SINGAPORE: S'pore slips to 13th spot in e-readiness, magazine says

The Economist measures the impact of Internet and communications technologies on consumers in its seventh annual ranking

Straits Times
Monday, May 8, 2006

By Tham Yuen-C

Singapore remains ahead of other IT-savvy markets in Asia such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, despite slipping two notches from 11th to 13th place in an e-readiness ranking of the 68 largest economies in the world.

Published by the intelligence unit of The Economist, the annual ranking, now in its seventh year, measures how well consumers, businesses and governments take advantage of available Internet and communications technologies.

The Republic is behind 10th-ranked Hong Kong, which is the only Asian market in the top 10.

People in countries such as China and India have become more connected through mobile phones and the Internet, so the gap between the most e-ready and the least e-ready countries has shrunk, the study said.

It noted that such markets are "providing the vast majority of the world's new phone and Internet connections," which has narrowed the "digital divide."

The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the countries based on scores they received in categories such as connectivity, business environment, adoption of e-business practices, overall policy environment, availability of support services, and social and cultural environment.

Singapore fell short in the last category, with a score of 6.6. Among those with the highest scores in this category was eighth-placed Australia, with a score of 9.

However, among Asian economies, Singapore performed relatively well in the category, falling behind only South Korea and Japan, and ahead of Hong Kong.

In this category, the factors that are measured include the level of education and Internet literacy, the degree of entrepreneurship, the technical skills of the workforce and the degree of innovation.

Mr Denis McCauley, the director of global technology research at the Economist Intelligence Unit, told The Straits Times: "The key areas in this category separating Singapore from the leaders are level of innovation, in terms of patents registered per capita, and educational level, in terms of mean years of schooling."

He said Singapore fared lower than Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong in terms of educational level.

Commenting on the rankings, a spokesman from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore said: "Singapore is taking steps to stay competitive."

"The launch of Singapore's new 10-year Infocomm masterplan -- the Intelligent Nation 2015 -- next month will strengthen the country's competitiveness as we continue to embrace information and communication technologies to enable social and economic growth."

Singapore's move down mirrors the overall slip in rankings experienced by Asia-Pacific countries this year, with the exception of Japan and Korea, which ranked 21st and 18th, respectively.

According to the study, this was caused by the comparatively higher rates of growth in other regions, rather than a lack of progress in Asia itself.

Date Posted: 5/8/2006