UK is third most network-connected country in the world

Published: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 by Rad

The Huawei Global Connectivity Index claims to be an objective study of the impact of connectivity on economic growth. The UK is behind only Germany and the US in its development of internet services, according to an index of the most connected countries.

The index awards countries a connectivity score based on 16 factors, including broadband speed and availability and the number of smartphone connections.

It found that for every percentage point increase on the index, the GDP per capita of a country increases by 1.4% to 1.9%, with emerging economies showing the highest improvement.

Germany ranks as the most wired country due to the wide availability of low-cost, high-speed broadband and a rapidly growing take-up of internet services.

“The better the connectivity, the more GDP will grow,"

said William Xu, chief strategy officer at Huawei.

The real surprises are the inclusion of Chile and Kenya in the top 10.

Chile is spending an average of 0.9% of its GDP on telecoms, and the number of fixed and mobile internet connections deployed in the country is growing rapidly.

Although Kenya has poor internet infrastructure, it makes the list because the country is investing heavily in developing its mobile broadband infrastructure.

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