RP stuck at 85th place in IT infra readiness survey

The Philippines failed to improve on its IT infrastructure readiness according to a global report that showed the country still at the 85th position for the second straight year. The Global Information Technology Report 2009-2010 measures the readiness of IT infrastructure in 133 countries all over the world. The report, released on March 25, by the World Economic Forum (WEF), was topped by Sweden, followed by Singapore and Denmark, which was in the number one position for the last three years. Switzerland was fourth, the United States fifth, and the other Nordic countries together with the Canada, Hong Kong, and the Netherlands completed the top ten. Asian economic powers Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan occupied the 11th, 15th, and 21st places, respectively. Malaysia was the next highest-ranked Asean country after Singapore at 27th place. “Sweden, Singapore and Denmark’s superior capacity to leverage ICT as an enabler of sustainable, long-term economic growth is built on similar premises, relating with a long-standing focus placed by governments and private sectors alike on education, innovation and ICT access and diffusion," Irene Mia, senior economist of the Global Competitiveness Network at WEF and co-editor of the report, said in a statement. “The success of these countries underlines the importance of a joint ICT vision, an implementation, by all the different stakeholders in a society for a country to take full advantage of ICT advances in its daily life and overall competitiveness strategy." The report was produced by the WEF in cooperation with business school INSEAD as part of the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Network and the Industry Partnership Program for Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries. Published for the ninth consecutive year, the report provides a comprehensive international assessment of the impact of ICT on the development process and the competitiveness of nations. The Networked Readiness Index (NRI), featured in the report, examined how prepared countries are to use ICT effectively on three dimensions: the general business, regulatory and infrastructure environment for ICT; the readiness of the three key stakeholder groups in a society -- individuals, businesses and governments -- to use and benefit from ICT; and the actual usage of the latest information and communication technologies available. The NRI uses a combination of data from publicly available sources, as well as the results of the Executive Opinion Survey, an annual survey conducted by the WEF with its network of partner institutes. —Melvin G. Calimag, GMANews.TV