F

2020 Global Connectivity

Index: Performance of ASEAN
Member-States
acts
The Global Connectivity Index (GCI) is a report
in
igures
published by Huawei Technologies to analyze a
broad spectrum of indicators for information and
communications technology (ICT) infrastructure
and digital transformation. The GCI benchmarks 79
countries according to their performance in four pillars
and 40 indicators that track the impact of ICT on a Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department
nation’s economy, digital competitiveness and future House of Representatives
growth. Combined, these countries account for 95 February 2021 (No. 15)
percent of global GDP.

Table 1 presents the 2020 GCI overall ranking of the Table 2 shows that only Indonesia obtained an increase
6-ASEAN Member States (AMS). The Philippines failed in its score in the supply pillar, whereas the rest of the
to improve its ranking and remained at 59th spot in 2020 AMS experienced a decline in their respective scores
with an overall score of 38 points behind Malaysia, in 2020. Nonetheless, Singapore still leads the AMS in
Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Singapore on the the supply pillar while the Philippines remained at the
other hand, leads the AMS and is second overall in bottom.
the GCI. The total GCI score has a maximum value of Table 2. Score of 6 AMS in Supply Pillar,
100 and is computed as the sum of the values of all the 2019-2020
pillars divided by four (4). Countries 2019 2020 Variance
Singapore 79 78 -1
Table 1. Overall GCI Ranking of Malaysia 44 43 -1
6 ASEAN Member States (AMS)*, 2019-2020
Thailand 42 41 -1
Score Ranking Vietnam 39 36 -3
Countries
2019 2020 2019 2020 Indonesia 33 35 +2
Singapore 80 81 2 2 Philippines 31 30 -1
Source: GCI Report 2019-2020
Malaysia 53 53 30 34 Note: Each pillar can have a score of 10 (lowest) to 120 (highest),
Thailand 44 46 49 46

Vietnam 41 41 55 55 Demand. This pillar measures the demand for

connectivity in the context of users and activities
Indonesia 38 39 58 58
relating to digital transformation initiatives. The
Philippines 37 38 59 59
indicators involved are the following: Mobile Broadband
Source: GCI Report 2019-2020
* The GCI results only include 6 AMS Subscriptions, Smartphone Penetration, Cloud
Migration, Computer Households, App Downloads, AI
Four Pillars of GCI
Demand, E-Commerce Transactions, Fixed Broadband
The four pillars of the GCI Index are Supply, Demand, Transactions, Secured Internet Servers, and IoT
Experience and Potential. They encompass the entire Installed Base.
chain of ICT development and digital transformation to Table 3. Score of 6-AMS in Demand Pillar,
provide a 360-degree view of the digital economy. 2019-2020
Countries 2019 2020 Variance
Supply. This measures the current levels of supply of ICT
Singapore 78 84 +6
products and services used for digital transformation.
It is measured by 10 indicators, namely the following: Malaysia 54 56 +2

ICT laws, Telecom investment, 4G & 5G connections, Thailand 44 48 +4

Fiber optic, ICT investment, Internet of Things (IoT) Vietnam 39 40 +1
investment, Cloud investment, Artificial Intelligence Indonesia 39 39 no change
(AI) investment, International internet bandwidth, and Philippines 36 41 +5
Security software investment. Source: GCI Report 2019-2020
The Philippines improved its score in the demand pillar workforce, and software developers. Vietnam,
with 41 points in 2020 from 36 in 2019 and was able Indonesia, and the Philippines obtained the same score
to outscore Vietnam and Indonesia. Singapore, on the of 38 points in 2020, while Singapore got the highest
other hand, obtained an additional 6 points from its score among the AMS (Table 5).
2019 score (Table 3). The increase in the scores of each
AMS in the demand pillar strongly shows that more The Four Technology Enablers. Aside from the four
consumers are into digital transactions. pillars, the GCI analyzes four technology enablers that
are crucial signposts to help benchmark the relative
Table 4. Score of 6-AMS in Experience Pillar,
2019-2020 strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges
facing digital economies. These enablers include:
Countries 2019 2020 Variance
Broadband, Cloud, IoT, and AI. Further, these four
Singapore 91 93 +2
technology enablers must function on a platform of
Malaysia 64 64 no change robust measurements of ICT fundamentals for a nation
Thailand 52 55 +3 to transform into a new digital economy.
Vietnam 51 52 +1

Indonesia 43 45 +2
FigureGCI
Source: 1. Report
Four 2020
Enabling Technologies- 6 AMS Score,
Philippines 43 44 +1 Note: Score of 10 (lowest) to 1202020
(highest), GCI
Source: GCI Report 2019-2020

Experience. This comprises indicators for analyzing

the experience of connectivity for end users and
organizations in today’s digital economy. These
indicators include: E-government services, Internet
participation, Cyber-security awareness, Fixed
broadband affordability, Mobile broadband affordability,
Telecom customer service, Broadband download speed,
IoT analytics, Cloud experience, and data creation.

Singapore’s score in consumer experience (93) Source: GCI Report 2020

continues to improve since 2019, showing that the Note: Score of 10 (lowest) to 120 (highest), GCI

indicators involved are the country’s potential strengths

in the digital economy. Indonesia and the Philippines,
while both had equal scores in 2019, got an increase of Source: GCI Report 2020
2 points and 1 point, respectively, in 2020. Malaysia’s Note: Score of 10 (lowest) to 120 (highest), GCI

score, on the other hand, remained the same in 2020

(Table 4).
Broadband. This provides connectivity to feed data
Table 5. Score of 6-AMS in Potential Pillar, and information to AI and carry instructions to IoT and
2019-2020 decision makers. In this technology, Singapore has the
Countries 2019 2020 Variance highest score among the 6-AMS, while the Philippines
Singapore 70 71 +1 remained at the bottom (Figure 1).
Malaysia 49 48 -1 Cloud. This stores data and information while providing
Thailand 38 41 +3 computing capabilities to run. Only Vietnam got the
Vietnam 38 38 no change lowest score of 30 points among its peers.
Indonesia 36 38 +2
AI. This impacts broadband and cloud services
Philippines 36 38 +2 by minimizing network congestion and optimizing
Source: GCI Report 2019-2020
resources. The Philippines outscored Indonesia in this
technology by 3 points.
Potential. This pillar is composed of indicators that point
towards the future development of the digital economy. IoT. It creates and collects data to feed AI systems.
Indicators include ICT influencing new business models, Indonesia and the Philippines had the lowest score in
AI potential, IoT potential, cloud potential, mobile potential, this technology, while Singapore leads with the highest
broadband potential, R&D expenditure, ICT patents, IT score of 54 points.