Measuring ICT Indicators*

Background

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is becoming part and parcel of

national Development strategies across the globe. ICTs are Instruments to enhance
efficiency, quality and productivity as well as ICT -driven growth process.

1 It is well known that the indicators and statistical data are essential to any planning
process as also for monitoring and evaluating policies. In the same way, indicators and
statistical data on ICTs are essential to design evidence based and result-oriented policies.
To this end figures on ‘access to’, ‘use of’, and ‘impact of ICT on the ICT sector’ are
particularly important.

2 In order to be useful, ICT statistics needs to be reliable, comparable, and timely.

Based on this data policy makers:

• Can determine the level of ICT readiness; for example by measuring the number
and type of people that have access to the Internet, and what they use it for;
• Can formulate policy objectives based on quantitative indicators that can be
monitored;
• Can assess the impact of ICT policies on ICT readiness, or on social or economic
development;
• Can benchmark the results of their ICT policies against those of other countries,
and draw lessons from these comparisons

3 The UNSC in its 38th Session presented a “Report of the Partnership on Measuring
Information and Communication Technologies for Development: information and
communication technology statistics” wherein it noted that

“During the last decades, advancements in the access to and usage of

information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been a driving
force for changes in business and in society. While ICT diffusion and usage
presents an opportunity to developing countries, the digital divide between
developed and developing countries persists, posing a new challenge for
development.”

4 It has been recognized by Target 18 (part of Goal 8) of the Millennium Development

Goals, which states: “In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of
new technologies, especially information and communications”.

5 In this development context, the first phase of the World Summit of the Information
Society (WSIS), held in Geneva in 2003, highlighted the importance of benchmarking and
measuring progress towards the informatio n society through internationally comparable

*
Paper compiled by P. H. Khopkar, Deputy Director General and S. L. Bodat, Additional Director,
Computer Centre; and is meant for discussion with the State Directorates of Economics and Statistics in
the COCSSO, 10-11 April 2007, New Delhi
statistical indicators. The second phase, held in Tunis in 2005, recognized that the
development of ICT indicators is important for measuring the digital divide, and called upon
countries and international organizations to allocate appropriate resources for the provision
of ICT statistics, and to develop effective measurement methodologies including basic ICT
indicators and an analysis of the state of the information society.

6 In response to the issues raised by the Millennium Development Goals and the first
phase of WSIS, a number of key stakeholders involved in the statistical measurement of the
information society joined to form the Partnership on Measuring Information and
Communication Technologies for Deve lopment. Current partners are

i) the International Telecommunication Union (ITU),

ii) the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD),
iii) the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat),
iv) the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD),
v) Economic Commission for Africa (ECA),
vi) Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC),
vii) Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP),
viii) Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA)),
ix) the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Institute
for Statistics (UIS)
x) the World Bank
xi) the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task
Force (UNICT)

7 The main objectives of the Partnership are: (a) to define and analyse internationally
comparable statistical ICT indicators and develop methodologies to collect these indicators;
(b) to assist in building the statistical capacity in developing countries; and (c) to set up a
global database for hosting data on core ICT indicators.

8 The Partnership on Measuring Information and Communication Technologies for

Development consolidated a list of core ICT indicators based on regional lists obtained
through various National Statistical Offices (NSOs). A final list was discussed, and agreed
upon, at the WSIS Thematic Meeting on Measuring the Information Society, held in Geneva
from 7 to 9 February 2005. The core list of ICT indicators is given at Annex-I. The core
indicators in the list benefit from being based on internationally agreed standards (especially
those developed by the ITU, OECD and Eurostat). It is one of the objectives of the
Partnership to consolidate standards at the global level, taking into consideration the
demands and special circumstances of developing countries.

9 Involving NSOs from both developed and developing countries in all Partnership
activities has been of utmost importance to the Partnership since its conception. National
statistical offices from developed countries have provided guidance on methodologies and
experiences in ICT data collection, analysis and dissemination, primarily through the OECD
Working Party on Indicators for the Information Society (WPIIS). National statistical offices
from developing countries have voiced their challenges and needs with regards to ICT
measurement, making the Partnership a practical forum for exchanging experiences.

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10 A number of countries have already integrated the proposed list of core ICT
indicators in their existing household and business surveys. Members of the Partnership are
providing assistance to this process.

