A new report ranking broadband connectivity argues that it’s not how much you have but what you do with it. And according to the Connectivity Scorecard, no one is doing enough. Instead of measuring bandwidth speed or how much people pay to get connected, the report throws that information into the mix with data such as literacy rates, enterprise use and services offered via broadband to deliver two sets of rankings.
One ranking includes industrialized countries (which are dubbed “innovation-driven economies”); the U.S. tops the list as the country taking the most advantage of its broadband, while Japan and Korea (which have higher speeds and a reputation for more services and users) come in at No. 3 and No. 10, respectively. The other ranking focuses on “resource-driven economies” (PC-speak for developing countries.)
Russia tops that list — thanks to its high literacy rates and a large number of mobile users — while India and Nigeria round out the bottom. Props to the list makers for recognizing that different countries have different concerns when it comes to connectivity, and that there’s more to innovation than speed. But the fact that it was commissioned by Nokia Siemens Networks did make me raise an eyebrow.
5 comments so far
5:06 PM PT
I’ll have to agree. It’s no secret that porn is one of the most popular uses for the internet. This certainly is stimulating, but its not the mind thats being stimulated.
5:56 AM PT
During visits to WiFi equipped cafes in Greece I notice that most people either read football related sites, play Lotto -football related again- or cards online. Talking about innovation and internet utilisation
http://electronrun.wordpress.com/
9:24 AM PT
While these results are interesting, they certainly don’t give the complete picture. Perhaps, Sweden and Japan see less usage compared to the US because they have more?
To give an example: Low income families use up a higher percentage of income, than the rich folks. That DOES NOT mean low income people are doing more with their money than the rich people. In fact, the rich people might be living a higher quality of life and enjoy better benefits on a smaller percentage of their income.
To summarize, the US might just be a bandwidth poor country making max use of available resources.
2:04 AM PT
Om,
I am not sure of the criteria used in coming up with the posted results, but in India, I believe we use “personal” bandwidth mostly for emails/chats, downloading content (illegal content, many times, from file sharing services), and viewing pictures of friends/family. In other words, I don’t see an average Indian (a non-tech person) use Internet for much other. Of course, this is a generalization; in specific cases, we do have some excellent bloggers from various walks of life in India sharing their thoughts/perspectives. But not much user content is generated in India as compared to in, say, “innovation-driven economies”.
That besides the fact that high-speed Internet penetration is extremely low in India. Reasons for this could be many starting from regulatory authority (TRAI) not doing the needful to amateur business understanding of telco companies in the ISP space to lack of access to state owned telecommunications infrastructure at affordable rates by ISPs. Nonetheless, the picture is less dismal than what it was a few years back. Let us hope the opening up of 3G spectrum leads to something concrete in near term future.
Regards,
Rima.
2:05 AM PT
Stacey,
I realized later that you were the OP and not Om. Pardon my oversight.
Regards,
Rima.
Leave a Comment