Features

Digital Access Index

DQI Bureau

13 Feb 2004 00:00 IST

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the Network Readiness Index developed by the World Bank, the International

Telecommunication Union had developed the Digital Access Index (DAI) that ranks

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access that countries have. The

Digital Access Index tries to distinguish itself from other indices by including

a number of new variables, such as education and affordability. It covers a

total of 178 economies.

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Building the Index

The Digital Access Index is built using eight variables organized into five

categories.

High-Access Economies (0.7 and above)

Economies in this category have achieved a high level of access to digital

technologies for a majority of their inhabitants. There is sufficient

infrastructure, prices are affordable, knowledge levels are high and efforts are

being placed on enhancing quality through the provision of faster access. The

main criterion that distinguishes economies in this category is usage.

High-Access Economies (0.7 and above)
Sweden	0.85
Denmark	0.83
Iceland	0.82
Korea (Rep. of)	0.82
Norway	0.79
Netherlands	0.79
Hong Kong	0.79
Finland	0.79
Taiwan	0.79
Canada	0.78
Upper-Access Economies (0.5—0.69)
Countries in this group have achieved an acceptable level of access for a majority of their inhabitants. What often sets this group apart from the high DAI group is the imbalance in a specific category. For example, some countries in this group may have a high level of infrastructure availability but score low in affordability.
Ireland	0.69
Cyprus	0.68
Estonia	0.67
Spain	0.67
Malta	0.67
Czech Republic	0.66
Greece	0.66
Portugal	0.65
United Arab Emirates	0.64
Macao	0.64
Middle-Access Economies (0.3-0.49)
The biggest barrier to higher levels of digital access in this group is a shortage of infrastructure. Nations in this group are primarily Latin American and South East Asian, along with some from Africa (including North Africa) and the Middle East. They would benefit from greater liberalization of their ICT markets to make them attractive for investors.
Belarus	0.49
Lebanon	0.48
Thailand	0.48
Romania	0.48
Turkey	0.48
TFYR Macedonia	0.48
Panama	0.47
Venezuela	0.47
Belize	0.47
St. Vincent	0.46
China	0.43
India	0.32
Low-Access Economies (0.29 and below)
Countries in this category are the poorest in the world. They have a minimal level of access to the information society. Their lack of digital access is one more deprivation along with poverty and hunger and shortages of basic human needs such as good shelter, clean water and adequate health care. One common factor in almost all countries in this group is relatively high access prices. In most of these nations, an hour a day of Internet access exceeds the average daily income.
Zimbabwe	0.29
Honduras	0.29
Syria	0.28
Papua New Guinea	0.26
Vanuatu	0.24
Pakistan	0.24
Azerbaijan	0.24
S. Tome and Principe	0.23
Tajikistan	0.21
Equatorial Guinea	0.2

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The Indian Top 20 IT Companies

Installed

Base1

PCs:

9.3 million1

Notebooks:

0.21 million1

PC

Servers: 0.15 million1

Annual Sales*
Â	Units*	Growth (in %)
PCs	2.2 million	11
Notebooks	48247	50
PC Servers	35147	12
Printers	1.1 million	33

Source:

CyberMedia Research/Dataquest, unless otherwise indicated

¹IDC, December 2003

²ISPA, December 2003

³TRAI, January 2004

⁴

NASSCOM

^*

As on March 2003

The Shrinking Domestic Market

The

share of the domestic market has been on the downslide thanks to

booming IT services and BPO exports. We expect the trend to continue

and the share slipping to 31% by the year 2004-05

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