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- Ελληνικά
Cyprus recorded significant progress in the European Commission's annual report "State of the Digital Decade 2024", which assesses the digital readiness of the European Union (EU) Member States and the progress towards achieving the objectives of the Digital Decade 2030. Our country is on a steady upward trend in a number of indicators, with the highest growth recorded in terms of Gigabit connectivity infrastructure deployment and the percentage of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) specialists in the labour market.
Specifically, very high capacity network (VHCN) coverage reached 77.1% in 2023, an increase of 28.5% compared to the previous year, while Cyprus is expected to reach the 100% target by the end of 2025 through government subsidies for the expansion of networks in non-private areas. It is worth noting that Cyprus has already achieved 100% coverage in terms of mobile 5G networks, reaching the European target for 2030 seven years earlier.
Particularly encouraging are also the results in terms of the increase in the percentage of dedicated ICTs, which has exceeded the European average of 4.8% and now stands at 5.4%. This is a crucial axis for accelerating digital transformation, as well as for the adoption of advanced technologies - key to developing innovative solutions to socio-economic and environmental challenges. An important challenge, however, remains the upgrading of the digital skills of the general population, as well as the further development of e-Health services.
In the dimension "digitisation of government services", a key government priority, Cyprus is showing an improvement of 16.3%, a multiple of the 3.1% average growth rate in Europe, with more and more digital services being offered to both citizens and businesses in the country.
Although the majority of Cypriot SMEs are at a satisfactory level of digital maturity, the adoption rates of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence are still relatively low. Encouraging, however, are the results regarding the use of cloud services by businesses, where Cyprus ranks above the European average (38.9%) with a percentage of 45.5%.
Referring to the results, the Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Dr Nicodemus Damianou, expressed his satisfaction with the fact that the country's digital ecosystem is developing at a steady pace and is taking steps in the right direction. "The Government," said the Deputy Minister, "remains committed to the goal of digital transition and the implementation of digital solutions with a direct impact on the everyday life of the Cypriot citizen. The Digital Decade indicators constitute the roadmap, on the basis of which we formulate our strategy in order to achieve the ambitious targets set at national and European level. We will proceed by analysing the individual indicators seriously and thoroughly, adjusting and aligning our actions to ensure that they respond to the data, needs, objectives and challenges we face."
(EAT/NZ)
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