back to article And the award for the world's most tech-savvy country goes to …

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has issued its annual Measuring the Information Society report and found that Denmark is the world's most technologically-developed nation. South Korea scored the win in the last version of the report, but is now in second. Results for other big Reg-reading nations include: …

  1. bill 36

    Nice bit of spin

    After reading this several times, and some of the report, i'm struggling to see how this makes the UK "tech-savvy"

    All it says is that the UK has more connectivity.

    Whether the country is "tech-savvy" is highly questionable.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Nice bit of spin

      One sure way to see the UK shoot down the rankings fast would be to add a question or two along the lines of "Percentage of politicians/civil servants who properly understand the technologies which they are passing legislation on/administering and their implications."

      Granted no country would be likely to do well on that, but some of the near superstitious drivel ours spout seems hard to top.

    2. Mark 65

      Re: Nice bit of spin

      Agreed. An imbecile connected to the internet tweeting nonsense or updating their status is still, nevertheless, an imbecile.

  2. ratfox

    I wonder if fixed phone lines count as positive or negative. In Europe, tech-savvy countries should have less of those, since they become useless once everyone has a mobile phone…

    1. Phil O'Sophical Silver badge

      they become useless once everyone has a mobile phone…

      How do you figure that? Fixed line phones are more reliable, don't suffer from flat batteries or dropped calls due to congestion. They "just work", 99.9999% of the time, which you'll never be able to say for mobiles. Those fixed lines are also used to deliver most broadband services. We have active three mobile phones in the house, on two networks, and a VoIP service, but I still keep a fixed line. I know it will be the one that will be there when I really need it.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        yep!

        one of my pet hates! Why oh why oh why on Radio 5 Live do they always have callers on the end of a mobile (even when its obvious they're at home or in an office so could use a land line!) the result you can't hear them properly or they get cut off. Does my head in!

      2. Sandtitz Silver badge

        @Phil

        Fixed lines may be more reliable but they suffer from being fixed. Mobile phones are more handy since you can use them anywhere. A fixed line phone is useless to me and the OP. And many others I believe.

        My LTE connection at home is several times faster than what the telephone lines could deliver and much cheaper too.

      3. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      How about either/or

      Count people who have either a fixed line or a mobile phone subscription. Count people who have either a wired or wireless broadband subscription. Counting them separately unfairly punishes less affluent countries where people may be unwilling to pay for both.

      For that matter counting "households with a computer" and not counting a smartphone as a computer hurts them too. There will never be the penetration of PCs in China there is in the US and UK, because for a lot of people who get a smartphone first, they'll find it fits their needs and even when they can later afford a computer have no interest in owning one.

  3. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

    Teaching using IT

    I'm not sure the percentage of teachers teaching using IT is a useful metric. What's it trying to show?

    IT does NOT make a bad teacher a good teacher. A good teacher will still be a good teacher with or without IT in the classroom. (And a vice versa with a bad teacher)

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      Re: Teaching using IT

      I think what it's showing is the utilisation of IT as a tool for teaching, rather than saying teaching with IT makes you a better teacher. It's all about how people use technology, and the classroom is a good starting point as it's full of impressionable people who could be inspired to go out and use tech.

      1. Obitim

        Re: Teaching using IT

        I suppose it;s also indicative of funding and investment in education - more money equals more expenditure and usage of IT resources?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Teaching using IT

      The graph legend says the proportion of teachers who can teach basic IT skills.

      So teachers who are computer literate.

    3. Mark 65

      Re: Teaching using IT

      But that doesn't fit with the program does it? Governments want teachers to use computers to teach in ever increasing amounts because they think people will believe it results in better outcomes. Perhaps some that aren't too smart or computer literate think it will make their child the next Bill Gates. Whatever. When I was told how much teaching was done by computer at my child's school my retort was along the lines of "I'd much rather you concentrated on teaching the basics more comprehensively and perhaps a bit more of critical thinking". However my junior schooler does knock up a good powerpoint presentation so I guess there's a middle management career in the offing somewhere.

  4. poopypants

    Oh dear

    I fear Australia has been harmed by our use of cheap string for our broadband network. Unfortunately we used up all the more expensive stuff wrapping food parcels to send to our less fortunate relatives.

    Soon, however, we hope to start using copper wire, but only as far as the nearest gum tree. Plans to lay twisted pair all the way to the home have been abandoned due to spiralling costs.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oh dear

      I hope for your sake you're not buying up our secondhand string from BT. It may have been top notch once, but mine is certainly the worse for wear these days.

  5. LucreLout

    Tillykke Danmark!

    Enhver chance for en bevilling til at studere forholdet mellem blonde kvinder og IT?

  6. smudge
    WTF?

    International Internet bandwidth (bit/s) per Internet user ??

    Isn't that going to promote small countries where nothing much happens (aka "is hosted")?

    Such as Denmark.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    We'd probably be much higher were it not for the New Labour years, Blair knew sod all about technology. Hence the creation of stupid dumbed down ICT lessons and an increasing reliance on Windows for computers.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Blair

      An aide had to work his mobile phone for him and his wife dealt with his emails. But he knows well where the next meal - or rather where the next set of palatial meals in an over the top castle owned by a kleptarch - is coming from.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants

    Surely anyone who's tech savvy doesn't have one of these at all?

    I've got fixed-line broadband of course, but that appears in a separate category.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    International Internet bandwidth (bit/s) per Internet user

    This one is dodgy too, this is basically a function of how rural a country is, obviously there are huge tracts of the US that aren't going to have gigabit broadband available.

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