Dubai: New statistics released by ITU show that information and communication technology (ICT) uptake continues to grow worldwide, spurred by a steady fall in the price of telephone and broadband internet services.
ITU’s ICT Development Index (IDI) ranks 155 countries according to their level of ICT access, use and skills, and compares 2010 and 2011 scores.
According to the report titled “Measuring the Information Society 2012”, Qatar is ranked top among the Arab States in IDI while UAE slips two points to 45th rank.
“The Arab States’ IDI ranking closely matches differences in income levels across the region. The top five countries with the highest IDI values in the region are all part of the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC]. All of these countries have an IDI of above five, Qatar standing out with an IDI of above six,” said ITU secretary-general Hamadoun Touré.
Among the Gulf states, Qatar is ranked 30th globally, followed by Bahrain at 40, UAE at 45, Saudi Arabia at 47 and Oman at 53 while Kuwait is not listed in the index.
Toure said that Bahrain and Saudi Arabia recorded the biggest jump.
The report further states said that Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE enjoy very high ICT household access rates. In Qatar, for example, 88 per cent of households have a computer and have access to the Internet, which is more than twice the global average.
“Total global mobile‐cellular subscriptions reached almost six billion by end of 2011, corresponding to a global penetration of 86 per cent and there were more than one billion mobile‐broadband subscriptions worldwide in 2011 while there were 590 million fixed (wired)‐broadband subscriptions worldwide,” the report said.
