Russia – higher ranking helped by strong consumer infrastructure

Russia breaks into the top five resource and efficiency-driven economies to gain 5th place on the Connectivity Scorecard 2010, helped by its impressive scores in consumer infrastructure. The country thus continues to outpace its BRIC peers Brazil, China and India in deploying and utilizing Information and Communications Technology.

Russia leads in the area of consumer infrastructure, with high fixed and mobile telephony penetration and strong broadband subscription levels. The country also boasts the highest literacy levels in its peer group. The only disappointment in the consumer segment is the lower-than-expected internet usage among Russian consumers.

Russian businesses report strong personal computer (PC) penetration and respectable investments in IT hardware and software. However, this is offset by low penetration of secure internet servers and inadequate international internet bandwidth. In addition, modest IT services spending levels and below-par international voice telephony usage bring down Russia’s score. The country’s performance on the government-related metrics is also marred by a few uncharacteristic weaknesses.

Russia needs to step up business and government investments in ICT to maximize the benefits of connectivity for all user segments.

Russia Connectivity Performance by Scorecard Component