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In the first global index to rank Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access, the Top Ten economies are exclusively Asian and European with Slovenia tying France, and the Republic of Korea coming in fourth.
These are several of the surprising, and fascinating, findings to come from the International Telecommunication Union’s new Digital Access Index, published online from Geneva, Switzerland, today, as part of the ITU’s upcoming 2003 edition of the World Telecommunication Development Report (WTDR).
The DAI - covering 178 economies - has a number of new variables such as education and affordability, "which makes it the first truly global ICT ranking," says the ITU.
Countries are classified into high, upper, medium and low access categories with the upper category including mainly nations from Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Gulf States and emerging Latin American nations.
"Many have used ICTs as a development enabler and government policies have helped them reach an impressive level of ICT access," says the ITU. "This includes major ICT projects such as the Dubai Internet City in the United Arab Emirates (the highest ranked Arab nation in the DAI), the Multimedia Super Corridor in Malaysia (the highest ranked developing Asian nation) and the Cyber City in Mauritius (along with Seychelles, the highest ranked African nation)."
The four Asian Tigers have made the greatest progress in ICTs over the last four years, suggesting that English is no longer a decisive factor in quick technology adoption, especially as more content is made available in other languages, it says.
"Until now, limited infrastructure has often been regarded as the main barrier to bridging the Digital Divide," says Michael Minges of the Market, Economics and Finance Unit at ITU. "Our research, however, suggests that affordability and education are equally important factors."
To measure the overall ability of individuals to access and use ICTs, the ITU study has gone beyond the organization’s traditional focus on telecommunication infrastructure, such as mobile phones and fixed telephone lines.
For example, nearly 40 percent of Peruvians responding to a survey said they either didn’t have a computer or couldn’t afford Internet services, which points to affordability as a critical success factor, emphasises the report, going on:
"Research has also shown that Internet use is closely linked to education. In China over half of all Internet users are university educated. To acknowledge such findings, the Index includes a number of new criteria, such as school enrolment and Internet tariffs as a percentage of income."