ICT Indicators in India

11 Twenty years ago, India faced tremendous challenges when it set on its ICT journey.
The PC revolution was yet to encompass the country, the telecom infrastructure was low and
there was virtually no indigenous software or hardware development to talk about. The ICT
industry, at a very nascent stage, appeared far behind its Western counterpart. Today, in
2005, the scenario has undergone an amazing transformation. The Indian ICT industry, in
particular the IT software and services and ITES sectors, have not only managed to catch up
with their more technology savvy global leaders, but they are also being actively sought by
companies worldwide for their onsite, offshore expertise and wealth of manpower resources.
Indian ICT organizations are now counted among the well known and reputed ICT solutions
and services providers across the world and scores of global ICT leaders have invested in
India, making the country their hub for software development, offshore outsourcing and
R&D.

12 Information Technology Development

12.1 Use of Personal Computers has tremendously increased from 5.4 million PCs in
2001 to 14.5 million in 2005. As on today, only every hundredth person has a
personal computer, which is much less compared with any developed country.

12.2 Internet Users per 100 populations. Though we have a rapid positive trend for
this indicator, compared to the developed countries, we are at the infant stage.
Even the 200th person is not at internet subscriber in India. However, every 35th
person is using internet in India.

PC population and in use per 100 population

Year (March Ending 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

PC population (in million) 5.40 6.00 8.00 11.00 14.5
PC in use per 100 population 0.53 0.58 0.77 1.04 1.34
Source: Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

Status of Internet Subscribers

As on Internet Subscribers (million)

13-3-1999 0.230
31-03-2000 0.943
31-03-2001 2.909
31-03-2002 3.239
31-03-2003 3.500
31-03-2004 4.050
31-03-2005 5.300
31-06-2005 5.556
Source: Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

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12.3 Indian ITES-BPO sector industry continues to grow from strength to strength,
witnessing high levels of activity - both onshore as well as offshore. the export
revenues from ITES-BPO grew from US $ 2.5 billion in year 2002-03 to US $5.1
billion in the year 2004-05. The ITES-BPO sector has become the biggest
employment generator amongst young college graduates with the number of jobs
almost doubling each year. the number of professionals employed in India by IT
and ITES sectors has grown from 284,000 in 1999-2000 to 1.05 million in 2004-
05, growing by over 200,000 in the last year alone. the pace of recruitment
picked up for IT serves; while ITES-BPO companies were recruiting in large
numbers through the year. It is estimates that the ITES-BPO sector hired 400
personnel every working day of the year.

12.4 The Government vision is to use Information Technology as a tool for raising the
living standards of the common man and enriching their lives. Towards this end
an ambitious programme of PC and Internet penetration to the rural and under
served urban areas has been taken up. The Department of Informatio n
Technology has initiated a programme of establish State Wide Area Network
(SWAN) upto the block level with a minimum Bandwidth of 2 MBPS to provide
reliable backbone connectivity for E-Governance. Further, in order to bring
about a substantially increased proliferation of IN Internet domain name, a new
.IN policy framework and implementation plan has been formulated and
announced in October 2004. It aims to put in place a more liberal, efficient and
market friendly domain name registration system. It aims to ensure that the
internet traffic, which originates within India and also has destination in India,
remains within the country, resulting in improved traffic, reduced cost and better
security.

12.5 The National Policy of the government recognizes the potential of E-Governance
not only to improve governance but also to facilitate people's access to
government services. We are working on a National E-Governance action plan
that seeks to lay the foundation and provide impetus for a far more pervasive
spread of E-Governance to reach the Common man particularly in far- flung areas.
Seeking to do so we are putting together various elements that are needed for
leveraging the enormous power of ICT for the economic development of our
country and enable the common man to access Government services in an
efficient, convenient and cost effective manner.

12.6 To bridge the imbalance between urban and non-urban areas, provide
connectivity at grass-root level, and to facilitate the spread of benefits of
Information and Communication Technology to all and to accelerate the socio-
economic development of these areas, the Department has set up Community
Information Centres (CICs) in hilly, far- flung areas of North-East and J&K. It is
also proposed to set up CICs in other hilly, far- flung areas of the country.

12.7 Broadband services greatly contribute in the growth of GDP through applications
including e-education, e-health, tele marketing, e-governance, entertainment, etc.
However, the current level of Internet and broadband access in India is abysmally
low. In the Broadband Policy announced in October, 2004, the broadband
connectivity has been defined as "an always on" data connection that is able to
support interactive services including internet access with a minimum download

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 speed of 256 kbps to an individual subscriber. The policy visualizes creation of
infrastructure through various access technologies for providing broadband
services. It is expected that the number of broadband subscribers would be 3
million by 2005, 9 million by 2007 and 20 million by 2010".

