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| Kigali |
Rwanda has been
ranked among six developing countries in the world that are most dynamic
performers when it comes to ICT development. This emerged in
the latest report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for 2012.
The annual report
titled "Measuring the Information Society 2012", rank the Republic of
Korea as the world's most advanced ICT economy, followed by Sweden, Denmark,
Iceland and Finland.
The new figures
released on Thursday show that ICT uptake continues to grow worldwide, spurred
by a steady fall in the price of telephone and broadband internet services.
"The most
dynamic performers are primarily from the developing world, and include
countries from all regions," the report says.
Rwanda,
Bahrain, Brazil, Ghana, Kenya, and Saudi Arabia are the developing nations with
strong dynamic ICT markets because they are catching up quickly in efforts to
bridge the so-called 'digital divide'.
For the fourth
year running, the survey presents two authoritative benchmarking tools to
monitor information society developments worldwide.
The ICT
Development Index (IDI) ranks 155 countries' performance with regard to ICT
infrastructure and uptake and ICT Price Basket (IPB) a unique metric that
tracks and compares the cost and affordability of ICT services in more than 160
countries globally.
"In the
mobile sector, developing countries now account for the lion's share of market
growth. Mobile-cellular subscriptions registered continuous double-digit growth
in developing country markets, for a global total of six billion mobile
subscriptions by end 2011," it added.
Both China and
India each account for around one billion subscriptions.
Speaking
to The New Times yesterday, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, Youth and ICT minister
said: "We are glad to be the most dynamic and are challenged to do more,
and faster".
"Although we
still have a long way to go, our objective is to be among the top performers
globally or at least middle performers".
There are large
differences between developed and developing countries, with IDI values on
average twice as high in the developed world compared with developing
countries.
The report
identifies the group of countries with the lowest IDI levels - so-called 'Least
Connected Countries' - and highlights the need for policy makers to pay keen
attention to this group.
ITU's 'Measuring
the Information Society report' is the most comprehensive statistical and
analytical report on the shape of ICT markets worldwide.
Our
reputation as a wholly impartial and reliable source of ICT market statistics
makes this report the annual industry benchmark for technology
development," said ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Touré.
Two weeks ago,
the United Nations Broadband Commission for Digital Development 2012 report
ranked Rwanda top in East Africa and 7th in Africa among countries with active
mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in 2011.
Rwanda has laid a
2,500-kilometre national fibre optic cable, which is expected to enhance access
to various broadband services in the country and the National Data Centre.
The country
currently relies on three submarine fibre optic cable systems for internet
connection such as the East Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy), The East
African Marine Systems (TEAMS) and SEACOM through local telecommunication
companies and Internet Service Providers (ISP's).
The internet
service providers in the country include among others MTN Rwanda, Tigo, Airtel,
Broadband Systems Corporation, New Artel, RwandaTel and Altech Stream.
The
report also shows that the ICT sector has become a major contributor to
economic growth. In 2010, global exports of ICT goods accounted for 12% of
world merchandise trade, and as much as 20% in developing countries.
The New Times of Rwanda