The report, however, urged the country to further improve local telecommunication infrastructure in order to deliver basic services more effectively.

In the South and Eastern Asia region, the Philippines ranked next only to South Korea, Singapore and Japan. Overall, the Philippines ranked 41st ahead of neighboring countries Malaysia (43rd), Thailand (46th), Indonesia (96th) and Vietnam (105th).

The country improved its ranking from 47th last year and in the report, was cited as one of the biggest gainers among developing countries that also included Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Malta and Estonia.

According to the UN study, the Philippines has developed a "solid presence" across all stages of e-government, covering most of the basic functions and features while simultaneously developing transactional facilities and connecting portals of various agencies.

The report, though, pointed out the lack of formal online consultations mechanism and the need to strengthen the quality of Web sites at the ministerial level to match the quality of the main portal.