Global Connectivity Index

2020: Russia ranked 42nd in the ranking of countries for the development of Internet infrastructure

Russia in 2020 lost one place in the ranking of countries for the development of Internet infrastructure. We are talking about the Global Connectivity Index developed by Huawei. It reflects the progress of the world's largest countries in the transition to digital technologies and shows the relationship between the level of investment in ICT infrastructure and ICT-based economic growth.

The study points to strengths and weaknesses in the development of "intelligent network interaction" and helps evaluate state actions in the development of Internet infrastructure. The index is calculated on the basis of 40 indicators reflecting the degree of development of countries, and the influence of "supporting" technologies, the growth of investments in which accelerates the digital transformation of the country's economy.

Rating of countries for the development of Internet infrastructure

Depending on the points scored in the ranking, countries are divided into three groups:

• leaders with more than 65 points;
• catching up (from 40 to 65 points);
• beginners (less than 40 points).

Russia has been a member of the catch-up group for several years in a row. So, in 2020, she took 42nd place with an indicator of 50 points, which is one position lower than a year earlier. The leader of the rating remained the United States. The top 3 also included Singapore and Denmark.

Catching up countries, according to the authors of the rating, are in very favorable positions, since their return on investments in ICT infrastructure is growing exponentially. The drivers of growth in these countries are government initiatives to expand network interaction, increase the speed of broadband access and create conditions for the development of cloud services.

For two of the four "supporting" technologies - broadband and cloud services - Russia's position in 2020 improved compared to 2019. Growth was ensured both by increasing demand for these technologies from users, and thanks to the expansion of the supply of appropriate infrastructure: fiber optic networks, 4G communications, robotics with support for artificial intelligence, etc.

The development of interaction algorithms (the use of digital technologies, including the Internet) also favorably affected the rating of Russia. The Russian Federation has the highest scores on such indicators of subindexes of demand and supply, such as the level of prevalence of smartphones and the number of mobile broadband access subscribers.^[1]

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