Strong E-Commerce Is Not Enough To Boost New Zealand’s Connectivity Score

Weak consumer infrastructure contributes to New Zealand’s low overall ranking on the 2009 Connectivity Scorecard.  Broadband penetration is average at best, and 3G penetration lags behind other nations in the sample.  Consumer usage is highlighted by fairly strong internet usage levels, and fixed-line usage is well above average.  Estimates of consumer spending on software are not as positive, coming in on the low end of the scale.

Business connectivity features average PC penetration, but a better distribution of secure servers.  Combined with a good percentage of businesses buying and selling online, this would seem to indicate a strong e-commerce infrastructure for New Zealand.  This is in contrast, however, to lower levels of spending on IT resources and a limited proportion of jobs requiring ICT skills.  New Zealand’s E-Government rating is also mediocre, because of average levels of online service usage and limited government investment in hardware, software and other connectivity services.

New Zealand Connectivity Performance by Scorecard Component