New communication technologies have become successfully integrated in developing countries and have really revolutionised everyday life. The majority of the urban population has access to the internet. Numerous countries have well developed mobile telephone networks.

But this does not apply to rural areas. People there benefit little or not at all from information and communication technologies (ICT), either because of their low purchasing power or because the remoteness of the areas in which they live makes ICT connections very costly.
  
This issue of Rural 21 focuses on the still untapped potential of ICT in rural regions and shows many interesting examples of novel solutions.