IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

Retaining its position from 2012, Singapore topped the rankings this year, followed by Finland and USA. Factors such as Singapore’s new e-citizen portal, along with the high coverage of fibre-based broadband, upgrades to mobile government, and OneInbox (a secured platform allowing citizens to receive government letters electronically) led to Singapore’s high rank.

The study, conducted by Japan's Waseda University, assesses the development of e-government practices around the world.

This is the first time an Asian country is leading the ranking.

These cities have been ranked according to ICT maturity and development and all three of them were successful in meeting many social, economic and environmental targets by making extensive investments in ICT.

After returning home from a six-month study exchange programme in South Korea, student Loh Zixu had to get used to longer waits for file downloads and lags during video streaming.

It is no wonder that the 23-year-old architecture undergraduate felt the vast difference in broadband connectivity, with South Korea boosting an average download speed of 33.95 Mbs (bits per second) and ranking first in the world for its download and upload speeds.

According to the report, e-government and e-administration are fully available to citizens in Slovenia and availability to businesses is 88%.

Around 88% of enterprises in Slovenia use e-government, which is among the highest rates in the EU, and among citizens the rate is 44% in Slovenia, while the EU average is 41%.

South Korea is the world’s most advanced economy in terms of information and communications technology, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.

Europe does well in the list, compiled by the United Nations agency, the International Telecommunication Union, on the eve of its ITU Telecom conference in Dubai.

SA now ranks only 47th, lagging behind Tunisia, which is Africa’s most highly placed nation in 35th position. Mauritius and Botswana have also slipped down by making less progress than other emerging nations.

The survey examined globally the quick and continuous adoption of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Digital governance is the degree to which a website -- in this instance those of 100 large cities worldwide -- enhances citizens' ability to learn about and participate in governmental affairs. New York's website was ranked first worldwide in terms of content.

The U.N. E-Government Survey, a biannual assessment of all 192 member states' government web infrastructure, rated the South Korean government's comprehensive online infrastructure as the best in the world, after giving the top rank in the government's website level and user involvement level.

Even the most analog-loving Korean enjoys some benefits of the country’s advanced IT systems. They just may not know it.

Take the urbanite who whips out a T-Money pass to get to work. These plastic cards, which are used to pay for buses, subways, cabs, convenience store purchases and some expressway tolls in and around Seoul, come equipped with a central processing unit.

South Korea has once again been named the world’s most advanced ICT economy according to the latest annual study from the International Telecommunications Union, which had good news for the UK too as it crept up into the top ten.

The ITU’s Measuring the Information Society 2012 report is intended to provide a snapshot of global tech development and point out which countries need to try harder. Page 21 includes a full list of countries including last year's ranking for comparison.

The U.N. E-Government Survey is a biannual assessment of all 192 member states' government web infrastructure.

According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, the U.N. survey rated the Korean government's comprehensive online infrastructure as the best in the world. Its website operation level and user involvement level also ranked first.

The data released this week by the ITU ranks South Korea as the world’s most advanced ICT economy, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland. Of the top top-ranked countries, eight are from Europe. Japan is the other non-European country to make the chart, and the UK sneaks in at number nine.

The ITU report, entitled ‘Measuring the Information Society 2012’, was released in Geneva on 11 October. For the second year in a row, Korea was ranked as the world’s most advanced ICT economy, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Finland.

The survey, which was completed in December 2009, charted the role e-government has played in increasing public trust, boosting transparency through the free sharing of government data, and speeding up public service delivery and regulatory reform at a time of economic crisis.

The Ministry of Information and Communication said Thursday that it will evaluate the quality of 14 Internet services from seven companies: Korea Telecom (KT), Hanaro Telecom, LG Powercom, Tbroad, C& M, CJ Cablenet and HCN.

The test begins in October and the result will be announced no later than March, the ministry said.