Internet ´unaffordable´ for too many

The British monarch praised advances in science and technology for improving lives, but said too many people were left out.

LONDON, March 8, 2010 (AFP) - The Internet remains an "unaffordable option" for too many people across the globe, Queen Elizabeth II said Monday in her annual Commonwealth Day message.

The British monarch praised advances in science and technology for improving lives, but said too many people were left out of the benefits offered by advances in modern telecommunications.

"Experimentation, research and innovation mean that more opportunities for improving people's lives exist today than ever before," the head of the Commonwealth said.

"Take long distance communication, where the obstacles of time and geography have been dramatically reduced.

"People can now use mobile phones to be in instant contact virtually anywhere in the world, be it with a medical centre in the Himalayan mountains in Asia, a Pacific island school, a research facility at the South Pole, or even the International Space Station, beyond this planet altogether.

"Advances in modern telecommunications are also having a marked economic effect on people from developing nations in the Commonwealth, helping to transform small to medium-sized businesses."

But the sovereign stressed: "The Internet is playing an important part in helping to nurture these fledgling markets but, as yet, it still remains an unaffordable option for too many of our Commonwealth citizens."

Established in 1926 and reformed in 1949, the Commonwealth of Nations is a successor to the British Empire and brings together some 54 widely diverse states -- around a third of the world's countries and a quarter of its population.

Commonwealth Day celebrations in London were to include a service at Westminster Abbey attended by the queen, her husband Prince Philip and other senior royals.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame will be among the guests. Rwanda was admitted to the organisation last year.

Former West Indies cricket captain and former English Premier League footballer Dwight Yorke, also from Trinidad and Tobago, were to host a sports clinic in south London.

They will be present at an evening reception along with Queen Elizabeth.