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Georgia's internet divide: Tbilisi and everywhere else

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Internet use in Georgia is growing, rapidly, if from a very low base. But outside Tbilisi it hardly exists at all.

Georgian visitors to the media centreThe pie chart shows where Georgian visitors to this website come from. Nearly 90% come from Tbilisi while another 6% come from Georgia but the precise location cannot be identified - leaving just 2.5% for Rustavi (orange), 1.5% for Batumi (yellow) and not quite 1% for Kutaisi.

Of course, Tbilisi also has the widest access to other news sources too - two independent cable TV channels and numerous papers. And the city is the opposition's strong point precisely because people there have news sources beyond the dead hands of Rustavi2 and the other state-directed broadcasters.

If and when the internet expands across Georgia - as it surely must if the government are in any way serious about their policy of intergrating Georgia with the western, information-dominated, economies, then the governing party could find itself in growing difficulty.

The next presidential elections are not due until 2013 - assuming the current regime survives until then we wonder how far will internet access spread?

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