S Korea leads digital world
South Korea beats the rest of the world in "digital opportunity", thanks to the widespread use of broadband internet services, according to new United Nations rankings published yesterday.
Japan, a leader in mobile internet telephony, Denmark, Iceland and Hong Kong come next in a top 10 made up exclusively of East Asian and European economies, including the UK in seventh place.
The US, despite its technological dominance, ranks only 21, behind Estonia.
The "digital opportunity index", compiled by the International Telecommunication Union, is intended to measure progress towards global goals to narrow the digital divide between rich and poor countries and provide near-universal access to information and communications technologies (ICT).
The report notes "dramatic progress" by developing countries, notably India, where digital opportunity almost doubled between 2001 and 2005. India's improvement has been driven primarily by market liberalisation and lower prices. However, it still ranks low on the overall index at 119, dragged down by poor infrastructure that threatens expansion of its successful business process outsourcing operations.
China (74) and Russia (60), where the emphasis has been on infrastructure, have also climbed up the index.
*Bertrand Delano?, the mayor of Paris, yesterday outlined plans to instal 400 free wi-fi points in public spaces and to cut licence fees for the existing fibre optic network by 25 per cent, with the tax break rising to 90 per cent for new cables.
韩国名列联合国“数字化机会”排行榜首
联合国(UN)昨日公布的新排名显示，得益于宽带网络服务的广泛应用，韩国击败世界其它国家和地区，在“数字化机会”排行中名列榜首。
紧随其后的是在移动网络电话领域处于领先地位的日本，以及丹麦、冰岛和香港，而排名前十位的都是东亚和欧洲的经济体，其中英国排名第七。拥有技术优势的美国仅排在21位，位居爱沙尼亚之后。
在考察过去5年间指数中40个经济体的变化时，报告指出，发展中国家取得了“引人瞩目的进步”，尤其是印度：在2001至2005年间，该国数字化机会增长近一倍。
印度的进步主要是受到市场自由化和价格下降的推动。不过，印度在总体指数中的排名仍然较低，排在第119位，这是被薄弱的基础设施拖累，令印度成功的商业流程外包业务扩张受到威胁。
中国和俄罗斯因把重点放在提供基础设施上，导致在数字化机会指数中的排名也大幅上升，分别排在74和60位。
