Capacity-building Workshop on Information Society Measurements:
Core Indicators, Statistics, and Data Collection
7-10 June 2005
UN House, Beirut, Lebanon
ITU World Telecommunication Indicators:
Data Collection and Dissemination
Vanessa.Gray@itu.int
Market, Economics and Finance Unit (MEF)
Telecommunication Development Bureau
Helping the world to communicate
o The ITU is the UN-specialized agency for
telecommunications: where governments
and the private sector coordinate global
telecom networks and services
o Founded in 1865
o 189 Member States and over 700 private
sector members
Overview
o ITU’s role and mandate
o ITU’s World telecommunication indicators
• How?
• What?
• Why?
• Challenges
• Dissemination - demand for ITU data
• Analysis/Reports
o Arab States Trends and Markets
o Conclusions
ITU mandate and role
o As a United Nations agency, the ITU has an
obligation to produce statistics covering its
sector. This is in line with other specialized
agencies that publish statistics covering their
respective field of operations. This forms part
of the global statistical system of the UN.
o Inside ITU, Resolution No. 8 (Istanbul, 2002)
calls on the Director of the BDT “…to survey
countries and produce world and regional
reports, in particular on…world
telecommunication developments.”
Market Economics and Finance Unit
o
o
Information sharing:
tracking the global
diffusion of Information
and Communication
Technologies (ICT)
•
Telecom/ICT Data
collection and
dissemination
•
Analysis
•
International
cooperation
The ITU, through its
Indicators, is the main
source of internationally
comparable data on
ICT/telecommunications
Mobile overtakes fixed!
Telephone subscribers, world, millions
Fixed
Mobile
In the Arab States mobile overtook
fixed in 2002, when the number of
mobile subscribers grew to over 25
million (compared to just under 24
million fixed lines)
1'600
1'400
1'200
1'000
800
600
400
200
0
88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03
Source: ITU
Data collection
HOW?
WHAT?
o Two Telecommunication
o Telephone network
Indicator Questionnaires
per year addressed to
government agencies
responsible from
ICT/telecom or operator
o Online research
o Annual reports
o Mobile services
o Traffic/Tariff
o Quality of Service/Staff
o Revenues & Investment
o Broadcasting
o Information Technology
• PCs
• Internet
subscribers/users
• Broadband/bandwidth
Data is entered into the World Telecommunication Indicators Database
Data storage
o Annual numerical data (indicators)
o Industry/country operators’ information
(contact details, operators functions,
short description, etc.)
o Updated regularly to cope with the fast
changing telecom/ICT environment
• New indicators added
• World Telecommunication Indicators
Workshop (February 2005)
Challenges…
ITU Telecom Questionnaires - Reply rates (%)
75
Not every country returns/answers questionnaire
and reply rates are higher for short questionnaires!
56.2
54.6
61.2
57.8
46.5
50
15 out of 22 of the
Arab States replied
to the 2005 Short
Questionnaire
25
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database
2004
…more challenges
Reply rates (%) to selected indicators, 2004
Not every country (that replies) answers every questions!
100
77
82
75
50
35
27
33
25
0
Fixed Lines
Cellular
subscribers
Total
revenues
Mobile
revenue
Staff
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database
26
24
Investment
Faults
…and more challenges
o More work to aggregate operators’ data
since liberalization and privatization
• More operators for different services
• Operators data or annual reports
sometimes not made available
o Some information collected does not
meet the ITU definition and data are not
always internationally comparable
…and the statistical divide
(2002/2003)
Low Income
Upper Middle
Lower Middle
High Income
Low income
Upper Middle
100%
100%
80%
80%
60%
60%
40%
40%
20%
20%
0%
0%
Population
Internet
users
Lower Middle
High Income
Countries
Internet
survey
Data dissemination
o Yearbook of Statistics
• Published annually for almost
3 decades
• Covers 80 ICT/telecom indicators for
almost 200 economies
o World Telecommunication Indicators
Database
• Time series data for the years 1960,
1965, 1970 and annually from 1975-2003
• Covers 80 ICT/telecom indicators for
almost 200 economies
Data dissemination – the CD-ROM
Data dissemination – other forms
o Free statistics published in our ICT
website for basic indicators, cellular
subscribers, and information technology
(http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics/)
o Requests made by users either by
phone, fax,or email
Analysis
• World Telecommunication Development Report
• Regional Reports on ICT/telecom developments
• Case Studies (www.itu.int/ict/cs)
WTDR 2003
• World Telecommunication
Development Report
• Contains overview of world
telecom indicators
• Highlights topics relevant
to global issues
• Latest released December
2003 during WSIS
(Geneva)
• Topic: Measuring the
information society
• Includes the first release of
Digital Access Index (DAI)
Digital Access Index
o The DAI ranks 178
economies according
to their ability to
access ICTs
o Based on 5
categories and 8
indicators
o Classifies economies
into: high, upper,
medium, low
 Broadband
subscribers
QUALITY
 International
Internet
bandwidth
 Fixed
telephone
subscribers
INFRASTRUCTURE
USAGE
 Internet users
 Literacy
KNOWLEDGE
 School
enrolment
 Mobile
cellular
subscriber
s
Internet
access
price
AFFORDABILITY
Digital Access Index – Ranking
Rank
Economy
1
2
3
4
5
6
34
48
Sweden
Denmark
Iceland
Korea (Rep.)
