The Philippines climbed two notches to 76th place in the Network Readiness Index (NRI) 2015 Rankings.
Singapore and Japan are the only Asian countries that made it to the Top 10 of the Network Readiness Index (NRI) 2015 Rankings, with Singapore overtaking Finland to take the top spot. Japan, which was 16th in the previous ranking, climbed to 10th place.
The NRI is part of the World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2015. Data from the NRI, which measures 143 economies in terms of their capacity to prepare for, use and leverage ICTs, suggest that the gap between the best and worst performing economies is widening.
Those in the top 10% have seen twice the level of improvement since 2012 as those in the bottom 10%. This demonstrates the scale of the challenge facing developing and emerging nations as they seek to develop the infrastructure, institutions and skills needed to reap the full benefits of ICTs, as only 39% of the global population enjoys access to the internet despite the fact that more than half now owns a mobile phone.
Occupying the third slot behind Finland is Sweden. The highest-placed G7 economy is the United States (7th), followed by the United Kingdom (8th). Germany, the world’s fourth-largest economy, ranks 13th, down one place on last year.
Progress towards networked readiness has been largely disappointing.
The Russian Federation is the highest-placed BRICS nation, climbing nine places in 2015 to 41st. It is joined in the top half of the ranking by China, which remains at 62.
All other members of the group have declined, with South Africa coming next (75th, down five), followed by Brazil (84th, down 15) and India (89th, down six).
“The report shows that the digital divide across nations is increasing and this is of great concern, given the relentless pace of technological development,” says Soumitra Dutta, Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University and co-editor of the report.
“Less developed nations risk being left further behind and concrete actions are needed urgently to address this.”
With high-income economies predictably occupying the top 30 places, the report does identify a number of countries that have made considerable improvements, both in terms of their index score and ranking.
Among those punching above their weight are Armenia (58th) and Georgia (60th), which are among the most improved nations since 2012. Outside of the Caucasus, the UAE (23rd), El Salvador (80th), Macedonia FYR (47th), Mauritius (45th) and Latvia (33rd) all improved markedly during the same period.
Early-stage improvements are being witnessed in some of the world’s most fragile and least developed countries as well. Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda have all fully liberalized their ICT markets, while Kenya and Tanzania are beginning to see the benefits of similar reforms.
With the report confirming the extremely high correlation between ICT adoption by individuals, businesses and government, and the capacity to generate economic and societal impact, it also notes that government leadership in the creation of a good regulatory and business environment with competitive ICT markets is a fundamental requirement for all countries.
“Broadband is an income multiplier,” says Dr Robert Pepper, Vice President of Global Technology Policy, Cisco. “To ensure that ICT benefits everyone, broadband adoption needs to increase over all, but especially for low income populations. Unconnected countries and people are being left behind.”
But while government action is necessary to address digital divides, efforts must also be made to encourage people to participate in the digital economy, argues Bahjat El-Darwiche, Partner, Strategy&, and leader of the firm’s Communications, Media and Technology practice in the Middle East.
“Emerging markets need to ensure a sustainable supply of local and relevant digital content if they are to give more people reasons to go online. This requires coordinated action among the major players who have a significant role in the development of the digital ecosystem: governments, brands, operators and content developers. More and better local content will help to provide jobs and higher incomes to millions of people in emerging markets.”
