news Australia has slipped from 16th to 18th place in the global digital competitiveness rankings, according to the latest annual report from the World Economic Forum (WEF).
The Global Information Technology Report 2016 lists nations’ Networked Readiness Index ranking, based on research carried out by the WEF and a network of over 160 partner institutes. This includes the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group), the WEF’s partner institute in Australia.
“Despite the NBN roll-out and the efforts from all sides of politics to improve our digital readiness Australia clearly still has some way to go to regain a place inside the world’s top ten,” said Innes Willox, Ai Group CEO.
“As an advanced economy, Australia ranks relatively poorly compared to its peers. Indeed, there is a clear gap between the top seven ranked economies and other advanced economies,” Willox said.
“These countries (dominated by Singapore, northern Europe and the US) currently lead the way in embedding and leveraging digital technologies. Critically, they are characterised by a business sector that is embracing new digital technologies and innovations as core parts of operations,” he said.
For Australia, the 2016 result is “disappointing” at a time of economic and political uncertainty, Willox added.
“[W]e should be doing all we can to improve our productive performance at all levels and through all means. It comes off a small improvement in 2015 (from 18th to 16th) and steers us further away from our top 9 ranking in 2004,” he said.
In the last year, Iceland and New Zealand have edged ahead of Australia in their digital competitiveness. This should serve as a warning that, if Australia does not work harder to continue to improve its competitiveness, “we will be further left behind by other advanced economies”, Willox said.
He suggested that Australian businesses need to further embrace ICT and improve their capacity to innovate, but government has a role too.
“Central to improving digital competitiveness will be development of effective policies to encourage business innovation and use of ICT and the development of the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) skills needed to leverage new technologies.”
The group noted that recent initiatives, including the National Innovation & Science Agenda and the Industry 4.0 Taskforce, are “important” to support Australia’s participation in the “fourth Industrial Revolution” and to lift the nation’s global competitiveness.
“We encourage bipartisan support in these types of productivity-boosting initiatives,” Willox said.
Yawn…nothing to see here. It’s never been a more exciting time to be Australian…Agile innovative…cough…cough…choking on coal dust…blah
The lucky/clever country, eh…?
Indeed Rizz.
Some “expert” below says few of the top ten have or want FttP, but take a look at the top ten:
1 Singapore – Fibre
2 Finland – Fibre
3 Sweden – Fibre
4 Norway – Fibre
5 United States – Spending $350b to get fibre
6 Netherlands – “Fiber-optic Internet access is rolled out on regional scale”
7 Switzerland – one third on cable, the rest on VDSL/xDSL
8 United Kingdom – Rolling out fibre and currently FttC
9 Luxembourg – National plan is 1Gbps by 2020 (half the country already covered with fibre)
10 Japan – FttH
What do you make of his claim?
And those places are pointing and laughing at us for our pathetic FTTN fraudband mix.
Back in the real world the dominant broadband techs for the top ten:
1 Singapore – FTTH
2 Finland – FTTC, Long Reach VDSL
3 Sweden – HFC & FTTN
4 Norway – HFC, DSL & FTTH
5 United States – HFC, DSL
6 Netherlands – HFC & FTTN
7 Switzerland – HFC & FTTN
8 United Kingdom – FTTC & HFC
9 Luxembourg – FTTH/B
10 Japan – FTTH & HFC
Two city states with FTTH plus Japan (debt/gdp 200+%).
Some FTTH deployed in all markets (inc here). Minority penetration in most because it’s expensive, slow to deploy and customer demanded speeds more cost effectively delivered via alternatives.
@Richard
“5 United States – HFC, DSL”
Back in the real world, the U.S. government & telcos hard at it retiring the tired old telephone networks and replaying with 100% fiber. There will be nothing left by 2020.
Smoke it!
@sc realworld correct. 2020 all replaced with fibre, good one;-)
Using Layer 2 light to bits I guess;-).
