ITU celebrates ICT progress

Cosmas Zavazava, department chief for projects and knowledge management, ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau. [Photo source: ITU]

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Countries should not use the latest ICT Development Index (IDI) findings for comparable measures only, but should rather use the information to drive their own progress.

This is the view of Cosmas Zavazava, chief for projects and knowledge management at the International Telecommunication Union's (ITU's) Department of Telecommunication Development Bureau, speaking at the launch of the 2017 IDI.

Today, the ITU, an ICT agency of the United Nations, published the Measuring the Information Society Report (MISR), which features this year's ICT index.

The IDI is a composite index that combines 11 indicators into one benchmark measure to monitor and compare ICT developments between 176 countries across the world. ICT access, use and skills are the three-dimension frameworks used for the IDI.

The ITU unveiled the MISR and IDI rankings in Hammamet, Tunisia, where it is hosting the 2017 World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium until 16 November.

During the results presentation, countries like India and Pakistan expressed displeasure over their rankings, saying the global positions do not reflect the improvements and investments in those countries' ICT sectors. In the 2017 IDI, India and Pakistan have been ranked 134 and 148 respectively.

Zavazava, however, stressed that countries should not be concerned with comparing rankings but should look to refine public policy and attract investment within the ICT sector.

A country might not have made progress in ICT use, but it might have made great progress in one of the other measuring indices like access and skills, he stated.

The ITU also presented an additional volume of the MISR, which provides a snapshot of the status of the ICT markets in 192 economies, including significant infrastructure developments, and government policy and initiatives to improve the access and use of ICTs for households and individuals.

According to Zavazava, volume two of the MISR allows countries to track their own progress and tries to capture the situation on the ground within each of the countries, and it is still work in progress.

The Republic of Iceland topped the 2017 IDI rankings and bumped down last year's top contender, the Republic of Korea.

According to the report, six other countries in Europe (Switzerland, Denmark, UK, the Netherlands, Norway and Luxembourg) fall within the top 10 economies in the rankings. Three economies in the Asia and the Pacific region, namely the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and Japan, make up the rest of the top 10 countries.

It states: "All these countries have achieved high levels of ICT development as a result of high levels of investment in ICT infrastructure, high-quality networks, and high levels of take-up of services by consumers. These high-performing countries also rank towards the top of the rankings for gross national income per capita and other economic indicators."

Meanwhile, the 2017 ICT measuring index shows Namibia and Uzbekistan improved their IDI value and rank. The countries were honoured with the 2017 dynamic country awards.

"This emphasises that being number one does not tell the whole story. There are countries that made great progress and are demonstrating dynamism in the sector. Uzbekistan and Namibia fall in this category," said Zavazava.

"Congratulations to all the countries for the progress they have made and we hope that the future can only be bright," he concluded.