communication technologies (ICT) in Africa, says the World Economic Forum Global Information Technology Report (GITR).

With the theme, “Rewards and Risks of Big Data”, the Networked Readiness Index (NRI) released on the World Economic Forum GITR measured the capacity of 148 economies to leverage ICT for growth and well-being, and while Mauritius ranked 48th globally South Africa, Tunisia, Cape Verde, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Morocco, Botswana Gambia Zambia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria ranked 70th, 87th, 89th,91st, 92nd, 96th, 99th, 103rd, 107th, 110th, 117th and 133rd respectively.

The annual report showed a dominance of developed economies in the top rankings with Finland, Singapore, Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, United States, Hong Kong SAR, Republic of Korea and the United Kingdom leading the pack globally.  Emerging nations were placed lower on the list as many of them “continue to struggle to realise their full digital potential.”

There is little progress made in bridging the digital divide between technologically advanced countries and regions, the report indicated.

The stalling of progress was worrisome for emerging and developing nations, which are at risk of missing out on many positive impacts information and communications technologies (ICT), including increased innovation, economic competitiveness and greater social inclusion, it said.

The benefits of ICT can only be fully derived when governments implement policies that will boost skills, innovation, competitiveness and entrepreneurship. According to the report, sub-Saharan Africa is gradually growing its ICT infrastructure by increasing the number of people with access to mobile telephony and Internet. The number of internet users in South Africa, for instance, has nearly doubled, an Imara Africa Equity Research claims.

“These improvements have led to many important innovations that provide more and better services that were previously unavailable, such as financial services,” the WEF report adds.