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 Market, Economics and Finance Unit (MEF) Telecommunication Development Bureau

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 Helping the world to communicate

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

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.” ITU mandate and role

o Information sharing: tracking the global diffusion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Telecom/ICT Data collection and dissemination Analysis International cooperation o The ITU, through its Indicators, is the main source of internationally comparable data on ICT/telecommunications Market Economics and Finance Unit Mobile overtakes fixed! Telephone subscribers, world, millions Source: ITU 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)

HOW? o Two Telecommunication Indicator Questionnaires per year addressed to government agencies responsible from ICT/telecom or operator o Online research o Annual reports WHAT? o Telephone network 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 collection Data is entered into the World Telecommunication Indicators Database

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) Data storage

Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database Challenges… Not every country returns/answers questionnaire and reply rates are higher for short questionnaires! 15 out of 22 of the Arab States replied to the 2005 Short Questionnaire

Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database …more challenges Not every country (that replies) answers every questions!

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 more challenges

… and the statistical divide (2002/2003)

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 Covers 80 ICT/telecom indicators for almost 200 economies Data dissemination

Data dissemination – the CD-ROM

o Free statistics published in our ICT website for basic indicators, cellular subscribers, and information technology ( ( o Requests made by users either by phone, fax,or Data dissemination – other forms

World Telecommunication Development Report Regional Reports on ICT/telecom developments Case Studies ( Analysis

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) WTDR 2003

USAGE  Internet users INFRA- STRUCTURE AFFORDABILITYKNOWLEDGE QUALITY  Fixed telephone subscribers  Mobile cellular subscriber s  Broadband subscribers  International Internet bandwidth  Internet access price  School enrolment  Literacy 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 Digital Access Index

Digital Access Index – Ranking Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database Note: DAI ranks a total of 178 economies. Rank Economy Infra- structure Afford- ability Know- ledge QualityUsageDAI 1Sweden Denmark Iceland Korea (Rep.) Norway Netherlands United Arab Emirates Qatar Kuwait Lebanon Jordan Saudi Arabia

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 Regional Reports

The Arab States – market structure 2003 Source: ITU World Telecommunication Regulatory Database

Comparing evolution of fixed teledensity, Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database

Comparing mobile growth rates, by region, Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database

Internet user penetration, by region, 2003 Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database

DSL penetration, Arab Region, 2003 Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators database Note: Data on Lebanon refer to cable modem access

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 Other activities: International cooperation & coordination

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