PARIS, 17 October 2006 — How do you think Saudi Arabia rates on the “Digital Opportunity Index?” Actually, do you even know what the Digital Opportunity Index is?

The Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) is a composite index that measures “digital opportunity” or the possibility for the citizens of a particular country to benefit from access to information that is universal, ubiquitous, equitable and affordable. It uses a range of indicators, including data on service prices and the take-up of latest ICTs, to assess countries’ performance and prospects to measure progress in building the Information Society in 180 economies worldwide. Scoring well on the DOI is important because a high ranking means that the youth of that nation will have a bright future.

According to the World Information Society’s Digital Opportunity Index 2005, South Korea ranked No. 1. The UAE ranked 36 and Saudi Arabia ranked 72 out of 180 nations. That mediocre performance clearly shows that Saudi Arabia still has much work to do to ensure the Kingdom’s success in a connected world.

One of the major problems in the Kingdom is the lack of broadband connectivity. In general, broadband refers to telecommunication services in which a wide band of frequencies is available to transmit information. Because a wide band of frequencies is available, more information can be transmitted in a given amount of time over broadband, similar to the way that more lanes on a highway allow more cars to travel on it at the same time. Most users access the Internet in Saudi Arabia through dial-up services at a speed of 32 kbps. According to Jupiter Communications, broadband data rates are at least 256 kbps. In many developed nations, 2 mbps is now the standard broadband data rate offered to home users. That rate is 64 times faster than the Internet dial-up service commonly used in the Kingdom.

Last week at the Broadband World Forum Europe 2006 there was much concern about the pace at which developing nations are implementing broadband services. According to the World Information Society, “Nearly all Internet subscribers in the Republic of Korea are broadband subscribers, while Japan is the only market where Internet subscribers are most likely to access Internet over their mobile. Different countries are following their own paths in telecommunication development, with some countries leveraging their investments in infrastructure more successfully than others.”

According to Alcatel, a corporate partner of the Broadband World Forum Europe 2006, one of the reasons that there aren’t more broadband connections globally is that too many people don’t understand the true worth of broadband. Alcatel is backing a worldwide initiative called, “Broadband For All,” to raise awareness of the importance of broadband connectivity and to propose solutions to empower the high-growth economies of developing nations to leapfrog to broadband technologies.

In Alcatel’s report titled, “Service Provider Transformation in High Growth Economies,” Yoshio Utsumi, secretary-general of the International Telecommunication Union, wrote, “Broadband is not just about Internet access; it brings to the table a feast of communication applications from voice to data, from sound to moving images, from wired to wireless telephony, from global services to location-specific services. It can reach out to a multitude of tastes, be it for work or leisure, with menus customized to satisfy individual appetites.”

He continued, “With this widening of the communication horizon, we are able to build bridges across cultures as never before, generating a cross-flow of ideas, empowering people with information and knowledge, and promoting meaningful dialogue between different regions and communities, between nations and between civilizations. We now have the technological capacity to reach out to vulnerable and displaced communities and close the digital divide that deprives million from the benefits of information and communication technologies. These powerful tools have the potential to help achieve the development goals and aspirations of people across the planet, such as reducing poverty and illiteracy, increasing agricultural production, and improving health care and environmental protection.”

The digital divide is no longer about having access to a PC or not. The digital divide is really about having access to connectivity. How can Saudi Arabia increase the availability of broadband services? That will be our focus when CompuNet returns after the Eid Al-Fitr holiday.

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