In terms of the overall ranking (overall ICT progress) encompassing ICT infrastructure (improvement, penetration) and rate of utilization, South Korea came in first, Sweden second, and Japan third out of 30 countries, followed by Norway and Denmark.

In the “Infrastructure (improvement)” category, while Japan ranks third in “7. Stability,” it came in first in terms of “6. Advancement” and “8. Capability,” and it is safe to say that Japan is first in this category overall.

In terms of “Infrastructure (penetration),” Japan is 12 $ ^{th} $ for area “4. Fixed network penetration” and 16 $ ^{th} $ for area “5. Mobile environment penetration,” combined for a ranking of 12 $ ^{th} $ worldwide. Compared with the first-place ranking for “Infrastructure (improvement),” this could be called quite a poor ranking.

In terms of Utilization the overall ranking is 18th, below the median (15th), a particularly low ranking in comparison to Infrastructure (both Development and Penetration.)

### 3. ICT status in high-ranking countries

Below, we will examine the characteristic features of the countries ranked in the overall top five, besides Japan, comparing by area and indicator.

- South Korea

South Korea ranks first out of 30 countries for “Utilization,” fifth for “Infrastructure (penetration),” and third for “Infrastructure (improvement),” and makes a very strong showing overall. In particular, it is the top country out of the 30 for indicator “3. Availability of online services for citizens” in area “3. Government utilization”; indicators “5. Internet penetration rate for households” and “7. Fixed broadband charges” in area “4. Fixed network penetration”; and indicator “13. Fixed broadband quality” in area “7. Stability.”

- Sweden

Rankings are high overall in terms of ICT infrastructure (improvement, penetration) and rate of utilization, and in particular, is ranked first out of 30 for the indicator “2. Corporate Internet usage” in area “2. Corporate utilization.”

- Norway

Norway is ranked first out of 30 for indicator “1. Individual Internet usage” and indicator “10. Cellular phone charges” in the area “5. Mobile environment penetration.”

- Denmark

Denmark is ranked first out of 30 for indicator “6. Penetration rate of fixed broadband” in area “4. Fixed network penetration,” and makes a strong showing in terms of “1. Individual Internet usage” and “10. Cellular phone charges” as well.

Section 2

# Changes in the ICT Infrastructure Environment

The broadband era in Japan began in 2001, and a decade down the road, Japan has access to the many blessings of the digital revolution. We would like to take this 10-year turning point as an opportunity to look back on the progress of the nation's ICT infrastructure thus far. Previous White Papers on Information and Communications have compared Japan's ICT infrastructure to those of other nations, and organized data on the degree of penetration of said infrastructure, but here we will take a long view, temporally speaking, and consider the trajectory of development over the past decade.

### 1. Internet penetration

## (1) Broadband Internet penetration

In 2002, 70.6% of household PC Internet users had narrow-band access, but by 2004 the number of broadband users surpassed the number of narrow-band $ ^{8} $ users, and by 2010, broadband $ ^{9} $ access including DSL, FTTH and cable Internet accounted for 77.9% of subscriptions (Figure 2-1-2-1).

Figure 2-1-2-1 Change in household PC Internet access method

* Narrow-band statistics kept since 2002

(Source) Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications “Survey on the Impact and Reciprocal Relationship of ICT Infrastructure Progress and Citizens’ Lifestyles and the Social Environment” (2011)

(prepared on the basis of MIC “Communications Usage Trend Survey”)