QCOSTARICA – Costa Rica has the most accessible internet among emerging and developing countries, according to a study released at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona by the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), reports O Globo.
The group is formed by companies like Google and Ericsson and sectoral organisations such as the Web Foundation.
The 51 countries included in the accessibility index were analysed on to two levels: one that measures network infrastructure, size of services and government policies to encourage expansion of the structure; and another that measures broadband adoption and public incentives to make it feasible to contract internet packages.
Leader Costa Rica (with a 63.4% result) has a modern network infrastructure, with 88 percent of its population online, while its National Broadband Strategy cut mobile broadband prices by half in 2014. The top list also includes Colombia (63.1%); Turkey (62.4%); Malaysia (61.5%); Peru (59.6%); Brazil (57.6%); Mauritania (57.2%), Ecuador (52.3%); Argentina (51.8%) and Rwanda (51.6%).
At the back of the pack is Yemen, a country with the least affordable internet due to political issues and the national security challenges it faces.
88% of the population online? Yeah right. I gather that anyone who has ever set up an email account at an internet cafe is counted as online.