A number of recently published international studies demonstrate the UAE’s favorable performance from an international perspective across various ICT indicators. 

2010-2011 Networked Readiness Index (NRI)

The UAE ranked 1st of all the Arab states in the 2010-2011 Networked Readiness Index (NRI) study issued by the World Economic Forum, and 24th among all 138 countries assessed.  The NRI measures the capacity of an economy to fully leverage ICT for increased competitiveness and development.  The NRI study was published in The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011 and is based on data collected by organizations such as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the World Bank, and the United Nations (UN). In terms of the individual indicators analyzed, the UAE ranked first among the Arab states on:

• The number of telephone lines. 
• Broadband internet subscribers;
• Internet user rates;
• International internet bandwidth capacity;
• ICT use and Government efficiency;
• e-Government readiness index;
• Presence of ICT in Government agencies; and

Internationally, the UAE was ranked:

• 1st in mobile penetration rate; 
• 1st in mobile network coverage, percentage of population covered(shared with few countries); 
• 2nd in Government success in ICT promotion;
• 3rd The importance of ICT to Government vision of the future;
• 3rd in Government procurement of advanced technologies products.
• 3rd in e-Government readiness index;
• 4th in ICT use and Government efficiency;  and
• 5th Mobile cellular tariffs (PPP$)
• 5th Individuals readiness sub-index
• 5th Impact of ICT on access to basics services.
• 5th Firm-level technology absorption
• 10th Burden of government regulation

The report is available at: http://www.weforum.org/s?s=NRI

2010 ICT Development Index (IDI)

In a separate study, Measuring the Information Society 2011, the ITU constructed an ICT Development Index (IDI) which combines 11 indicators into a single measure to assess the level of ICT development within a country.  The study includes 152 countries which enables benchmarking both on a global and a regional, level.  The UAE ranked overall 32nd in the world for the IDI (2010). This was the highest rank of all the GCC and Arab states in the ICT Development Index. The UAE also recorded the 3rd highest growth in ICT between 2007 and 2008 of all 159 countries examined.
The report categorizes each of the 152 countries into one of four groups used to describe the level of ICT within the economy: high, upper, medium and low. The UAE was one of the 33 countries placed in the highest category.

The overall measure is also divided into three sub-indices relating to ICT infrastructure and access¹, ICT usage² and Skills all of which provide a further level of insight. The UAE ranked the highest of all the GCC and Arab states in the IDI ICT Usage sub-index.
Other findings of the Measuring the Information Society report were:

• The UAE ranked 2nd in the world in the fixed telephony sub-basket³
• The UAE ranked 2nd in the world for the mobile telephony sub-basket⁴
• The UAE ranked 5th in the world in the ICT Price Basket⁵

The report is available at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/2011/index.html

2011-2012 World Economic Forum: Global Competitiveness Report

A recently published report by World Economic Forum based its competitiveness analysis on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), a comprehensive tool that measures the microeconomic and macroeconomic foundations of national competitiveness. The competitiveness index is determined by measuring 12 sets of indicators which include Technological Readiness and Innovation. The UAE was ranked overall 27th out of 142 countries for the GCI 2011-2012.
Key findings of the Global Competitiveness Report were:

• The UAE ranked 5th in the world in Government procurement of advanced tech. products.
• The UAE ranked 10th in the world in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and technology transfer (Investment bringing new technologies).
• The UAE ranked 19th in the world for Internet users/100 population.

The report is available at: http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-2011-2012/

1. This sub-index is based on five indicators: fixed line penetration, mobile penetration, international Internet bandwidth per Internet user, the proportion of households with computers, and the proportion of households with Internet access.
2. This sub-index is based on the following three indicators: Internet user penetration, fixed broadband penetration, and mobile broadband penetration.
3. This measures the 2010 prices of fixed telephony as a percentage of GNI per capita.
4. This measures the 2010 prices of mobile telephony as a percentage of GNI per capita.
5. The ICT Price Basket measures the sum of the 2010 prices of fixed telephony, mobile telephony and fixed broadband Internet as a percentage of a country’s monthly Gross National Income (GNI) per capita.  The lower the price as a percentage of GNI per capita, the better the ranking.