Joint ITU/ECA regional workshop on 
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Indicators
Gaborone, Botswana
26-29 October 2004

The Regional Workshop on ICT Indicators was held in Gaborone, Botswana from 26 to 29 October 2004. The workshop was hosted by Botswana Telecommunications Authority (BTA) and was organized jointly by Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) as part of its regional telecommunication/ICT statistical capacity building exercise and by the UN Economic Commissions for Africa (UNECA) as one of the key activities highlighted in the Partnership for Measuring ICT for Development[1]. The workshop has three main objectives: to (i) identify the core telecom/ICT indicators to collect; (ii) identify data collection, storage and dissemination methodologies and analytical techniques (iii) identify barriers to data collection and dissemination and to find necessary/immediate solutions.

The workshop was attended by some 122 participants from 31 African countries representing regulatory agencies and ministries (61); national statistics offices (23); telecommunication operators (12); universities/ NGO/ media (17); as well as representatives from international organizations such as OECD and UN ICT Task Force; and regional organizations such as TRASA, SADC and COMESA (see list of participants). It was divided into two parts: the first two days highlighted issues related to ITU telecommunication indicators ( see list of telecom indicators) as well as its data collection and dissemination activities. The last two days discussed issues related to use of ICTs by individuals, households, businesses, health and government sectors (see agenda and documents).

Countries also identified the barriers that they face related to data collection and dissemination. Lack of collaboration and coordination between various ICT players in the development, harmonization, data collection and dissemination of ICT indicators; lack of statistical capacity in the regulatory agencies and/or ministries; and lack of software/application that they can use to collect, store and disseminate data were among the barriers identified. The ITU was asked to address these issues in its regular work and to revisit the issues during the World Telecommunication Indicators meeting in February (conclusions/recommendations).

The workshop also highlighted the experiences of national statistics offices and the result of the metadata collection exercise done in the region. Although national statistics offices collect some ICT statistics as part its national data collection, data available are sometimes outdated, not comparable across countries or do not reflect actual usage of households, individuals and business. Countries expressed their  willingness to carry out the survey, either as a part of existing survey or a separate ICT survey. However, national statistics offices pointed out the lack statistical capacity and funding to carry out the data collection and verification. They called all stakeholders to be aware of the situation and come up with possible solutions.

The core set of ICT indicators that was presented during the workshop and accepted by African countries will be discussed again during the global meeting in February 2005 (see list of ICT indicators).

Nine countries were also selected for the second phase of the SCAN ICT project (see list of countries).