Oppenhiemer Report; Latin America Scores Badly in Internet Ranking

''Information technology is today's general-purpose technology,'' Irene Mia, co-author of the report, told me in a telephone interview. ``It's the infrastructure for all other industries.''

The report, a massive study of 127 countries, not only measures nations' Internet access but also the government regulations, bureaucracy and the business climate that allow them to be technologically competitive.

Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Singapore, in that order, topped the ranking. Denmark and Sweden were at the head of the list last year, while Switzerland and the United States have moved up several places over the past year.

LOSING GROUND

Most Latin American countries, by comparison, have lost ground in the past year:

• Chile, the top-ranked country in the region, fell from the 31st place last year to the 34th this year.

• Mexico went down from the 49th to 58th.

• Brazil dropped from 53rd to 59th place.

• Argentina suffered one of the region's biggest falls, going from the 63rd to 77th.

• Colombia fell from 64th to 69th.

• Peru fell from the 78th to 84th.

• Venezuela dropped from 83rd to 86th.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/columnists/andres_oppenheimer/story/49...

By miamimike on Apr 18, 2008, 03:23 in Friendly Talkzone.

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