IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The city of 429,000 people in South Gyeongsang Province ranked top of a list of the top 100 cities with the fastest average connection speeds by Akamai, a content delivery firm that serves 20 per cent of web traffic globally.

“A competitive environment for telco providers has led to investment in infrastructure in areas previously underserved by the internet. This process is ongoing,” A Masan city spokesman, told FutureGov.

According to the forum’s annual Global Information Technology Report released Wednesday, Korea was the most active country in the world in terms of private firms’ Internet usage, and second best in the high-speed Internet penetration rate. On the contrary, it was lowly ranked in the administrative process for starting new businesses (89th), efficiency of taxation (71st) and accessibility to venture capital (68th).

The Rutgers survey is conducted by the E-Governance Institute, School of Public Affairs and Administration at Rutgers University-Newark, and the Global e-Policy e-Government Institute at Sungkyunkwan University and sponsored by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the American Society for Public Administration.

Seoul, which was the world’s first city to introduce wireless high-speed mobile internet services, was singled out for giving its citizens the opportunity to play an active role in governmental processes, such as the submission of ideas and suggestions on e-policies via well-organised policy forums.

The Brookings Institution evaluated nearly 1,700 government websites from almost 200 countries for the ranking.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security says the study, based on EU standards, polling citizens aged 16 to 74, found that 39 percent of respondents used government websites in the last three months.

The year 2011 was an historic year for the informatization of Korea,” said Dr. Chang Kwang-su Assistant Minister at the Informatization Strategy Office of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS) when asked about the national informatization project of the organization. ” Korea’s exports of e-government solutions surpassed USD 200 million on the basis of its number one position in the evaluation of e-governments by the UN and winning a public administration prize given by the UN.”

The United Nations Public Administration Programme has announced the launch of its “E-Government Survey 2012: E-Government for the People” on 29 February 2012, and Korea maintains its position in the 1st place since 2010 as achieving the greatest e-government both in development and participation indices.

Although the U.S. government did rise one slot in the rankings from last year, it is falling behind other countries in broadband access, public-sector innovation and implementation of the latest interactive tools to federal Web sites, according to a study released Aug. 17 by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think thank.

According to the e-Government document, the country has experienced marginal growth in information and communication technology (ICT), which has seen its ranking improve by just one position.

It states that Swaziland now occupies the 145th place at the lower end of the ranking though better placed than countries in Western Africa (Ghana ranked 147 to Niger at 183). The document says competition in the African telecommunications market was increasingly intense.

Sweden is now considered the most networked country in the world, according to the latest Global Information Technology Report from The World Economic Forum. The report doesn't rank countries by their information and communication technology capabilities alone, though that certainly plays an indirect role, but looks at how those countries are utilizing that infrastructure to their advantage.

The 250-plus page report "UN E-Government Survey 2008: From E-Government to Connected Governance" indicate that while governments are moving forward in e-government development around the world, most lack the investment needed to move from e-government applications to a more integrated connected governance stage. Northern European countries, however, have integrated national and ministerial Web sites for more integrated program delivery, according to the report.

Switzerland was ranked 26th out of 31 European countries for the sophistication and availability of its online public services.

The report found that only 21 per cent of the monitored public services were fully available online in Switzerland – up ten per cent on 2006 - compared with the European average of 58 per cent.

The overall goal was to establish a transparent, efficient and modern government that is responsive and responsible to the public. Needless to say, this effort also bespeaks the development of a full-fledged democratic system in Taiwan.