More investments for ICT sector – Govt pledges

Ghana was listed as one of the top 10 most dynamic performing countries in ICT –for development in 2011, according to the ICT Development Index (IDI) released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in measuring the Information Society.

The IDI is a composite index combining 11 indicators into one benchmark value.

The objectives of the IDI are to monitor progress in ICT developments in both developed and developing countries and to measure the evolution of the global digital divide.

It covers 155 countries with the results presented in comparison with its 2010 performance.

The IDI is divided into three sub-indices: the access sub-index, the use sub-index and the skills sub-index, each capturing different aspects and components of the ICT development process.

 According to the report, Ghana improved its global ranking by four places and its IDI increasing from 1.81 to 2.23 (average for Africa is 1.88).

In the overall ranking, Ghana placed 117 and sixth among the sub-Saharan African countries.

 The highlights of the report revealed that there were around six billion mobile-cellular subscriptions by the end of 2011, and the penetration of mobile-broadband expected to grow at double-digit rates over the next few years.

This, therefore, requires advanced fixed-broadband infrastructure which is unfortunately growing more slowly, by 10 per cent in developing countries and 18 per cent in developing countries.

An analysis of the IDI for each of the six regions highlights differences in ICT development globally and regionally.

European countries ranked very high in the IDI, with a regional average of 6.49; followed by the Commonwealth of Independent States, 4.43; the Americas, 4.26; Asia and Pacific, 4.02; Arab States, 3.77 and Africa, 1.88.

"I am encouraged by the revelation that Ghana did well in terms of the ICT initiatives me this will be a booster for the government to do more", he added.

The Director of Policy Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Ministry of Communications, Mr Issah Yahya, on his part, said the ministry considered this as encouraging and expects that the performance for 2012 will post more impressive results as the infrastructure developments embarked upon over the years have begun yielding positive results.

Story: Charles Benoni Okine