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In an effort to make India rank higher in the list of International Telecom Union (ITU), the Government is setting parameters for quality improvement in information and communication technologies (ICTs).
In a recent internal meeting of the Department of Telecom (DoT), chaired by the Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Ministry was asked to review all the standards so that India can rank better in the ICT Development Index (IDI).
The IDI is a composite index, combining 11 indicators into one benchmark that serves to monitor and compare developments in ICT across countries. The IDI was developed by ITU in 2008. India ranks 129th in the IDI list (as of 2014) out of a total of 166 countries with an IDI value of 2.53 (theoretical range of IDI is from 0-10). Denmark tops the rank, followed by Korea, Sweden and Iceland. With the UK ranks fifth, the US ranks 14th on the list.
According to sources privy to the meeting, the government is of a view that the ITU is biased towards countries in Europe, the US and China, and therefore, India has to make some ‘strong parameters’ to make it to one of the top lists of IDI.
“Such efforts would impact the government’s plans, such as digitalisation of India. These parameters should not undermine India’s efforts in such projects. We are drawing the parameters while taking India into consideration,” a senior government official told BusinessLine .
According the IDI ranking, while developed countries have an average IDI value of 7.20, the developing-country average is almost half (around 3.84). “Therefore, India has to work hard on parameters/ standards to make feasible in that list,” the official said.
The official said while the government was working hard to stimulate growth of ICT in the country, there are some essential pre-requisites for inclusive growth, such as proliferation of ‘Digital India’ programme, implementation of Bharat Net project, development of smart cities, effective ‘quality of service’ for enhanced customer experience and liberalisation of spectrum.
“This will make a positive impact on the ICT access and ICT use parameters which will improve the overall ranking of India in ITU’s IDI,” the official added.
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