ICT Indicators, Prospects and Challenges

1. ICT Indicators, Prospects and Challenges Tariq Gulrez ICT Trends & Indicators Manager

2. “You want to know the difference information and communication technologies make? Try to live without them… .” - International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

3. Adoption of ICTs is growing rapidly in record numbers globally Mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions • Growth in Mobile-cellular penetration is flattening whereas Mobile Broadband continues to grow strongly (approx. 40 per cent annually since 2010) • Mobile Internet uptake and Household access to the Internet has also accelerated strongly (expected to reach a penetration rate of over 40 per cent globally by 2013 end) • Ericsson forecasts that there will be 6.5 billion mobile-broadband subscriptions by 2018 Globally, there is wide agreement that information and communication technologies (ICTs) are an important development enabler Households with Internet access Individuals using the internet Active mobile-broadband subscriptions Fixed-telephone subscriptions Fixed (wired) broadband subscriptions Source: ITU paper on producing indicators * Estimates Source: Measuring the Information Society Report 2013

4. Measurement of ICT is important for policymakers but it is dynamic and evolving • Development of internationally comparable ICT statistics along with information on usage, attitude, emerging areas and barriers are essential for Qatar to be able to adequately design, implement, monitor and evaluate ICT policies • Measurement of ICT is difficult because of the: • Diverse and changing nature of ICT • Complexity of ICT impacts • Difficulties of illustrating a cause-and-effect relationship between the different variables

5. 48 core ICT indicators are endorsed by international community for tracking access and usage of ICTs in the fast emerging information society • World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) identified specific goals and targets • Fast emerging information society calls for statistics and indicators to monitor Access, Usage and Impact of information and communication technologies (ICTs) • Core international ICT indicators by the UN Statistical Commission: ICT Infrastructure and Access 10 indicators 1 Access to, and Use of, ICT by Households and Individuals 13 indicators 2 Use of ICT by Businesses 12 indicators 3 ICT Sector and Trade in ICT goods 4 indicators 4 ICT in Education 9 indicators 5 48 indicators

6. Indicators from Administrative sources along with survey based Usage and emerging Impact indicators are required for policy purposes and monitoring progress in Qatar’s ICT Landscape • Provide important information and can fairly easily be produced based on administrative sources • Have been collected for a longer time • Indicators on basic ICTs • e.g. number of fixed telephone lines, mobile and Internet subscriptions, or availability of radios etc • Advanced Usage and Attitude indicators • No. of Internet users, their location concentration and Usage patterns i.e. what they do on the Internet etc. • Required for designing effective ICT policies and taking strategic investment decisions • ICT Impact in terms of Inclusive Society, Business Innovation, and better Governance • (under development) • ICT Impact indicators • Areas: Social, Business and Economic

7. ictQATAR monitors progress of ICT among key sectors crucial to the growth of Qatar’s knowledge-based economy • Usage and Attitudes toward: Mobile technologies, Computers, Internet, Telecom services, e-Government services and Consumer protection, etc. • Web Presence • On-line Safety and Security • Satisfaction with technologies and services • Barriers to ICT Usage • Others: In the area of emerging technology trends Key Research Areas Households & Individuals Businesses Government

8. Households There has been a move toward ownership of multiple devices - inclined towards “on the go” devices. Overall, eighty-five percent of households now have a broadband connection • Fixed telephone lines continue to grow (against usual international observations) • 89 percent of households with Internet uses a fixed ADSL broadband connection * Population source: http://www.qsa.gov.qa/eng/PS-Archive.htm Source: Qatar’s ICT Landscape 2013 - Households and Individuals

9. Individuals Downloading movies/music is the most popular task over internet among mainstream individuals whereas e-Mail and Instant messaging are key activities of Smartphone users Activities Performed on the Internet by a Smartphone User Compared to a User of Other Mobile Phones (2012) Source: Qatar’s ICT Landscape 2013 - Households and Individuals

10. Business Increased number of organisations receive and place orders online but small businesses lag behind. A quarter of all establishments in Qatar use one or more social media Source: Qatar’s ICT Landscape 2013 - Business

11. Business Communication - related activities performed on internet are less prevalent among small establishments • There were an estimated 27,000 technology specialists working across all businesses in Qatar • Establishments in Qatar plan to add 8 percent more ICT professionals in 2013 Source: Qatar’s ICT Landscape 2013 - Business

12. Government Comprehensiveness of Government websites has increased significantly. 65 percent of employees who use a PC have access to the Internet at the office and Internet is mostly used for communicating with colleagues 29% Source: Qatar’s ICT Landscape 2013 - Government

13. Government Despite the availability and growth of online channels, face-to-face interaction is still the most popular channel used by government organisations to communicate with the public Source: Qatar’s ICT Landscape 2013 – Government Government IT Executives

14. Government 29 percent of IT Executives cited the lack of required employee skills in the use of ICT technologies. 30 percent of government Employees cited work-related pressures and lack of time as limitations on their ICT use at work Source: Qatar’s ICT Landscape 2013 – Government

