Jordan Ranked 35th In 2012 Web Index

Jordan ranked 35th globally in the 2012 Web Index, which seeks to evaluate the state of the Web across the world and measure its use, utility and impact on people and nations.

Covering 61 countries, the index was compiled by the World Wide Web Foundation, which was launched in November 2009 by Tim Berners-Lee, often considered the father of the Internet.

The Web Index incorporates indicators that assess the political, economic and social impact of the Web, as well as indicators of Internet connectivity and infrastructure.

The Kingdom ranked third among Arab states and was preceded by Qatar, which was ranked 21st and Tunisia that was placed 30th, according to the index.

“Jordan has endured a relatively steep decline since 2007, particularly in terms of available web content and political impact, in spite of a paradoxically striking relative improvement in communications infrastructure,” said the index, which was published on the foundation’s website over the weekend.

“The reasons are numerous. Like other nations in the Middle East, Jordan suffers from high unemployment and a poorly functioning economy,” it added.

Commenting on the report, Ministry of Information and Communications Technology Spokesperson Haitham Qaisi said the Kingdom will continue to work on enhancing its ICT infrastructure.

“The global financial crisis affected Jordan’s ability to complete projects that seek to increase the number of Internet users across the country. Due to the lack of sufficient financial resources, some projects and services were delayed,” Qaisi told The Jordan Times on Saturday.

“However, we are doing our best to resume working on key projects that will enhance infrastructure such as the fibre optic network, which seeks to increase the number of Internet users in local communities, schools and public facilities,” he said.

“The proposals recommending floating a tender to complete the project, which was halted in 2008 due to lack of funds, were referred to the Cabinet and are currently being studied,” he said.

“The Internet plays a key role in developing people’s lives and we believe that enhancing the infrastructure is essential to make more people use the service,” he said Saturday.

Internet penetration in Jordan reached 55.9 per cent by the end of June.

Sweden took the top spot in the Web Index, while the US ranked second.

The five countries at the bottom of the list are Ethiopia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe and Yemen.

The World Wide Web has seen explosive growth since its invention in 1989.

With more than a trillion estimated public pages and roughly 3.4 billion users, the Web is no longer merely a place to seek content and information, but to actively connect with friends and peers, debate globally critical issues, collaborate and conduct business, and even create breakthrough innovations, the index said.

However, despite the increasing ease of access, more than 60 per cent of the world’s population does not have access to the Web, and are therefore excluded from directly benefiting from it.

Jordan Times