Research news story

Countries need to exploit communications technologies to full potential

Professor Leonard Waverman prepares report highlighting the need for action from governments and businesses

London Business School’s Professor Leonard Waverman recently released the first The Connectivity Scorecard report which suggests that neither the richest nor the poorest nations come close to exploiting communications technologies to their full potential.

The Connectivity Scorecard measures the extent to which governments, businesses and consumers in 25 nations – 16 innovation driven economies and nine resource or efficiency driven economies – make use of the technologies underpinning the information economy.

Professor Waverman described the results of the first scorecard as “surprising” and said that they highlighted a deficiency in the use of communications infrastructure and services and pointed to a clear need for action from governments and businesses.

The report places the United Sates at number one for the innovation driven segment and Russia for the resource and efficiency driven segment.  The US is supported by its strong performances on usage measures, especially by businesses and is closely followed by Sweden and Japan. 

Malaysia and Russia do well in the emerging segment due to their high literacy rates and usage scores.  India and Nigeria are the lowest scores on the emerging segment Scorecard, falling behind on both usage and infrastructure measures.

Professor Waverman said: “We hope that The Connectivity Scorecard proves useful to governments assessing how ICT policy can be advanced; to telecoms operators considering how they can assist the customers and countries they operate in; to businesses considering how to invest in network capabilities; and to consumers addressing choice among connectivity options.”

Professor Waverman is an expert on the communications sector and its impacts on society, economic growth and productivity.   He has completed research into the impact of mobile phones on economic growth in developing countries and the links between telecommunications infrastructure and economic growth.

View further information on The Connectivity Scorecard

Created: Wednesday 13 February 2008

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