Nepal lags behind regional neighbours despite progress
KATHMANDU, OCT 30 -
Despite recording a notable growth in information and communication technology (ICT) sector in recent years, Nepal has lagged behind in ICT development sliding three places down from last year’s 134.
According to the International Telecommuni-cation Union’s 2012 report on ICT development, Nepal is ranked 137th among 155
countries. Nepal was ranked 142nd in 2010.
Nepal has slipped behind its South Asian neighbours Sri Lanka, which at 105th tops the rankings in the region, India (119), Bhutan (118) and Pakistan (127) in the IDI ranking. China has been ranked 78th.
Spurred on by increased mobile and internet penetration, Nepal has made a major inroads into the ICT development but other countries have made better progress, the report indicates.
The ICT development annual report titled “Measuring the Information Society 2012” had ranked performances of the 155 countries with regards to ICT infrastructure and uptake, according to the ITU.
IDI is a composite index combining 11 indicators that are classified under the three sub-indices of access, use, and skills to monitor and compare developments in the ICT sector across countries.
For the third time in a row, the Republic of Korea has been ranked as the world’s most advanced ICT economy, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.
In the group of 30 countries from Asia and Pacific region, Nepal is ranked in 29th position. The report states that mobile cellular penetration is the most dynamic indicator in the access sub-index, but penetration rates reflect the diverse stages of ICT development in the Asia and Pacific region.
While Macao (China) and Hong Kong (China) have the two highest penetration rates worldwide, a number of countries, including Laos, Nepal and the small island states Solomon Islands and Tuvalu, are far from reaching saturation levels, despite having improved considerably from 2010 to 2011, the report states.
The new ICT development figures of the ITU released report show that ICT uptake continues to grow worldwide, spurred by a steady fall in the price of telephone and broadband internet services. The report said that the most dynamic performers were primarily from the developing world and includes countries from all regions.
“In the mobile sector, developing countries 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 the end of 2011,” the report says. Both China and India each have accounted for around one billion subscriptions.
A wide gap exists between developed and developing countries, with IDI values on average twice as high in the developed world compared with developing countries.
The report has identified the group of countries with the lowest IDI levels as “Least Connected Countries”, stressing the need for policy makers to pay keen attention to the group.
“Some barriers faced by developing countries include the cost of devices and connections, the low speed and quality of broadband connections, the limited availability of ICT services outside major urban areas, and more generally, inherent development challenges related to poverty and literacy level,” the report stated.
Source: The Kathmandu Post
