U.S. falls to 17th in U.N. broadband rankings

In a report that ranked 154 countries on their advanced use of information and communications technology, the United States fell from 11th to 17th between 2002 and 2007.

The report - entitled Measuring the Information Society - the ICT Development Index - was commissioned by the United Nations and based upon several factors, including:

"The number of citizens per 100 who have fixed line and mobile cellular phones and accessed Internet, broadband Internet and mobile broadband services. It also considered the amount of bandwidth available per Internet user, the proportion of households with computers and Internet access and the literacy and education levels of a country's population."

Sweden was ranked number one by the U.N. report. South Korea, Denmark, the Netherlands and Iceland rounded out the top five.

The report said that more than anything the United States dropped in rankings because of its relative stagnant position in many categories while many European countries improved dramatically.

Canada drops in UN communications technology ranking (CBC News)

Measuring the Information Society - the ICT Development Index (United Nations)