DOHA: Qatar has topped the Arab world in terms of developing and providing telecom services, while it ranks 37th in the world on that count, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has said. South Korea was placed number one in the world.
There are an incredible six billion mobile phone users in the world. In other words, 86 out of every 100 individuals have access to mobile phone, the ITU said in a report released on Thursday for 2011.
IT service prices in the world dipped 30 percent during 2008-11, especially in the developed countries and the digital gap between developed and under developing countries is increasingly widening.
The regional director of the ITU in Arab countries, Ibrahim Al Haddad, said the use of IT globally increased, and the number of mobile phone users rose 600 million in 2011 and that there were an estimated six billion mobile phone users in the world, which means 86 of every 100 individuals are using cell phone.
In classification of the world countries, the report used two-indictors, which are IT Development and service prices in each country.
Qatar ranked 37th in the world in terms of developing and providing telecom services, followed by Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (which showed significant improvement by gaining additional six points and ranked 47th globally).
Among the Arab countries, Bahrain’s ranking was 2nd while Saudi trailed with 3rd position, the ITU report said.
The top 30 countries in the world are the developed ones, which shows there is a strong link between IT development and the GDP of these countries. The digital gap between them and the developing world is almost double.
Investments in the telecommunication sector have dropped in the developed countries since 2007 while these have increased in under-developed economies.
The Peninsula
