WCA July 2011

From the americas

Besides Singapore among the leaders, Taiwan was ranked sixth, South Korea 10 th , and Hong Kong 12 th . Japan was 19 th . China ranked 36 th and India 48 th , falling five places from 2009. Rounding out the large developing BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – that have set themselves up as an organised economic counterweight to the US, Brazil was 56 th and Russia 77 th . ❖ ❖ The country making the most progress in information and communications technology last year was Indonesia, which ranked 53 rd – a jump of 14 places. Among Western nations, Canada was 8 th , Norway 9 th , Germany 13 th , Britain 15 th , and France 20 th . The two countries at the bottom of the rankings were Burundi and Chad. Elsewhere in telecom . . . ❖ ❖ The North American arm of China Telecom Ltd is strengthening its presence in Canada. As reported in the Toronto Globe and Mail (20 th April), Donald Tan, president of China Telecom Americas, said the group has had a Canadian office for more than five years. But, with an increase in local demand for communication links with China and the Asia-Pacific region, the Markham, Ontario, office in the Toronto area is to become a full subsidiary to serve multinational companies and international telecom carriers.

technology (ICT). Of the countries that together accounted for 98.8% of the world’s total gross domestic product in 2010, Sweden led the pack, followed by Singapore, Finland and Switzerland. The World Economic Forum, based in Davos, Switzerland, holds that technological progress is the prime mover of innovation, productivity, and efficiency in a nation. The report issued 12 th April is the tenth anniversary edition of a project instituted in 2001, following the collapse of the Internet bubble. Some 71 economic and social indicators – among them mobile phone subscriptions, availability of venture capital, and new patents – informed the judging. Overall, the profile of the United States is uneven in many measures bearing upon economic competitiveness. It ranked 76 th in rate of growth in mobile phone subscriptions, 48 th in low-cost access to business phone lines, and 24 th in percentage of households with a personal computer – behind Bahrain, Singapore and Brunei, among others. Soumitra Dutta, a professor of information systems at the INSEAD business school and a co-author of the study, said the US ranked 52 nd in maths and science education. The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011 may be read in full on the website of the World Economic Forum: weforum.org. In its introduction, the organisation notes that the report confirms the leadership of the Nordic countries and the Asian Tiger economies “in adopting and implementing ICT advances for increased growth and development.”

33

Wire & Cable ASIA – July/August 2011