European and Asian nations lead the list of economies with high a...

digital access index (DAI), which ranks ICT access in 178 countries. Economies are classed in one of 4 digital access categories -- high, upper, medium and low -- by examining 5 areas: availability of infrastructure, affordability of access, educational level, quality of ICT services and Internet usage. The DAI differs from other indexes, the ITU said, by including new variables such as education and affordability and by focusing on factors with an immediate impact on determining people’s potential access to ICTs rather than on qualitative variables such as the market structure and degree of competition. The DAI is part of the ITU’s upcoming 2003 edition of the World Telecommunications Development Report, scheduled for release in early Dec., before the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Other “surprising” findings were that Slovenia and France are tied in the high category and that S. Korea, “usually not among the top 10 in international ICT rankings,” came in 4th in that category. The leading nations were Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Korea, Norway, Netherlands, Hong Kong, China, Finland and Taiwan. Ireland topped the list of nations with upper access to ICTs. The top 5 gains in ranking between 1998 and 2002 were S. Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong and Denmark. Countries whose rankings fell in that time included New Zealand, Australia, S. Africa, France and the U.S., which dropped from 5th to 11th place, the ITU said. The U.S. was 2nd in infrastructure (by fixed telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants); 2nd in affordability (by Internet tariff as percentage of per capita income); and 4th in usage, measured by Internet users per 100 inhabitants. The DAI results suggest that ICT access potential must be redefined, the ITU said. “Until now, limited infrastructure has often been regarded as the main barrier to bridging the Digital Divide,” said Michael Minges of the ITU’s Market, Economics & Finance Unit. However, he said, the research suggests that affordability and education are equally important. Asked whether the DAI findings were likely to prompt changes in the WSIS draft declaration of principles and action plan still under negotiation -- to focus, for example, more on education and less on infrastructure issues -- an ITU spokesman said: “I don’t think it’s a matter of more emphasis but a matter of having the best possible and transparent indicator… to measure the results of the action plan, or ICT development generally.”