New Zealand has continued its global ICT development, moving up one place in the latest ICT Development Index.
Evaluating eleven areas across 155 countries, the indicators include access, international bandwidth, PC ownership and skills such as adult literacy rate and tertiary enrollment.
During 2011, New Zealand gained a spot to number 17 with a score of 7.34, with each area scored out of 10.
Australia maintained its 21st place ranking with a score of 7.05, as the ANZ region continue to sit in the top tier of countries with ICT development.
When it comes to the affordability of ICT services however, New Zealand is the 48th most affordable ICT market in the world with ANZ offering some of the highest prices for fixed telephony and mobile cellular.
According to the report, fixed telephony costs an average of US$33 in New Zealand and US$29.50 in Australia – the priciest in the region with the exception of Vanuatu’s US$41 price tag.
Prices for fixed broadband services in New Zealand and Australia – US$40.50 and US$55.30 respectively – were outpaced by many of the South Pacific Island nations, but are the highest amongst the more developed markets.
The top ten countries globally in the 2011 IDI rankings were South Korea (8.56), Sweden (8.34), Denmark (8.29), Iceland (8.17), Finland (8.04), Netherlands (7.82), Luxemburg (7.76), Japan (7.76), the UK (7.75), and Switzerland (7.68).