Go back to your retirement village Richard
lol, really burns you how wrong you were, doesn’t it ;o)
Richard actually still travels to places to do deals Snow (and write it off on tax no doubt, it’s “the LPA way” after all – http://www.smh.com.au/national/gina-rinehart-flew-mps-to-india-for-lavish-wedding-20110616-1g5zf.html).
Richard – “we forecast about 600 million subscribers may be on networks that offer a Gigabit tariff as of 2020, representing the majority of connected homes in the world.”
http://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/tmt-pred16-telecomm-dawn-of-the-gigabit-internet-age.html#full-report
Do you really think that by 2020, that will be HFC and VDSL?
And here you are Richard continuing your descent and resorting to outright lies!
You’re the one that said they either don’t have it, or aren’t planning it. 30 seconds in Google exposes the sheer magnitude of your “porky” (or would that be denial?) ;o)
Chorus NZ are not rolling out FTTN anymore. The Rural Broadband Initiative has finished.
Singapore, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands & Luxembourg are countries are ranked as having the highest household FTTH penetrations in the world
https://twitter.com/Snow_Crash/status/750948008771002368
But Richard is proud of being a laggard and a Luddite!! :/
@tm should be easy to expose the big universal FTTH policies then. Take your time.
No need, already done. It’s not my fault you need it explained to you;-)
Enjoy your evening :o)
Indeed Snowy, he seems to revel in it, even wears it as a badge!
“Indeed Snowy, he seems to revel in it, even wears it as a badge!”
The poor old fart thinks it’s his “competitiveness ranking”. LoL
Evidently, it seems that 50% of the Australian voting public thinks the same way. It’s any wonder the global ranking is falling but that’s stale news!
The best thing ICT developers can do is to pack their bags and move to another country to make a living like I did. Thousands have done so already. Soon the country will become a global retirement village.
May the last ICT professional to leave Australia please turn out the lights.
“30 seconds in Google exposes the sheer magnitude of your “porky” (or would that be denial?) ;o)”
Don’t even need to search Google. Just for starters go take a look at AT&T’s press releases
http://about.att.com/story/att_launches_ultra_fast_internet_speeds_in_the_bay_area.html
…… and that’s just for starters.
@ Richard,
Since you missed this, the first half dozen times…
This is what US conservative politicians, who are actual high flying, L(l)ibertarians (the ones who can look forward and aren’t hiding their rad con extremism behind such a cult) say…
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/04/11/copper-wire-technology-whose-time-has-passed.html
You’re welcome
In the U.S. decisions regarding the nations complex telecommunications networks are not politicalised.
Legal decisions are conducted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on behalf of Congress. The majority of the communications network is owned and operated by large telecommunications companies which are overseen by the FCC.
The U.S. National Broadband Plan was launched as a result of Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Unlike Australian voters, U.S. voters never get to decide on technical telecommunications issues for good reason. There are five FCC commissioners who vote on telecommunications legal & technical issues and their job is to maintain the U.S. National Broadband Plan and to work with the telecommunications companies to carry out the 2010 plan.
In 2012 several carriers, such as AT&T, filed petitions to the FCC to launch a proceeding concerning the TDM-To-IP Transition and to amend legislation and regulations to allow for the IP TRANSITION and such issues as consumer protection.
http://www.att.com/Common/about_us/files/pdf/fcc_filing.pdf
In August 2015, the FCC finally voted for various rules & regulations governing the retirement of the copper networks & consumer protection.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2962912/fcc-requires-consumer-protections-in-telephone-transition-to-ip.html
“This is what US conservative politicians…..”
Obviously there are no Luddite arse-hats in New Zealand either. Prime Minister John Key is a conservative and leader of the National Party.