15. Qatar’s ICT Landscape Reports track important ICT indicators among key sectors in Qatar – Households, Businesses and Government

16. Assessment of Qatar’s Performance on Network Readiness Index (benchmarking against high-income group average) Y 2013: 144 countries Y 2012: 142 countries

17. ICT is widespread and grazes across sectors. Thus, producing statistics for indicators dependent on other sectors demands active participation from the sectors • Active participation from all key sectors are required for ICT progress monitoring • Publish latest sectoral statistics with international organisations for accurate benchmarking Indicators followed by an asterisk (*) are measured on a 1-to-7 (best) scale

18. Major challenges in production of ICT indicators … • Rapid pace of development (e.g. connectivity and access to networks, mobile devices and applications for e-business processes) require statisticians to get familiar with the technologies and their definitions • Process of technological convergence makes it even more complex, since devices (such as mobile phones) increasingly allow access and use of new types of services Pace of ICT development and complexity • Concepts such as type of ICT access and use may be difficult to understand for respondents and interviewers • This requires preparing training manuals and respondents‘ instructions specific to ICT-related questions (covering a large variety of readers - from the most ICT literate to the less familiar) Difficulty in understanding concepts by interviewers and respondents • Some economic issues related to ICTs (such as e-commerce value or impact of ICT on economic performance) are not readily obtainable from accounting systems of businesses, and therefore difficult to collect in questionnaires • Alternatives are being devised and easy-to-answer questions are under development (for example, on placing or receiving purchase orders by Internet) ICT economic issues in accounting system

19. Major challenges in production of ICT indicators • Measuring impacts in ICT is even more complicated because of its diversity and rapidly changing nature • Many ICTs are general-purpose technologies, which facilitate change and thereby have indirect impacts that are social or environmental • There are a number of different ICTs, with different impacts in different contexts and countries. They include goods, such as mobile phone handsets, and services, such as mobile telecommunications services, which change rapidly over time Complexity of impact measurement • Lack of recent/updated population frames, business registers and forecasts • Difficulties due to restricted coverage in collecting information on continuously emerging ICT issues from individuals and households • Low response rates from businesses • Estimates on share of informal economy • Statistical classifications adapted to international standards • Definition of statistical units – enterprises vs. establishments Some technical constraints in conducting survey based research

20. Suggestions and future collaboration areas • Efforts across sectors should be synergized in developing Sectoral statistics and maintaining latest publications with international organisations for facilitating accurate international benchmarking • National strategy should be supported by actionable guidelines for supporting development of high quality statistics • Open data policy and facilitation in developing central national database • Detailed National frame of reference statistics and forecasts for households and individuals, businesses and government i.e. sectoral revenues, enterprises, establishments, ICT workforce, occupied households units, businesses, mainstream individuals, labour camp and transient workforce, government employees etc. • Estimated annual calendar of publications • Guidance and training on latest developments in the area of national statistics, national accounts, development of sampling plans and data documentation • Provision of joint representation in work groups/committees and facilitating development of high quality ICT sectoral statistics (other than Economic statistics) • ICT should be treated as a separate sector in accordance with the latest ISIC classification and ictQATAR should be actively engaged in developing economic ICT statistics

21. Appendix: National Frame of reference data is required for analysis purposes. Availability of detailed interlock for the below mentioned is crucial for developing robust sampling plan and conducting analysis • Households & Individuals • Age • Municipality • Nationality • Gender • Education levels • Occupation • Family size • Time series and forecast • Business and Government • Number of establishments • Number of enterprises • Number of employees • By main economic activities • Value added in the ICT Sector • Economic Activities • Municipality • Government employee data • ICT Producing sector • ICT sector workforce (number of persons employed) • Value added in the ICT Sector • Value added in the Business sector (in QAR) Historical data, Forecast, and detailed interlocks

22. Appendix: Approaches in measuring ICT • Case Studies Used to explore causation within their scope. Maybe small scale and project based; longitudinal for examining changes over time Generally very detailed, and can involve a number of qualitative and/or quantitative data sources • Panel studies Panel is created at the beginning and data are collected about its members (individuals or businesses) during successive periods • Controlled experiments Controlled experiments can establish causality by controlling all the independent variables. Controlled experiment may be applied where the conditions are limited In general, most of the studies cannot be controlled to the degree necessary to determine a cause-and-effect relationship • Analytical Techniques The main techniques are econometric modeling using regression, growth accounting and input/output analysis. Econometric regression models have also been used in other areas of measurement e.g. measuring the impacts of ICT use on educational outcomes • Administrative data Data collected primarily for non-statistical purposes but used to form statistical indicators e.g. telecommunication or ICT infrastructure data • Other methodologies and data sources Use of focus groups, direct observation and document examination. Forecasting may be used to estimate the future and can involve a number of techniques, data sources and assumptions • Statistical surveys Household surveys collect information about the household entity and individuals; Surveys of businesses; and Surveys of other entities such as government organizations

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