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  • 02 December 2015
    World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium held in Hiroshima, Japan

    The 13th World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS) took place in Hiroshima Japan, from 30 November to 2 December 2015.

    ITU's flagship annual "Measuring the Information Society Report" was released during the Symposium.

    The report revealed that 3.2 billion people are now online, representing 43.4% of the global population, while mobile-cellular subscriptions have reached almost 7.1 billion worldwide, with over 95% of the global population now covered by a mobile-cellular signal.

    Over 95% of the global population is now covered by mobile-cellular services, meaning that there are still an estimated 350 million people worldwide who live in places which are still out of reach of a mobile network – a figure that has dropped from 450 million a year ago.

    The ICT Development Index (IDI) country rankings were also announced. The Republic of Korea is ranked at the top of ITU's ICT Development Index closely followed by Denmark and Iceland, in second and third place. The report also identifies a group of 'most dynamic countries', which have recorded above-average improvements in their IDI rank over the past five years. These include Costa Rica, Bahrain, Lebanon, Ghana, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Suriname, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Oman.

    "ITU's work in gathering and publishing statistics allows us to monitor the real progress being made in ICT development worldwide," said Brahima Sanou, Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau. "Progress is encouraging in many areas but more needs to be done – especially in the world's poorest and remotest regions, where ICTs can arguably make the biggest difference, and help bring people everywhere out of extreme poverty."

    Mr Sanou highlighted the importance of the ICT development Index noting that it was not about which country emerges at the top, rather, a benchmarking tool to enable countries track their own ICT development, identify areas of improvement and share best practices.

    He added, "better data mean better policy making and better decision making. Our mission is to bring the power of ICT into the hands of ordinary people, wherever they live."

    WTIS serves as the main international forum to discuss international ICT statistics and brings together ICT ministers, heads of national telecom/ICT regulatory authorities and national statistical offices, heads of international organizations, chief executive officers of private sector companies, and statistical experts from around the world.

    In 2016, WTIS will be held in Botswana.

    For more information about the event, visit the WTIS 2015 newsroom.