SA Gets Medium ICT Access Rating

[Socialist Christian]

http://allafrica.com/stories/200311200534.html

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South Africa and Namibia are the only two southern African countries included in the 'medium access' list of the world's first Digital Access Index (DAI), which measures an economy's access to information and communications technology (ICT).




According to an ITU statement, the DAI is the first index of its kind, and covers 178 economies and classifies countries into one of four digital access categories: high, upper, medium and low. Those in the upper category include mainly nations from Central and Eastern Europe, the Caribbean, Gulf States and emerging Latin American nations. The DAI also distinguishes itself from other indices by including a number of new variables, such as education and affordability.

"Many have used ICT as a development enabler and government policies have helped them reach an impressive level of ICT access," the DAI report says. It adds that the index will be a useful tool to track the ambitions of some developing economies.