Joburg tops ICT index

Johannesburg has topped sub-Saharan Africa in Ericsson's Networked Society City Index (NSCI), which ranks cities according to ICT maturity and development.

The technology company says the aim of the index is to show how top-performing cities successfully use ICT to grow.

“City mayors, local authorities and decision-makers can use the framework ranking to meet the growing urbanisation trend and enable organisational and societal success.

“Over the next 25 years, advances in technology and infrastructure performance will continue to change our world. ICT has the potential to help us meet some of our great societal challenges. We call this new emerging society - of which we have so far only seen the beginning - the Networked Society.”

The NSCI is established through a joint study conducted by Ericsson and management consultancy Arthur D Little.

According to Ericsson, it shows that cities with a high level of ICT maturity are better able to manage issues such as environmental management, infrastructure, public security, healthcare quality and education.

"Building a Networked Society is one of our time's great challenges for mankind. Although this analysis should be seen as a humble starting point to explore the link between ICT investments and sustainable development, it is our joint hope and intention that this report can serve as inspiration for cities that do not settle for the status quo," says Arthur D Little Nordic director Erik Almqvist.

Johannesburg is top ranked in sub-Saharan Africa, but only sits at number 22 on the index overall.

Ericsson says the city is expected to move up the rankings once the R1.2 billion City of Johannesburg Broadband Network Project (JBNP) is completed.

The JBNP is a great illustration of the vision of building a networked society in which 50 billion mobile connections will exist around the world by 2020, says Lars Linden, CEO of Ericsson Africa.

A third of the JBNP has been laid so far, with completion expected in 2013. About 300km of fibre-optic cable of the total 900km has been laid in various parts of the city, and 100 buildings are already connected.

The project is a municipal initiative to create a citywide broadband network. It's being implemented through Bwired, an Ericsson initiative formed specifically for this purpose. Upon completion, the network will cover all eight regions in Johannesburg.

“Our intention is to create a digital city and to do so with a network that will place us at the cutting-edge of trends in broadband connectivity,” says executive mayor of Johannesburg Amos Masondo.

Over R250 million has been spent on the project so far and another R600 million will be spent by completion. Capacity of the network backbone is being designed for 1.2 terabits.

The three best-performing cities presented on the index - Singapore, Stockholm and Seoul - have successfully met many social, economic and environmental targets by making extensive investments in ICT, says Ericsson.

“Singapore, for example, is aggressively driving innovation in e-health, and is a pioneer in traffic-congestion management. Stockholm sees ICT as a major enabler for research collaboration and knowledge transfer, while Seoul is using ICT to realise green hi-tech initiatives.”

The company adds that the index also suggests actions for low-ranking cities, which are encouraged to provide digital access and ICT training for the underprivileged parts of their populations to reduce the digital divide.

“Low-scoring cities such as Manila, Johannesburg, Dhaka, Karachi and Lagos can make progress by addressing the digital gap through digital access initiatives, ICT literacy training for the underprivileged, and ensuring the integration of ICT into public administration to improve efficiency.”

The top-10-ranking cities in the NSCI are Singapore, Stockholm, Seoul, London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Shanghai and Beijing.

Conclusions from the index are that there is a strong connection between ICT maturity and triple-bottom-line (social, economic and environmental) benefits, increased ICT maturity enhances triple-bottom-line leverage, holistic city planning is essential, a structured approach to ICT can foster innovation, education is a prerequisite for efficient leverage of ICT in the developing world, and the use of ICT in public administration has great potential.

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