NZ comes 16th in global poll of 'e-readiness'

New Zealand has ranked 16th out of 64 countries in terms of "e-readiness" in a survey carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

EIU said a country's "e-readiness" was the measure of its e-business environment and indicated how open a market was to Internet-based opportunities.

This is the fourth year EIU, a sister business to The Economist magazine, has published the survey.

The most e-ready region was Scandinavia, with Denmark topping the survey and Sweden, Norway and Finland coming in third, fourth, and fifth respectively.

Britain took out second place, while the US came in sixth,

Singapore was the most e-ready country in the Asia-Pacific region in 7th place, followed by Hong Kong in 9th and Australia in 12th place.

The report said global prospects for the information and communications technology industry looked good.

"Enterprises are taking advantage of Internet protocol-based services, mobile phone usage is mushrooming in developing and developed countries alike and broadband is taking off," the report said.

EIU found what set Scandinavia apart from the rest of the world was the extent to which the Internet has reshaped business transactions. The report said Scandinavian governments have also driven development, while citizens have embraced Internet technology in their everyday lives.

- NZPA