Thailand slips 3 points in development rankings

In terms of total index value, the value of Thailand in 2016 rose to 5.18 from 5.05 despite the ranking drop.
According to Jesada Sivaraks, secretary to the vice chairman of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), these figures indicate that even though Thailand had a strong 4G networks, the country had not pushed hard enough to drive people to access them. At the same time, other countries have also improved in terms of ICT development, he said.
He added that in terms of ICT infrastructure readiness, Thailand’s ranking moved up three levels from 92 last year to 89.
However, in terms of ICT use (intensity), Thailand’s ranking went down from 65 to 71. 
For the ICT capability (skills), the ranking remained unchanged at 80.
By region, Thailand’s IDI ranking fell to 11 from 10.
The NBTC auctioned 1800 megahertz licences and 900MHz licences late last year and held another auction for a 900 licence in the middle of this year.
According to the ITU, the report shows that the world is getting more connected and reveals that there are still huge investment opportunities for the private sector to connect the unconnected. 
South Korea tops the IDI rankings in 2016 for the second consecutive year. The top 10 countries in the rankings include two other economies in the Asia-Pacific region, and seven European countries. Three island countries in the Caribbean – St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, and Grenada – featured among the most dynamic countries with strong improvements in their IDI value and rankings.
“This year’s results show that nearly all of the 175 countries covered by the index improved their IDI values between 2015 and 2016,” said Brahima Sanou, director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, which produces the report each year. 
“During the same period, stronger improvements have been made on ICT use than access, mainly as a result of strong growth in mobile-broadband uptake globally. This has allowed an increasing number of people, in particular from the developing world, to join the information society and benefit from the many services and applications provided through the Internet.”
According to the report, an increasingly ubiquitous, open, fast and content-rich Internet has changed the way many people live, communicate, and do business. However, many people are still not using the Internet, and many users do not fully benefit from its potential. 
Most people have access to Internet services but many do not actually use them. The spread of 3G and 4G networks across the world makes the Internet increasingly available to more and more people, the report found. 
In 2016, mobile-broadband networks covered 84 per cent of the world’s population, yet with 47.1 per cent Internet user penetration, the number of Internet users remain well below the number of people with network access. While infrastructure deployment is crucial, high prices and other barriers remain important challenges to getting more people to enter the digital world, the report found. 
The full potential of the Internet remains untapped. Internet users with higher levels of education use more advanced services, such as e-commerce and online financial and government services to a higher degree than Internet users with lower levels of education and income levels, who predominantly use the Internet for communication and entertainment purposes. This suggests that many people are yet to benefit fully from the opportunities brought by the Internet. 
Access to the Internet is not enough. Policy-makers must address broader socio-economic inequalities and help people acquire the necessary skills to take full advantage of the Internet, the report said.