The Index's technology rankings are based on three indicators of Internet penetration: the estimated percentage of the population that uses the Internet; the number of hosts or computers permanently tied to the Internet; and the number of secure servers, or hosts capable of handling encrypted data and therefore appropriate for electronic commerce, all calculated on a per capita basis.
On this basis Australia ranks number three in the world, behind the United States in first place and Finland in second.
AT Kearney said the number of Internet users in Australia climbed 7.5 percent between 2000 and 2001, from 6.7 million to 7.2 million. However, the growth rate was well below the global average of more than 40 percent.
Thiryty-seven percent of Australia's population were online in 2001, placing it behind the US, UK and Switzerland, all of whom it led in 2000. However the number of hosts grew more rapidly than the number of users, putting Australia in seventh place globally with 2.2 million computers permanently attached to the Internet.
Australian international telephone traffic fell dramatically between 2000 and 2001. Incoming phone calls fell from 1.03 billion minutes in 2000 to 747 million minutes in 2001, while outgoing phone calls fell from 1.37 billion minutes in 2000 to 877 million minutes in 2001.
In contrast to economic integration, which saw international trade levels fall by 1.5 percent and global foreign direct investment flows dropping more than 50 percent from US$1.49 trillion to $US735 billion, levels of personal contact and technological integration continued to grow, according to the report. Worldwide telephone traffic grew by more than nine percent to reach 120 billion minutes, while the number of Internet users grew by 22.5 percent to over 550 million users.
New Zealand ranked ninth globally in the technology rankings, and 16th in the overall rankings. Australian came in 21st place for the overall globalisation index.
The Globalisation Index measures economic, social, political, and technological integration in 62 countries representing 85 percent of the world's population and over 95 percent of world economic output.
