Measuring Business Access to Information & Communication Technology
UNCTAD Expert Meeting on Measuring Electronic Commerce as an Instrument for the Development of the Digital Economy
Geneva, 8-10 September 2003
2
ITU
! UN specialized agency for telecommunications! Has been collecting statistics for 30 years! With fusion of telecommunications, computers and
broadcasting has expanded coverage to Information and Communication Technology indicators (ICT)
! Has expanded sources from administrative records to include surveys
! Focus on accessibility and e-readiness hence interest in ICT in business sector
! See www.itu.int/ti
3
Importance
0% 20% 40%
Finland
Canada
France
UK
Australia
Italy
US
Germany
Japan
0 20 40
Austria
UK
CzechRep.
Finland
Lithuania
Latvia
Estonia
Belgium
Ireland
Contribution of ICT to output growth, 1995-99, Percent
Percent of Internet users who only access from work, 2002
Source: ITU adapted from OECD, SIBIS.
4
What to measure
Benefits & BarriersE-commerce!Purchases!Sales
Use!Type of connection!Uses!Web site
Access!PCs!Internet access
5
Methods
! Sample survey" OECD, Model
Questionnaire on ICT Usage and Electronic Commerce in Enterprises
" Eurostat, Pilot Survey" National
! Universe" Size (by employees)
! Micro (< 5)! Small (5 � 9)! Medium (20-99)! Large (100+)
" Industry type! Primary! Manufacturing! Services
Oftenexcluded
Oftenexcluded
6
Size, Example from New Zealand
75
89
95
79
Micro
Small
Medium
Large
NewZealand
<6 employeesData not available
20-49 employees
> 50 employees
6-19 employees
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%
90%100%
Firms Staff Output
Micro
Large
Small
Medium
Businesses with InternetPercent, June 2001
Business indicators byemployment size
Source: ITU adapted from Ministry of Economic Development (New Zealand), Statistics New Zealand.
7
Good coverage of developed economies for access indicators
0102030405060708090
100
Den
mar
k
Finl
and
Sw
eden
Aust
ralia
N
ewZe
alan
dA
ustri
a
Nor
way
Net
herla
nds
Portu
gal
Italy
Can
ada
Spa
inU
nite
dK
ingd
om
Luxe
mbo
urg
Gre
ece
Have Internet access Have own Web site
Note: All businesses with 10 or more employees except Canada.Source: ITU adapted from OECD (beginning 2001).
8
Asian Tigers and some Economies in Transition also have data
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
HK, China Korea,Rep.
Taiwan,China
Singapore
PCInternetWeb site
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Estonia Latvia Lith. Poland Russia
PCInternetWeb site
Source: ITU adapted from FIND 2002 (Taiwan, China), IDA 2002 (Singapore), C&SD 2002 (Hong Kong China), NCA 2001 (Korea, Rep.) & Baltic Information Society Statistics (right chart).
Businesses with ICTs, Percent
9
Scarce data for developing nations & comparability questionable
0102030405060708090
100
Mexico Peru
PCInternetWeb site
0102030405060708090
100
PC Internet Web site
Source: ITU adapted from OECD, INEGI (Mexico, 1999, all firm sizes) and INEI (Peru, 2000, 5+ employees) & NCB (Mauritius, 2001, 10+ employees).
Mauritius
10
Some studies particularly for SMEs
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Tanzania Kenya
PhoneFaxPC
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Sri Lanka Thailand Phil. Indonesia
PCInternetWeb site
Africa, 2000 Asia, 2001- 2002
Source: ITU adapted from ZEF, �The Role of ICT for the Performance of SMEs in East Africa� & The Asia Foundation, �Regional Survey of SMEs� use of eCommerce.�
11
Proxies
! Domain registrations in the .com.cc domain! Business Internet subscriptions
12
Business Digital Divide
11
32
60
22
68
0102030405060708090
100
Micro Small Medium Chile EU average
Internet access in Chilean micro, small and medium sized firms, 2001, percent
Source: ITU adapted from INE Chile and Eurostat.
13
Conclusions
! Need to enhance visibility of existing surveys! Disseminate model questionnaire! Reinforce statistical capacity! Focus on access indicators as first step
" Businesses with PCs" Businesses with Internet access" Businesses with web page
! Target of at least 100 countries with data by 2005
