A recent ranking by the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) reveals that Belgium has fallen four places to 16th in Europe when ranked according to performance in key areas of digitisation. While connectivity still remains the big issue, at least Belgian companies fared much better in specific areas such as digital training.
FPS Economy announced Belgium's drop in the Digital Economy and Society Index rankings on Friday. Having come in at 12th last year, the DESI's figures for 2022 highlighted Belgium's underperformance in connectivity, as a prior ranking released in July of this year had shown.
Despite over 92% of households having internet access and 99% of the population having access to fast broadband, Belgium still ranks near the bottom for the rollout of 5G (25th out of 27) and finished dead last in the European rankings for broadband prices and fibre deployment.
Related News
- Two million Belgians without access to banking services
- Antwerp cyber attacks: 'City will not negotiate or pay' says De Wever
- AI hub to boost economic and environmental innovation opens in Brussels
However, the digitisation of Belgian companies offers a silver lining for the country's continental standing, with 89% possessing a broadband connection of at least 100 Gbps and 30% of the country's SMEs having set up an online shop (with the European average standing at 18%).
Furthermore, Belgian companies are the second most active on the continent in training their employees in information and communication technologies and come in at fourth spot in the use of both Big data and social media.
