The World Economic
Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2014 has shown Australia’s relative
performance in ICT (information and communications technology) continued to slide in the last decade.
The ABC reports that
Australia placed 18th overall, down from a placing of 9th
in 2004. The Ai Group’s chief economist Julie Toth said that infrastructure
lagged, and showed “that we do still need something like a National
Broadband Network”.
Toth said regulations for fraud and security
were good, but affordability and access for business were not.
“The business usage index, we’re still
only ranked 24th on that one and 49th on affordability,” Toth told the ABC.
Australia’s overall ranking was
the same as it achieved last year.
Finland led the Networked Readiness Index in
the survey, followed by Singapore, Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway. Australia,
at 18th place, was followed by Iceland and New Zealand.
The AiG’s CEO Innes
Willox said the drop in ranking since 2004 was “steady and disappointing”.
The four key areas
countries were ranked on (and Australia’s position in each) for using ICT for
growth were environment (14th place), readiness (9th),
usage (19th) and impact (16th).
To read the Ai Group’s
summary of the findings, click here.
Image: ict-ech.blogspot.com