5 Sep 2012

Web still an untapped resource in developing world

Internet access remains a luxury good in most countries with connections costing almost half of average monthly incomes, according to a global study launched by the web’s inventor Tim Berners-Lee.

An internet cafe in Mogadishu, Somalia (Reuters)

The research on behalf of the Web Foundation revealed that one in three people are using the web globally, with fewer than one in six countries in Africa, according to the survey of 61 countries.

“The high price of connectivity is stopping billions of people from achieving their rights to knowledge and participation,” said Mr Berners-Lee. “Costs have got to come down dramatically.”

The index, which measures the impact of the web around the world incorporating political, economic, social and developmental indicators, has suggested that the internet remains a largely untapped resource in much of the world.

Sweden is the nation ranked best in the world at making use of the world wide web ahead of the USA and UK.

Six English speaking countries, including Canada, New Zealand and Ireland, occupy the top ten, while Yemen, Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso occupy the bottom three positions in the index.

1. Sweden
2. United States
3. United Kingdom
4. Canada
5. Finland
6. Switzerland
7. New Zealand
8. Australia
9. Norway
10. Ireland

The growth of successful web-based businesses remains surprisingly poor outside the developed countries, showing that the web’s economic potential is also going untapped in many countries.

But the index includes some positive findings such as the spread of e-governance, with government data and services being made available to citizens online, as well as initiatives to encourage online participation in decision-making.

Middle income countries are improving their e-governance capacities faster than the west, with Korea, Singapore and Colombia among the top innovators in this area.

The index has revealed that high broadband prices and trends toward censorship are major barriers to making the web useful to all.

In addition, almost 30 per cent of countries covered by the index face moderate to severe government restrictions on access to websites, while about half of them show increasing threats to press freedom.

Mr Berners-Lee warned: “The Web is a global conversation. Growing suppression of free speech, both online and offline, is possibly the single biggest challenge to the future of the web.”

52 Nepal
53 Cameroon
54 Mali
55 Bangladesh
56 Namibia
57 Ethiopia
58 Benin
59 Burkina Faso
60 Zimbabwe
61 Yemen