Malta ranked 23rd most e-Ready country

The Economist Intelligence Unit and the IBM Institute of Business Value have ranked Malta as the 23rd most “e-Ready” country worldwide. “E-readiness” is defined as the country’s state of play in Information and Communications Technologies infrastructure and the ability of government, businesses and consumers of using them to their benefit.

Malta has climbed one position from the 2007 rankings with an e-readiness score of 7.78. The e-readiness rankings are a collection of nearly 100 quantitative and qualitative criteria in connectivity and technology infrastructure, the business environment, the social and cultural environment, the legal environment, the government’s policy and vision and consumer and business adoption.

Significantly, Malta’s government is ranked the eighth best government in Europe and 11th in the world in terms of the quality of its vision and policy for the ICT sector. In this regard, Malta ranks above the Western European average and is ahead of countries such as Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and Spain.

In Connectivity and Technology Infrastructure ranks 16th in Europe and 30th worldwide. This covers the availability, affordability and quality of telephony services, personal computers, Wi Fi hotspots, the internet and digital identity cards.

On Business Environment Criteria, Malta ranks 14th in Europe and 24th worldwide. This criterion considers the expected attractiveness of the general business environment over the next five years. Here Malta ranks at par with Spain and higher than Portugal, Italy and Greece

Malta ranks 15 in Europe and 25th in the world on criteria relating to the Social and Cultural environment. These consider the pre-conditions of applying e-business, including literacy, education, Internet experience, entrepreneurial attitude and innovation.

The Legal Environment encompasses the country’s overall legal framework and specific laws governing Internet use. Malta shares the 14th place in Europe with Greece, Portugal and Spain and placed 22st worldwide.

In the Consumer and Business Adoption category, Malta is among the top-performers in Europe and the world coming in at sixth and 10th position respectively. In this category Malta is ahead of countries such as Finland, the Netherlands, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland, Belgium and France. Consumer and Business adoption cover the prevalence of e-business practices in a country like the availability and the use of e-commerce and online public services.