Chapter 2. The ICT Development Index (IDI) Table 2.8: Top ten economies with the greatest 2008-2010 change in the IDI access sub-index, by absolute value change (left) and rank change (right) IDI rank 2010 Access rank 2010 Country Access value change 2008-2010 IDI rank 2010 Access rank 2010 Country Access rank change 2008-2010 52 51 Belarus 1.36 81 72 Viet Nam 16 46 43 Saudi Arabia 1.32 124 133 Zimbabwe 16 81 72 Viet Nam 1.28 111 109 Turkmenistan 11 54 50 Uruguay 1.14 78 82 Albania 10 44 28 Qatar 1.06 52 51 Belarus 10 74 75 Azerbaijan 1.01 141 131 Madagascar 10 47 41 Russia 0.97 44 28 Qatar 9 57 59 Moldova 0.97 86 91 Mongolia 8 87 70 Iran (I.R.) 0.90 46 43 Saudi Arabia 8 66 63 Panama 0.90 72 77 Armenia 7 Source: ITU. Box 2.8: The highest ranked IDI country from South America: Uruguay takes the lead Uruguay is the top South American country in the IDI ranking (ranked 54th) in 2010. Uruguay achieved a 0.72 IDI value change from 2008, significantly above the world average value increase of 0.46 and higher than South America’s average value increase of 0.39. This progress was attributable to achievements in both the access and use sub-indices. Uruguay’s fixed-telephone line penetration rate stands at 29 per cent at end of 2010, and yet the country’s mobile-penetration rate has climbed to a staggering 131 per cent (up from 105 per cent two years ago). The mobile market has made great strides, led by Ancel, the mobile arm of state-owned incumbent Administración Nacional de Teleco-municaciones increase in 2010, thanks to a large increase in its international Internet bandwidth. In a consortium with marine service pro-vider IT Telecom and Alcatel-Lucent, Antel began deployment of the 250km submarine cable network last year. This undersea project is part of efforts to provide greater capacity to countries served by Antel and Telcom Argentina.41 Internet use in Uruguay has also increased substantially over the last ten years and, in 2010, more than four out of ten people in Uruguay were using the Internet.42 This is above the level in deve-loping countries, where at present only 20 per cent of people are online, and also above the world average of 37 per cent. Future advances in technology will hopefully see an even larger Internet usage rate next year. Uruguay improved most on the household computers and Internet access indicators (from 35 to 53 per cent and from 21 to 33 per cent, respectively). Under its fibre-to-the-home (Antel). As the Uruguayan telecom market grows, newcomers are beginning to enter into Antel’s space, and this could exert an influence in respect of tariff adjustments and competition in new areas for next year. (FTTH) roll-out plans, Antel is aiming to deploy connections Uruguay has improved its access and use sub-index values by large magnitudes (by 1.14 and 0.53 as compared with the world averages of 0.47 and 0.63, respectively). Of the countries of the Americas, Uruguay showed the highest access sub-index to around 80 000 households by end 2011 and reach 200 000 households by end 2012.43 It has also upgraded its HSDPA+ technology and is planning for the next future LTE technology. 32