability to make phone calls over the internet has boosted productivity across all manner of first-world industries, so there’s no telling what it could do elsewhere.

Networking also comes into this; social sites like Facebook, Twitter and – in more of a corporate environment – LinkedIn, show that communication is about more than just one person or company conversing with another. There’s no question that mass collaboration is conducive to productivity but without Wi-Fi in place, the biggest benefits will remain out of reach.

Healthcare

Of course, the connectivity that Wi-Fi permits has great benefits in the business world but it goes much further than this. In nations with small or struggling economies, the state of healthcare often suffers more than anything else – medical care in the poorer parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, for example, is basic at best, largely because the costs associated with securing equipment and developing skills are too high.

In some areas of South America, doctors have already started to use Wi-Fi to help their patients – VoIP and video conferencing allows them to connect with other medical professionals situated elsewhere, without incurring any major charges. This is particularly useful in the diagnosis stage when the knowledge of a specialist is needed. With the right investment, the technology could well have a similar impact on an international level.

Tourism

In the third-world nations that are showing real progress, tourism appears to be the common driving force. Since 1990, the number of people visiting Sub-Saharan Africa has more than tripled and in 2012, tourism directly contributed to almost three per cent of the region’s gross domestic product (GDP); other emerging areas have also shown growth.

This market has a major part to play in any future development and the importance of capitalising on it is obvious to most. Wi-Fi will, in turn, be a big part of this focus; again, people expect to be connected wherever they are and wireless access has become a priority for both business and leisure travellers everywhere. Some cities have already started to harness the power of Wi-Fi to draw more visitors – Taipei, for example, is now home to more than 5,000 government-installed hotspots, with tourists invited to sign up for access before they’ve even entered Taiwan.

What’s being done?

The accessibility of Wi-Fi isn’t just a concern of the people who use it; it’s also in the interests of companies that offer internet-dependent services. Facebook and Google are good examples here and both are investing heavily in improving connectivity in the developing world. In March 2014, for example, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company was hoping to use 11,000 drones to create a wireless network across isolated parts of Africa. Google has also spoken of similar plans, using blimps and air balloons instead.

The economic, educational and social impacts that widespread Wi-Fi connectivity could have on developing regions are hugely positive, that’s clear to see. The logistics and finances may well prove challenging but with some of the tech world’s most powerful firms on the case, rapid progress should be expected.