Maplecroft rates India at "extreme risk" among countries whose populations and economies are stifled by a lack of 'digital inclusion,' which is defined by Maplecroft as the ability to use and access information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as computers, the Internet and mobile phones.
The Digital Inclusion Index, released by Maplecroft, uses 10 measures to calculate the level of 'digital inclusion' found across 186 countries. The indicators include data on mobile cellular and broadband subscriptions, fixed telephone lines, households with a PC and television, Internet users and secure Internet servers, Internet bandwidth, secondary education enrolment, and adult literacy. The Maplecroft index refers to the risk to countries from failing to improve the level of digital inclusion for their population.
While India rated at a high of 39 in the index, China was way behind at 103, Brazil at 110, and Russia at 134. All of them are rated as medium risk.
Access to ICT is increasingly considered a major development issue, and is therefore becoming a major political, economic and social imperative and risk factor, Chris Laws, an analyst at Maplecroft, said.
For business, the lack of digital inclusion threatens economic growth and social development by limiting market size and reducing the potential for trade, Laws said. It also inhibits individual and company access to educational and decision-making resources, and compromises the talent pool for employment, he added.
Though India has witnessed a major boom over the last few years in the number of mobile phone connections and PCs in the country and spread of cyber cafes providing IT services to people there are some worrying signs.
Data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India reveals that only 71 per cent of the 771 million mobile connections in the country at the end of January were active.
Though ICT has been adopted by the affluent and the middle classes in India, the vast majority of the population remains excluded, as they cannot afford ICT, or do not have the education required to use it effectively, or are located in geographical areas that have little or no connectivity, the reports said.
The report further points out that just three per cent of Indian households own PCs. Secondary school enrolment rates in the country are at 55 per cent and adult literacy rates at just under 63 per cent.
Though private mobile operators in India are all set to roll out 3G services raising expectations that mobile devices will allow many in rural and marginalized areas to get Internet access, Laws said, "This is assuming that products are affordable and accessible for the large low-income population in the country."
With 420 million Internet users, China has the largest number of Internet users in the world, a accounting for over half of Asia's Internet users, Maplecroft said but Internet freedom remains a serious issue in the communist nation. To a lesser extent this is an issue in Russia.
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Quelle/Source: domain-B, 02.04.2011
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