Norway
Netherlands
United Arab Emirates
Qatar
InfraAffordstructure ability
Knowledge
Quality
Usage
DAI
0.94
0.89
0.89
0.74
0.84
0.78
0.66
0.46
0.99
0.99
0.99
0.99
0.99
0.99
0.99
0.99
0.99
0.99
0.96
0.96
0.99
0.99
0.73
0.81
0.64
0.66
0.50
0.74
0.55
0.61
0.39
0.37
0.67
0.60
0.76
0.65
0.59
0.60
0.43
0.14
0.847
0.828
0.820
0.817
0.793
0.792
0.64
0.55
0.98
0.89
0.73
0.83
0.28
0.29
0.12
0.14
0.51
0.48
60
Kuwait
67
Lebanon
0.43
0.28
80
Jordan
0.22
0.82
0.86
0.27
0.07
0.45
82
Saudi Arabia
0.23
0.95
0.71
0.26
0.07
0.44
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database
Note: DAI ranks a total of 178 economies.
Regional Reports
• Specifically prepared for
regional Telecom events
• Contains 3 parts:
Analytical overview,
regional statistics,
directory of
telecommunication
operators
• Africa Telecom
Indicators 2004
released during Telecom
Africa 2004
• Latest is Asia Telecom
Indicators 2004
released September 2004
The Arab States – market structure
2003
Competition in Basic Services (%)
85
90
Monopoly
80
70
60
48 52
50
77
Competition
51 49
54
49 51
46
40
23
30
20
15
10
0
Afr
ica
A
s
rica
e
m
CIS
te s
cific
a
&
t
a
e
bS
a- P
ro p
Asi
Ara
Eu
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Regulatory Database
rld
Wo
Comparing evolution of fixed
teledensity, 1993-2003
45
40
Europe
35
Americas
30
25
20
15
World
AP
10
Arab States
5
Africa
0
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database
2003
Comparing mobile growth rates, by
region, 1993-2003
Compound annual growth rate (CAGR), %, 1998-2003
Arab States
68.6
Africa
65.1
Asia Pacific
39.4
Europe
35.2
Americas
25.5
0
20
40
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database
60
80
Internet user penetration, by region,
2003
Africa
1.4%
Arab States
3.7%
Asia-Pacific
7.0%
World
11.6%
Europe
24.7%
Americas
27.0%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database
25%
30%
DSL penetration, Arab Region, 2003
Bahrain
1.40%
1.00%
Lebanon
0.62%
UAE
Kuwait
0.53%
0.44%
Qatar
Jordan
0.09%
S. Arabia
0.04%
Sudan
0.03%
Tunisia
0.03%
Morocco
0.01%
Egypt
0.01%
0%
0%
0%
1%
1%
1%
1%
Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database
Note: Data on Lebanon refer to cable modem access
1%
2%
Other activities:
International cooperation &
coordination
• The Millennium Development Goals: ITU
tracks target 18 of the MDGs
• Main telephone lines & cellular subscribers,
PC penetration , Internet users (for UN MDG
database)
• Prepares story-lines for UN Secretary
General’s report on MDG
• “Partnership on Measuring ICT for
Development”
• Conferences/workshops/meetings
• Case Studies
http://www.itu.int/ict
http://www.itu.int/ict
Thank you for your attention!