Net Vitality Index names Korea and Japan as the top broadband Internet users in Asia

Source: The Media Institute.

The Media Institute has released Net Vitality: Identifying the Top-Tier Global Broadband Internet Ecosystem Leaders, which identifies five countries leading in their deployment and use of broadband Internet, including Korea and Japan.

Unlike other comparative studies that rank countries quantitatively based on a simplistic assessment of broadband speeds, the Index also measures countries qualitatively to determine how well they are performing in a global competitive environment, gauging the true vitality of a country's Internet ecosystem. The composite metric takes into account 52 factors developed independently to evaluate countries on an apples-to-apples basis. Overarching categories assessed encompass applications, devices, networks and macroeconomic factors.

Based on five years of research, the Net Vitality Index is the first holistic analysis of the global broadband Internet ecosystem, identifying the US, South Korea, Japan, the UK and France as the top-tier leaders. 

The analysis by Harvard Law School faculty member and Media Institute Global Internet Freedom Advisory Council member Stuart Brotman notes that innovation and investment are the most important building blocks for government policymakers to take into account, and finds that the five Net Vitality Index leaders have a powerful common driving force - innovation. 

Brotman concludes that when innovation is coupled with sustained investment, competition can thrive and the desired goal of promoting continuous Net Vitality can be achieved, without the need for overemphasised government involvement and overbearing regulatory intervention.

"These five countries have taken a variety of regulatory approaches, but all share one commonality: They have benefited the most when government challenges companies to raise their aspirations and increase the pace of innovation and the scale of their investments," said Brotman. "However, policies focused on one specific element or outcome may hit the target, but also miss the mark because they do not focus on impacts to the broader ecosystem."

Click here to download the report.