12.8 Other initiatives taken by the Government in the IT Sector include announcement
of the Information Technology Act 2000 for copyright protection, the Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) Policy permission to private ISPs to set up international
gateways and internet access through cable TV infrastructure among others.

Collecting Information on ICT Indicators

13 International requirements

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and United Nations Conference

on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) have developed questionnaires for collecting official
statistical data on the “Access to, and use of ICT by households and individuals in
developing countries” and “ICT usage by Enterprises and on the ICT Sector” respectively.
The questionnaires are designed to gather information for assessing progress made in ICT
usage apart from international comparability.

The brief contents of the questionnaire are given below:

a) ITU Questionnaire (Individuals & Households)

1a ICT Access Indicators

HH1 Proportion of households with a radio
HH2 Proportion of households with a television
HH3 Proportion of households with a fixed line telephone
HH4 Proportion of households with a mobile cellular telephone
HH5 Proportion of households with a computer
HH7 Proportion of households with Internet access at home
HH12 Proportion of households with access to the Internet by type of
access
HHR1b Proportion of households with electricity

1b ICT usage indicators – Age & Gender

HH6 Proportion of individuals who used a computer (from any
location) in the last 12 months
HH8 Proportion of individuals who used the Internet (from any
location) in the last 12 months
HH9 Location of individual use of the Internet in the last 12 months
HH10 Internet activities undertaken by individuals in the last 12 months:
HH11 Proportion of individuals with use of a mobile telephone
HH13 Frequency of individual access to the Internet in the last 12
months (from any location)

1c ICT usage indicator – Education

HH6 Proportion of individuals who used a computer (from any
location) in the last 12 months

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 HH8 Proportion of individuals who used the Internet (from any
location) in the last 12 months
HH9 Location of individual use of the Internet in the last 12 months
HH10 Internet activities undertaken by individuals in the last 12 months:
HH11 Proportion of individuals with use of a mobile telephone
HH13 Frequency of individual access to the Internet in the last 12
months (from any location)

1d ICT usage indicator – Employme nt Status

HH10 Internet activities undertaken by individuals in the last 12 months:
HH11 Proportion of individuals with use of a mobile telephone
HH13 Frequency of individual access to the Internet in the last 12
months (from any location)

1e ICT usage indicator – Individuals with disabilities

HH6 Proportion of individuals who used a computer (from any
location) in the last 12 months
HH8 Proportion of individuals who used the Internet (from any
location) in the last 12 months
HH9 Location of individual use of the Internet in the last 12 months
HH10 Internet activities undertaken by individuals in the last 12 months:
HH11 Proportion of individuals with use of a mobile telephone
HH13 Frequency of individual access to the Internet in the last 12
months (from any location)

b) UNCTAD Questionnaire (for Enterprises)

1a ICT Usage Indicators (by size)

B1 Proportion of businesses using computers
B2 Proportion of employees using computers

1b ICT Usage Indicators (by Urban/Rural)

B1 Proportion of businesses using computers
B2 Proportion of employees using computers
1c ICT Usage Indicators (by Industrial Classification)
B1 Proportion of businesses using computers
B2 Proportion of employees using computers

14 Present National Scenario and Issues

As could be seen from the contents of above mentioned questionnaires that the ITU
questionnaire relates to individuals and households while UNCTAD questionnaire pertains
to enterprises. In order to collect information on ICT indicators it is pertinent that there is
need for incorporating suitable modifications in the questionnaire canvassed during sample
surveys/censuses. It is also important that the scope of coverage, of administrative data,
needs to be increased to cover service providers in the field of ICT like telephony (including
mobile), communication, ISPs, Radio, TV etc.

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15 In order to fulfill obligation for providing information to International agencies,
specifically, to respond to the questionnaires referred above, the Ministry has taken steps for
collection of information on ICT usage from enterprises by way of modifying the schedule
of the Annual Survey of Industries in 2000-01.

16 In line with international comparison, it is also important that the comparison of ICT
indicators is made at state level for assessing areas of our strengths and weaknesses in order
to take corrective measures for overall improvements. To strengthen the database of
indicators on ICT, it is needless to say that the mechanism at the state level be looked into
for incorporating necessary changes for gathering information on ICT indicators.

