Mumbai 18th, Delhi 20th in Ericsson list of ICT-enabled cities

San Jose, May 11 (PTI) Indian metro cities, Mumbai and
Delhi have been ranked at 18 and 20 respectively, in terms of
deployment of information and communication (ICT) solutions,
a study by telecom equipment maker Ericsson said.
The Networked Society City Index prepared by Ericsson
that analyses 25 cities around the world, site that these
cities are also better equipped for the transformation
required to meet a growth agenda that better balances
increasing demands for sustainability and new lifestyle
requirements.
"ICT is becoming an increasingly important way to meet
and mitigate challenges like environmental management, public
security, healthcare quality and education.
Cities with high levels of ICT infrastructure and usage
are better able to realise triple-bottom-line benefits
(social, economic and environmental) than cities with lower
levels," the study said.
While, Singapore and Stockholm are the top two networked
cities globally, however Karachi and Lagos are the least
networked cities. Indian cities Mumbai and New Delhi ranked 18
and 20, respectively.
The Networked Society City Index is a tool that can help
city authorities and decision-makers monitor the position and
progress of cities along the ICT development curve, the study
said.
Cities such as Tokyo and Moscow or Delhi and Sao Paulo
show strong similarities in terms of the effort put into ICT,
while the output in terms of triple-bottom-line leverage
varies significantly.
"Strong performers have typically built progress around
the ability of people to use ICT. As maturity has increased,
the stronger cities have gradually applied a more focused
approach by targeting dedicate application areas such as
health, education or intelligent traffic," the study said.
The study suggested that while high-scoring cities such
as Singapore, Stockholm and Seoul can gain traction by
exploiting ICT to fulfill the overall city vision,
medium-scoring cities such as Beijing and Sao Paulo need to
cherry-pick key city challenges that can be addressed with
ICT-based solutions and launch coordinate focused initiatives.
"Low-scoring cities such as Manila, Johannesburg, Dhaka
and Karachi can make progress by addressing the digital gap
through digital access initiatives, ICT literacy training for
the underprivileged and ensuring the integration of ICT into
public administration to improve efficiency," it added.