The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the highest ranked Arab nation on the newly released Global Digital Access Index (DAI) prepared by the International Telegraph Union (ITU).
The DAI index ranks Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access in 178 economies. Countries are classified on a scale of 0 to 1 where 1 is the highest access and are subsequently placed one of four digital access categories: high, upper, medium and low.
The UAE ranked 34th on the DAI with a .64 access rating followed by Bahrain for the Arab region and at 42nd place on the global index. Not far behind is Qatar at third place and Kuwait at fourth place for the region, coming in at 48th and 60th places on the world scale. These nations were joined by Cyprus in the upper access category.
Lebanon ranked fifth for the Arab region and 67th on the international index, reaching medium access status. Other Middle East nations in this category are Turkey, Jordan, Saudi, Iran, Oman, Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, the Palestinian Authority, Algeria and Morocco. Low access countries include Syria, Yemen and Sudan.
The DAI combines eight variables, covering five areas, to provide an overall country score. The areas are availability of infrastructure, affordability of access, educational level, quality of ICT services, and Internet usage. The results of the Index point to potential stumbling blocks in ICT adoption and can help countries identify their relative strengths and weaknesses.
Apart from Canada, ranked 10th, the top ten economies are exclusively Asian and European. Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and the Republic of Korea hold the top four positions. The US came in at 11th and Israel at 25th. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
