Global ICT Index Which economies are best poised to take advantage of ICTs?

What is E-readiness? n A measure of current information and communication technologies (ICT) development n A measure of an economys ability to take advantage of ICTs in the future

E-Readiness Components n Infrastructure 46% n Usage 37% n Market Structure 17%

Infrastructure n Main lines n Cellular subscribers n Estimated Internet users n Personal computers n International Internet bandwidth (Mbps) n Broadband subscribers n Included if three of the six variables were present

Network Usage n Total national telephone traffic n International outgoing telephone traffic n International incoming telephone traffic n Telecom revenue n Settlement rates per minute with US n Cost of three minute local call n Included if three of the six variables were present

Market Structure n Privatized incumbent? n Years incumbent has been private n Separate regulator? n Years regulator has been separate n Market structure for local services n Market structure for long distance n Market structure for international calls n Market structure for mobile n Market structure for leased lines n Market structure for Internet service providers n Included if five of the ten variables were present

ICT Index Top 15

ICT Index Bottom 15

Chinese Highlights n Hong Kong, China has the number one position in the world n Macao, China is doing well at 47 out of 208 n China does better than Gabon, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Tunisia despite having a lower GDP per capita OverallInfrastructureUsageMarket Structure Hong Kong, China1724 Macao, China475020na China

Methodology: Variables n All individual variables are normalized to one so they can be combined into a composite variable. Mobile Users/100Score/MaxMobile Ratio Hong Kong / = 11 Finland / =

Methodology: Groups n The variables in each group are aggregated to form the three index components # of VariablesWeight 6 of 61/6 5 of 61/5 4 of 61/4 3 of 61/3 Less than 3Dropped Infrastructure # of VariablesWeight 6 of 61/6 5 of 61/5 4 of 61/4 3 of 61/3 Less than 3Dropped Usage # of VariablesWeight 10 of 101/10 9 of 101/9 8 of 101/8 7 of 101/7 6 of 101/6 5 of 101/5 Less than 5Dropped Market Structure

Methodology: Weighting n Factor analysis on 3 composite variables. n 177 Economies n Year 2000 Data

Methodology: Index n Factor analysis assigns a weight to each of the categories (line 1) n If a category is missing, the weight shifts proportionately to the remaining categories n Any economy missing the infrastructure category is dropped