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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frank A. Coluccio who wrote (21163)	5/8/2007 1:45:59 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

On the "e-Readiness" of nations The following article from Africa Balancing-Act (reporting on a story from BusinessWeek) contests some of the "e-readiness" findings from The Economist's EIU and IBM, which were posted earlier in the upstream Message #21163. --- SOUTH AFRICA'S E-READINESS? – CHOOSE YOUR STATISTICS South Africa has shot up the rankings of the world's most technology- ready countries -- but only if you believe the Economist Intelligence Unit rather than the World Economic Forum. In conflicting reports that may prove nothing more than that statistics can be highly suspicious, SA has been praised for its smart government policies in an e-readiness survey. The report ranks SA as sharing the top honours with Israel as the most e-ready countries in the Middle East and Africa. The study by the Economist Intelligence Unit and IBM evaluates the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure of 69 countries as well as their economic, political and social assets, and the ability of consumers, businesses and governments to use ICT to their benefit. A statement issued by IBM SA quotes Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri as saying: "This ranking confirms our conviction that, in spite of a limited skills base, we have a policy environment that is ground-breaking and competes well in the world. This is why our government's focus is now on investing in strategic ICT infrastructure as well as increasing access, uptake and usage of ICT by all of government." IBM SA manager Mark Harris said the category for government policy and vision aimed to demonstrate how crucial policies were in shaping a country's e-readiness by providing a path for individuals and businesses to use digital technologies in innovative ways to spur economic development. In addition, SA ranked second for its legal environment and consumer business adoption, third for its connectivity, technology infrastructure and business environment, and fifth in the social and environmental criteria. In the global version of the survey, SA ranked 35th overall, with Denmark and the US topping the list. The report is in sharp conflict with a study released in March, which showed SA had slipped down the rankings of the world's most connected countries. That report was the World Economic Forum's annual Networked Readiness Index, which is the world's most respected study of the impact of ICT on development and competitiveness. In that study of 122 countries SA ranked only 47th, down a substantial 10 places from the previous year. SA had dropped because of slow liberalisation in the telecoms sector, showing that the two different reports came up with vastly different findings. Possibly the only similarity is that Denmark came top in both. The World Economic Forum found every sub-Saharan country had slid down the rankings, except Nigeria. Governments must take the blame, the study said, citing lack of infrastructure, too many regulations, poor governance and low standards of education. (SOURCE: Business Week) ------