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By Darwin G. Amojelar Reporter
THE Philippines failed to lift
its global rank in terms of information technology (IT)
competitiveness this year after it performed poorly in
infrastructure and research and development (R&D), according to
a study by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Commissioned by Business Software
Alliance (BSA), the study showed that the country maintained last
year’s rank of 47 with a score of 29.8 percent out of 66 countries
included in the survey this year.
“The Philippines did not make
some progress between 2007 and 2008,” Jeffrey Hardee, BSA vice
president and regional director for Asia-Pacific told reporters
during a briefing Thursday.
The study noted weaknesses and
inefficiencies in the IT and telecommunication infrastructures with
a score of 4.3 percent as well as low spending in research and
development at 0.1 percent.
Hardee said the Philippine
government spent only $1.2 per 100 R&D people compared with $89
in Japan, $79 in South Korea, $20 in China, $15.6 in India and $6.7
in Malaysia.
Local private sector investment
in R&D stood at $4.2 per 100 people.
“It’s important for the
Philippines to invest more in R&D if the country wants to move
up its ranking,” Hardee said.
The BSA executive said the
broadband connections in the Philippines are very low with only 1.3
percent for every 100 people. Similarly, personal computer ownership
was low at 5.4 percent.
“It is critical to have a
broadband network for the Philippines to be competitive,” Hardee
said.
He said the country’s number of
mobile phone and Internet users is growing rapidly, which is “very
positive.”
According to the study, the
Philippines performed strongest in terms of business environment at
67.9 percent, followed by support for IT industry environment at 54
percent, legal environment at 50.5 percent and human capital at 44.9
percent.
The US topped the survey with a
score of 74.6 percent, followed by Taiwan, 69.2 percent; United
Kingdom, 67.2 percent; Sweden, 66 percent; Denmark, 65.2 percent;
Canada, 64.4 percent; Australia and South Korea, both 64.1 percent;
Singapore, 63.4 percent; and the Netherlands, 62.7 percent.
Hardee said the IT industry is
important to the Philippine economy as it brings more jobs and
generates tax revenues.
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