Nepal was in 137th position last year. This year it jumped ahead of Bangladesh that is now ranked at 137th position, says ´Measuring the Information Society 2011 Report´ released recently by International Telecommunication Union (ITU).[break]
Similarly, Pakistan climbed up two steps to 123rd position. The Maldives, India and Sri Lanka also improved their position and are ranked at 67th, 116th and 105th position respectively.
Despite the improvement in ranking, the condition of Nepal is not better compared to other South Asian countries in terms of Internet penetration and mobile-cellular subscription.
The statistics shows that internet penetration in Nepal is lowest in the region after Bangladesh. Internet penetration in Nepal is at 6.8 percent in 2011. The Maldives has the highest Internet penetration in the region with 28.3 percent of total population using Internet.
Similarly, the mobile-cellular subscription of the Maldives is 156.5 per 100 people, whereas in Nepal mobile-cellular subscription is 30.7 people per 100 people. Two years ago, the number of mobile-cellular subscription in Nepal was limited to 14.5 per 100 people.
The number of mobile users in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka is 46.2, 54.3, 61.4, 59.2, 30.7 and 83.2 respectively per 100 people.
South Korea has the most developed ICT infrastructure with 8.4 score followed by Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and Finland, according to the report.
ITU prepared the IDI by capturing progress made in regard to ICT infrastructure, use and skills. The report states that all 152 countries under ITU have improved their scores. “It confirms the continuous speed of ICTs and growing global information society,” the report added.
The report further states that ICT prices have continued to fall. The drop in fixed broadband price (by 50 percent) is the highest drop among all ICT prices, according to the report.
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