It can only happen in Straya! LMAO
“5 United States – Spending $350b to get fibre”
The $350 billion plan is not just for a fiber network alone. It also includes wireless and high-end broadband applications such as intelligent energy applications such as Smartgrid technology, and more which you can find on US Ignites website https://www.us-ignite.org/apps/
U.S. National Broadband Plan – Executive Summary
https://transition.fcc.gov/national-broadband-plan/national-broadband-plan-executive-summary.pdf
Waits for the silly excuses why we don’t need FTTP connections….
I’ll go one up and say we don’t need internet in this country! :)
The interwhat? ;)
Which one?
@s like full FTTP would make any difference; few of the top 10 have, or proposed such a network.
Link to the full report here:
http://reports.weforum.org/global-information-technology-report-2016/preface/
Let’s see the reality of our GBE’s network:
“It [Australian Communications Consumer Action Network] says telcos’ unwillingness to invest in upgrading their exchanges ahead of the NBN rollout, will leave about 450,000 households without internet connections by the end of the 2018 financial year, despite NBN prioritising these households.”
http://www.afr.com/technology/web/australians-left-stranded-without-broadband-as-telcos-wait-for-nbn-20160701-gpwgjj
Policy an entirely predictable folly. Our govt lead transition to ICT leadership is working well;-)
It’s interesting that business is whats actually drabing our index down:
http://reports.weforum.org/global-information-technology-report-2016/economies/#economy=AUS
Lift your game Australian Business!
Of course, Malcolm told them he’d have it done by…well…now.
Sure tm, it’s not the cost of taxation, labour force inflexibility or overregulation; ubiquitous FTTH is what they’re waiting for;-)
As usual, you’re full of huff, puff and bullshit:
Australia’s tax-to-GDP ratio is low by international standards.
http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/workplace-relations/report
Contrary to perceptions, Australia’s labour market performance and flexibility is relatively good by global standards
http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiries/completed/workplace-relations/report
Seems Australia is actually ranked 13 (out of 189) for “ease of doing business”…
http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings
Considering how wrong you are on the other stuff, I’ll leave to the readers to make a judgement :o)
Tinman
It’s funny how Richard lives in his own little world. First claim private sector should do it but then complains about fictitious facts for the private sector not to do it.
Considering he claimed there was $b ready to invest before the 2007 FTTN tender which according to him was the best policy ever but his $b waiting to be invested didn’t think so.
TM & jk never employed anyone.
Tm’s random posts to irrelevant, unrelated links continue (two links the same but supposedly address two different challenges) whilst 100% dependent on the taxpayer. Doesn’t understand any of them.
Jk Private sector invested billions before NBN (don’t rewrite my quote). Billions more would’ve been invested; all dried up the moment Conroy/Rudd released their thought-bubble. Misunderstands business challenges as reason for private sector leaving telecoms (not govt monopoly).
Look at the state of Internet today, a highly urbanised developed economy. 44% dependent on govt for a living reveals the real issue, but getting them fibre will transform them into IT entrepreneurs;-)
Lol Richard all that $b’s now apparently dried up so the best poilcy claimed by you the FTTN tender had no one to invest in it lol
Clueless and wrong, delicious :o)
I note (with pleasure ;o)) your lack of contributing evidence to support your…(also wrong) assertion.
Once again, lack of corroborative evidence kind of detracts from your stance.
Pure waffle. No need to even address this…
Indeed, good for those in urban areas, eh? ;o)
Random quote (with nothing to support it), followed by assertion based on random quote with nothing to support it.
No wonder we need a better class of business person, until we get them, the headlines of “Australia falls in global digital competitiveness rankings” will continue.
But thanks for your input Richard, it is very enlightening to see the WEF report in action, as it were…
@Richard
There is a reason some businesses often aim for connection such as Ethernet WAN. It is because they may need a guaranteed 10/100/1000Mbps link.
“ubiquitous FTTH is what they’re waiting for”
You mean, “up to” 50/20 or 100/40. But when connection day comes along. They get 25Mbps. That would literally choke their bandwidth needs, all due to the old copper around.
I think businesses will be on the lookout for something more reliable.
