Despite numerous investments in ICT infrastructure upgrades and renewals in Johannesburg, the city slipped six places in this year's ICT index.
Developed by networking company Ericsson in collaboration with Sweco, a consultancy firm specialising in sustainable development, the Networked Society City Index places Johannesburg at number 35 compared to its previous ranking of 29 in 2014.
The Ericsson report measures the performance of 41 cities from around the world in terms of sustainable urban development and ICT maturity. It also reviews how cities enable new ICT solutions to be fully implemented.
In terms of ICT maturity and sustainable urban development, the index divides those into three dimensions. ICT maturity is broken down into ICT infrastructure, ICT affordability and ICT usage, while sustainable urban development is based on social, economic and environmental sustainability.
Ericsson named Stockholm as the top-ranking city, followed by London, Copenhagen, Singapore and Paris. Meanwhile, the ICT maturity part of the index places London at top position replacing Stockholm, which now ranks second before Singapore in third place.
Although this year's index saw a drop in the Johannesburg ranking, Ericsson found the area is in the group of cities that show signs of improvement. The index also ranks Johannesburg ahead of other cities such as Cairo, Delhi, Dhaka, Karachi, Lagos and Mumbai.
"There have been rapid changes in technology and its uptake by people in urban centres worldwide, as cities shift toward an even more networked society," notes the report.
"As cities invest in ICT, it is both appropriate and reasonable to make a long-term prediction of the relationship between cities' environmental performance and ICT maturity. Our prediction is that the current scattered correlation will evolve into a picture where ICT is increasingly intertwined with environmental performance," according to Ericsson.
While both Gauteng and Western Cape are rolling out billion-rand broadband projects at the moment, the City of Cape Town was not included in the Ericsson index.
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