The ITU Handbook for the Collection of Administrative Data on Telecommunications/ICT, was produced by the International Telecommunication Union. The Handbook, which contains over 80 internationally agreed indicators to help track global ICT developments, is an important reference document for collecting and analysing data on the telecommunication services sector. It will help countries monitor their progress towards becoming information societies on the basis of international statistical standards, and thus contribute to improving analysis and benchmarking across countries.

ITU has a long history of collecting, harmonizing and disseminating statistics on telecommunications and ICTs, and is recognized as the prime source of internationally comparable data in this field. The first version of the ITU Handbook was published almost 20 years ago, in 1994. Since then, ICT indicators and definitions have undergone important amendments, reflecting a rapidly changing telecommunication/ICT environment in terms of technologies, market trends and regulations.

Mobilecellular technology, for example, was still at a nascent stage in 1994, with no more than 55 million mobile-cellular subscriptions worldwide, compared with almost 6 billion subscriptions by end 2011. Similarly, there were fewer than 20 million Internet users in 1994, and the only way to access the Internet was through a low-speed, dial-up connection. By end 2011, one-third of the world's population will be online - the majority through a high-speed, broadband connection. While there have been a number of revisions to the list of telecommunication/ICT indicators since its first publication, this Handbook is by far the most comprehensive version in terms of its scope and level of detail.

The expansion and revision of indicators over the last two decades reflects not only the changes in the telecommunication/ICT services sector, but also the fact that ICT developments have become a key feature in today's overall development debate. Some of the indicators included in this Handbook are part of a wider effort to monitor the information society. This includes the Core List of ICT Indicators of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, and indicators to measure achievement of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) targets. The Handbook also covers indicators included in other international development initiatives, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Source: International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
Download the Handbook at ITUs website.