Not a problem as everyone already has an MTM connection now that’s providing a minimum of 25Mbps as from a week back, (end of our first term) just as Honest Mal’s Used Copper Dealership promised us…oops!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2QUvcShNzg
Oh dear, as we keep slipping into the copper abyss, the usual suspects (especially those so sans foresight, they could have been commissioned to write the MTM/FRAUDBAND debacle) are getting more desperate in trying to excuse our continued fall…
The contradictory lame excuses are delicious.
They tell us we can’t compare such a land mass as Oz to smaller countries when that suits the narrative… but look what good ol’ Dicky just did?
Complete obsequiousness, mixed with lashings of stupidity are clearly the order of the day at cult HQ…
“Jobson Innovation Growth”
It’s becoming clearer (by the minute) that this 21st century dialup network won’t fit Australia’s needs today let alone in 10 years.
Those who don’t think we need it fall into 1 of 2 camps – wireless is the future or my needs are currently met.
What they do not realise is that their needs aren’t important when talking about what a national infrastructure project needs.
Privatisation has done nothing for the industry or the networks that we need and a total rethink is now needed.
This will not happen under the LNP and for the long suffering masses nothing will improve.
The Liberals and their small minded outsourcing digital government bought you ADSL. Any wonder ?
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154138632560168&set=pb.524415167.-2207520000.1467854630.&type=3&theater
NBNCo passed 141,123 serviceable brownfields for the week ending 30th June (EFY16), just short of the 142,183 serviceable Conroy/Quigley achieved in their 4.5 years.
Meeting (exceeding) FY16 forecasts, a first in the company’s history. Renai and delims will be all over this news.
When I return home I’ll update the graphs. Now we wait on revenue (AR16)…
My daughter and her neighbours in Lake Macquarie have been switched to the NBN and been without a service for more than 3 weeks. Are these figures included?
Service class zero excluded from these numbers (as per original definition of RFS).
I think you mean Service Class 10, Service Class 0 is for Fibre, Lake Macquarie is getting FttN.
http://www.nbnco.com.au/corporate-information/media-centre/media-releases/new-technology-speeds-up-nbn-rollout.html
@ Richard
Whether FTTP and then FTTN were introduced in that order or vise versa.
There is always the variable of slowly increasing amount contractors taking advantage of the work/cash boom.
The rate of deployment is bound to accelerate.
Look forward to it (and the links to the supporting data ;o)).
The former PM believed upgrading the nation’s communications network was not necessary. There seemed to be those who agreed with him.
Given the cost of the project has doubled already and the nature of the upgrade is barely an upgrade, why not cancel it and save shedloads of money and before more harm is done?
Unless there is any other acceptable way of finding the funds necessary to keep the ratings agencies happy.
The current government, due to conservative low level thinking and hatred toward Julia Gillard, fail to comprehend the full social, commercial & economic benefits of a 21st century telecommunications network.
Meanwhile Standard & Poor gives Australia’s credit rating outlook a negative warning which places the AAA rating under threat. High household debt (significantly funded from overseas), foreign debt (not put to good use) and the Federal Election outcome being the key weaknesses. There is a 1 in 3 chance to downgrade within 2 years.
The worst is yet to come.
They tend to be very emotional, and aren’t very good at critical thinking. The outcome from that is generally pretty obvious…
Innovation & lateral thinking at it’s best!
At the end of the day, the fallout from the delusion, compulsive obsession and hatred is going to be extremely expensive for the country.
Australia will continue to fail as early adopters and take up of mature technologies that in other countries drive economic growth and recovery. One example is the Global Smart Cities initiative which is essential for global sustainability and urban efficiency. The value of the Smart Cities global market has been estimated at $1.5 Trillion.
Look out for the World Smart City Forum in Singapore which will be live streamed 13th July
http://www.iso.org/iso/home/news_index/news_archive/news.htm?refid=Ref2098
Australia will continue to exist deep down in the Trough of Disillusionment
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