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 Annex I

List of core information and communication technology indicators

Core indicators on information and communication technology infrastructure and
access

A1 Fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants

A2 Mobile cellular subscribers per 100 inhabitants
A3 Computers per 100 inhabitants
A4 Internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants
A5 Broadband Internet subscribers per 100 inhabitants
A6 International Internet bandwidth per inhabitant
A7 Percentage of population covered by mobile cellular telephony
A8 Internet access tariffs (20 hours per month), in US$, and as a percentage of per capita
income
A9 Mobile cellular tariffs (100 minutes of use per month), in US$, and as a percentage of
per capita income
A10 Percentage of localities with public Internet access centres (PIACs) by number of
inhabitants (rural/urban)
A11 Radio sets per 100 inhabitants
A12 Television sets per 100 inhabitants

Core indicators on access to, and use of, information and communication technology by
households and individuals

HH1 Proportion of households with a radio

HH2 Proportion of households with a television
HH3 Proportion of households with a fixed line telephone
HH4 Proportion of households with a mobile cellular telephone
HH5 Proportion of households with a computer
HH6 Proportion of individuals who used a computer (from any location) in the last 12
months
HH7 Proportion of households with Internet access at home
HH8 Proportion of individuals who used the Internet (from any location) in the last 12
months
HH9 Location of individual use of the Internet in the last 12 months
• At home
• At work
• Place of education
• At another person’s home
• Community Internet access facility (specific denomination depends on national
practices)
• Commercial Internet access facility (specific denomination depends on national
practices)
• Others
HH10 Internet activities undertaken by individuals in the last 12 months:
• Getting information
O About goods or services
O Related to health or health services

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 O From government organizations/public authorities via websites or e-mail
O Other information or general Web browsing
• Communicating
• Purchasing or ordering goods or services
• Internet banking
• Formal education or training activities
• Dealing with government organizations/public authorities
• Leisure activities
o Playing/downloading video or computer games
o Downloading movies, music or software
o Reading/downloading electronic books, newspapers or magazines
o Other leisure activities
HH11 Proportion of individuals with use of a mobile telephone
HH12 Proportion of households with access to the Internet by type of access
• Categories allow an aggregation to narrowband and broadband, where broadband
excludes slower speed technologies, such as dial- up modem, ISDN (Integrated
Services Digital Network) and most 2G (second generation) mobile phone access.
Broadband will usually have an advertised download speed of at least 256
kilobits per second.
HH13 Frequency of individual access to the Internet in the last 12 months (from any
location)
• At least once a day
• At least once a week but not every day
• At least once a month but not every week
• Less than once a month

Reference indicator
HHR1b Proportion of households with electricity

Core indicators on use of information and communication technology by businesses

B1 Proportion of businesses using computers

B2 Proportion of employees using computers
B3 Proportion of businesses using the Internet
B4 Proportion of employees using the Internet
B5 Proportion of businesses with a Web presence
B6 Proportion of businesses with an intranet
B7 Proportion of businesses receiving orders over the Internet
B8 Proportion of businesses placing orders over the Internet
B9 Proportion of businesses using the Internet by type of access
• Categories allow an aggregation to narrowband and broadband, where
broadband excludes slower speed technologies, such as dial- up modem, ISDN
and most 2G mobile phone access. Broadband will usually have an advertised
download speed of at least 256 kilobits per second.
B10 Proportion of businesses with a local area network (LAN)
B11 Proportion of businesses with an extranet
B12 Proportion of businesses using the Internet by type of activity
• Sending and receiving e- mail
• Getting information
O About goods or services

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 O From government organizations/public authorities via websites or e-mail
O Other information searches or research activities
• Performing Internet banking or accessing other financial services
• Dealing with government organizations/public authorities
• Providing customer services
• Delivering products online

Core indicators on the information and communication technology sector and trade in
information and communication technology goods

ICT1 Proportion of total business sector workforce involved in the ICT sector
ICT2 Value added in the ICT sector (as a percentage of total business sector value added)
ICT3 ICT goods imports as a percentage of total imports
ICT4 ICT goods exports as a percentage of total exports

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 Bibliography

1. UN Economic and Social Council (E/CN.3/2007/5): Report of the Partnership on

Measuring Information and Communication Technology for Development:
Information and Communication Technology Statistics

2 ITU: Questionnaire on access to and usage of Information and Communication

Technology (ICTs) by households and individuals

3 UNCTAD: Questionnaire on ICT usage by Enterprises and on the ICT Sector

4 Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation: Millennium Development

Goals India Country Report 2005

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