Morocco tops African countries in the field of telecommunications and information technology (TIC), said the "World Information Society Report 2006" issued by the International Union of Telecommunication (IUT).
"Europe and North America [are taking a strong lead in the realization of] digital opportunity. Latin America and Central Asia are catching up fast with large infrastructural investments and strong gains in mobile and Internet subscribers. Two Asian countries top the rankings the Republic of Korea and Japan followed by Denmark and Iceland. Chile leads in Latin America, whilst Morocco leads in Africa," said the report which aimed at presenting an overview of the development of TIC worldwide.
The report, which also ranked Morocco in the 78th position at he international level, comes as a follow-up to the World Summit on the Information Society, which was held in two phases in Geneva (2003) then Tunis (2005).
"Morocco's distinction at the African level is not the fortuitous. It illustrates the development this highly strategic sector has actually witnessed over the last three years," said the Ministry in Charge of General and Economic Affairs in a communiqu.
Morocco has won the challenge of liberalization of the sector of telecommunication and currently provides multiple choices of technological services, MAP news agency reported citing the communiqu.
The same source added that Morocco has succeeded in attracting national and international investments in the TIC sector, stressing the importance of the advance the kingdom has achieved in reducing the digital divide.
The IUT's report on "World Information Society Report 2006" surveyed a total of 180 countries, including Morocco.
© Morocco Times 2006
