The Chilean government, through its digital strategy program, has launched Observatorio TIC, a new site that gathers statistics related to the ICT sector in Chile, and that aims to measure the advances of the different indexes.

Observatorio TIC, developed along with CetiUC, the IT studies center of local university Universidad Católica, will measure four IT elements including basic infrastructure, home and individual connectivity, ICT access and use within companies as well as electronic government.

Based on statistics available from 2003-2008, Chile shows a digital development index of 46, on a scale of 100 points. The country has shown an average growth rate of 9% in this area.

The maximum level will be reached when every Chilean is provided with access to the internet, every home with a fixed or mobile telephony line, every company with PCs and online transactions, and all companies and inhabitants with the ability to interact electronically with the government, Ernesto Evans, Estrategia Digital executive secretary, said at Chile's national summit for digital development, taking place Tuesday.

Additionally, Observatorio TIC will launch in December an index to measure the quality of websites, both in the private and public sectors.

Evans added that Chile, which ranks 39 in the World Economic Forum in the IT readiness ranking, needs to keep working in order to continue moving up on this scale, and not to lose the leading position among Latin American countries.

One of the areas of concern is the reduced growth rate of connectivity. "Today, 50% of our population claims to be an internet user, but we have seen a deceleration in the growth rates. Growing at 9-10% annually is just not enough to reach total connectivity," Evans said.

A slowdown in the broadband adoption rate could also harm the government's plan to provide PCs to students. "In the next 4-5 years it is very possible Chile will provide one PC per student, but if we don't implement a nationwide broadband penetration plan, those students will have a PC and no internet connection," the executive added.

Another area of concern is the interoperability of the government's electronics services, which requires IT processes, a proper legal framework and collaboration. Today, Chile's interoperability platform operates with five entities.

"Our goal is to have 15 new entities joining the initiative in the midterm, allowing for the increase of paperwork done electronically from 200,000 today to over 1mn," Evans said 

Source: http://member.bnamericas.com/news/technology/Government_launches_ICT_statistics_platform