Belo Horizonte, Curitiba and Porto Alegre are more digital cities

The important cities like Rio de Janeiro or Brasília (the federal capital) are not necessarily the most digital cities in the country. This is what the research Brazil Index of Digital Cities released by CPqD (Center for Research and Development Telebrás) in partnership with Momento Editorial. According to the research, the target is to measure the level of digitalization of Brazilian municipalities, the most advanced and that occupy the first four positions of the ranking are Belo Horizonte (MG), Curitiba (PR), Porto Alegre (RS) and Vitoria (ES).

In a statement sent to media by CPqD, explains that "digital cities have different maturity stages, or levels of urbanization in relation to the availability and use of Information Technology, be the citizen, government, company or companies". To assess at what stage the municipalities are, the CPqD created a methodology that takes into account a series of criteria, divided into nine categories, related not only to the technological infrastructure (presence of primary equipment, bandwidth, coverage, etc.), but also the availability of digital services and resources to accessibility, for example, for people with physical disabilities or illiterate.

Based on this criteria, a questionnaire was generated with 15 questions which were answered by more than one hundred municipalities in all regions of Brazil. Of this total, 75 questionnaires were validated by the Momento Editorial staff and the contributing authors, after checking the data and its junction with information from the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) and IBGE (Institute Brazilian Geography and Statistics). The methodology also provides a scoring system for each category of criteria.

Here is the ten cities ranked in the top position of the Brazil Index for Digital Cities and their scores:

1º - Belo Horizonte (MG) - 360 points
2º - Curitiba (PR) - 352 points
3º - Porto Alegre (RS) - 349 points
4º - Vitória (ES) - 347 points
5º - Ibirapuitã (RS) - 340 points
5º - Jundiaí (SP) - 340 points
6º - Campinas (SP) - 339 points
7º - Santos (SP) - 338 points
7º - São Carlos (SP) - 338 points
8º - Tarumã (SP) - 335 points
9º - São Paulo (SP) - 334 points
10º - Tauá (CE) - 332 points

For more info, visit www.wirelessmundi.inf.br and www.cpqd.com.br.