Telecom Infrastructure Index

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Oman’s efforts to digitise more of its services to suit the conveniences of residents, citizens and businesses in the government is clearly proceeding in the right direction, after the latest United Nations eGovernment survey saw the Sultanate ranked second among Arab nations.

The 2018 United Nations eGovernment Survey, which was published by UNDESA (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs), saw Oman ranked 63rd out of the 193 nations features.

With UNDESA publishing these reports every two years, Oman has clearly shown a marked improvement in the right direction.

The Sultanate made great improvement in the e-participation index by 33 positions to be ranked 43.

For the first time the UN eGov report 2018 has highlighted the Global Cyber Security Index in which Oman is one of the top 10 member states with the highest commitment to cybersecurity. Development Index (EGDI). The EGDI, which assesses eGovernment development at the national level, is a composite index based on the weighted average of three normalised indinces. Onethird is derived from a Telecommunications Infrastructure Index (TII) based on data collected from Oman and provided through the International Telecommunications Union(ITU).

One-third of the index is derived from a Human Capital Index (HCI) based on the data provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Institute of statistics. One-third is from the Online Service Index (OSI) based on the data collected from an independent survey questionnaire, conducted by UNDESA, which assesses the national online presence of the core citizen centric ministries plus the national portal of all 193 United Nations member states.

The assessment rates the eGovernment performance of countries relative to one another, as opposed to being an absolute measurement. best country in the Arab region in this index. This improvement is a result of the collaborative efforts made by the various ministries; in addition to the various policies and initiatives under the guidance of ITA.

The data in this index is collected by the UNDESA through conducting several surveys. The researchers assessed each country’s national website, including the national central portal or eServices portal and eParticipation, as well as the websites of the related ministries of education, labour, social services, health, finance, and environment as applicable. The noticeable improvement in the scores of the Telecom Infrastructure Index from 51% in 2016 to 54% in 2018 survey reflects the Government initiatives in improving the internet connectivity and broadband services.