East African nation Kenya has gone up by six points in this year’s ICT Network Readiness Index, it was revealed at the World Economic Forum in Cape Town, South Africa.

The report showed that big economies in Africa fell in rankings and only Kenya showed yearly improvement.

Kenya was the only country to record ICT growth on the continent moving from position 92 achieved last year to 86th position this year.

Meanwhile, South Africa fell from 70 to 75th position this year and Nigeria lost ground to be 119th position from 112 achieved previously.

Kenya’s growth has been attributed to the developments that have been witnessed in the country’s ICT sector.

“In 2013, among the 25 low-income countries studied, five had a penetration rate above 10% and only one—Kenya—had a rate exceeding 20%. Kenya liberalised its telecommunications sector in the late 1990s and created the Kenya Internet Exchange Point in 2002,” the report said.

This development led to a dramatic fall in providers’ operating costs and retail prices, in addition to increase in local content.

“As a result, internet penetration in Kenya increased from 1% in 2002 to 39% today - five times the low-income group’s average,” the report continued.

The report concluded that lack of content in most emerging markets is a hindrance to internet adoption.

“Finally, beyond affordability and infrastructure, the lack of availability of digital content and services represents another significant obstacle to more widespread adoption. Many individuals do not get online simply because there is little content relevant to them,” the report read.