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South Africa ranked 35th in e-readiness
South Africa has been ranked 35th in a global electronic readiness (e-Readiness) survey, thus leading the continent in the 2007 edition as announced by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) at this year's eNNOVATE expo in Lagos.
The survey examined globally the quick and continuous adoption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).
The survey conducted in 69 countries globally, included five African countries namely Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
According to the white paper made available to Highway Africa News Agency (HANA), the survey conducted in conjunction with the International Business Machines (IBM) ranked Denmark top on the list with 8.88 score.
The survey also ranked the United States and Sweden as tied in the second position, while Hong Kong, Switzerland and Singapore followed in that order.
It was gathered that South Africa which ranked 35 in this year's survey scored 6.10, an increase from its 5.74 in year 2006, followed by Egypt, ranking 58 on the list with 4.26 score in 2007 and 4.30 in the last year's assessment.
Other African nations that made the list of the survey countries included Sri Lanka, which was ranked 61 with 3.93 and 3.75, while Nigeria was graded 62nd with 3.92 and 3.69 in 2007 and 2006 in that order.
However, EIU stated that most countries of the world are increasingly concerned about their e-readiness based on some challenges outlined by the unit.
As said by the survey, of particular note was efforts of developing countries' governments in both Africa and Asia in defining a future for digital commerce and investing in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
"It is not only Asian policymakers that have formally articulated visions; several Middle Eastern and African countries have committed significant resources to e-government and digital economy development, particularly Jordan (52nd)," EIU declared.
EIU added that the goalposts of e-readiness, in other words, are shifting, and this was accordingly modified in the criteria, which saw the decline in scores and ranks in year 2007.
In the Executive Summary, EIU stated that its notion of connectivity has been refined to reflect indictors of how a country's population is able to access the Internet and digital channels.
Published courtesy of
