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Data collection and questionnaires

As a United Nations agency, one of ITU's roles is to identify, define, and produce international official statistics covering the telecommunication/ICT sector. This is in line with other specialized agencies that produce statistics covering their respective field of operations and forms part of the global statistical system of the UN.

ITU collects telecommunication/ICT data for about 200 economies worldwide. These can be divided into three key sets of data:

Telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and access data are collected through an annual questionnaire. The indicators in the questionnaire are defined in the Indicators Handbook.
Price data are collected through an annual questionnaire. Price indicators are also defined in the Indicators Handbook.
Data on access to and use of ICTs by households and individuals, are collected through an annual questionnaire. Countries are provided two opportunities to complete the questionnaire depending on the timing of their household surveys. The indicators in the questionnaire are defined in the Manual for Measuring ICT Access and Use by Households and Individuals.

For more information on each one of the questionnaires, see the table below.

Data availability

ITU verifies and harmonizes the data received from countries and collects missing values from government web sites and operators' annual reports, particularly for countries that do not reply to the questionnaires. In some cases, market research data are also used to cross-check and complement missing values. Data availability varies between the different types of indicators:

Most countries collect telecommunication/ICT infrastructure and access data, particularly for key indicators, such as the number of mobile cellular subscriptions, fixed telephone lines and Internet subscriptions.
Only relatively few countries respond to the ITU ICT Price Basket Questionnaire and most prices are collected by ITU, directly from telecommunication operators.
More and more countries carry out surveys to collect ICT household data, although data availability for several indicators is still limited, especially data on the use of ICTs by individuals. These 'demand-side' data are important to measure the use and impact of ICTs and serve as a complement to the infrastructure ('supply-side') data.

Data dissemination

Data collected by ITU are maintained in a central database and disseminated as follows:

ITU DataHub, the one-stop shop for ICT information
Analytical (regional, global and thematic) reports, including the ICT Price Basket (IPB), a global benchmarking tool
Publications and databases produced by other international organisations and projects, such as the SDGs, UN Data, the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, the World Bank World Development Indicators and the United Nations Statistical Yearbook

Overview of ITU questionnaires

*Name of Questionnaire*	*ICT Price Basket (IPB) Questionnaire*	Questionnaire on ICT Access and Use by Households and Individuals	*World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators (WTI) Questionnaire*
*Addressed to*	Government agency in charge of telecommunications/ICT (Ministry, regulatory authority)	National Statistical Offices	Government agency in charge of telecommunications/ICT (Ministry, regulatory authority)
*Format*	Online	Online/Excel	Online
*Periodicity*	Annually	Annually	Annually
*Collection period*	February to March	March to April and September to October	March to May
*Number of indicators*	5 main sets of ICT prices (mobile broadband, fixed broadband, mobile data and voice low- and high consumption)	23 core indicators, including many classificatory variables	66
*Data published*	December	July and December	July
*Sample questionnaire*	Click here (excel format)	Click here (excel format) Codes description (excel format)	Click here (pdf format)
*Definition of indicators in 6 languages*	IPB Rules (pdf format), Visual Guide (pdf format)	Click here (pdf format)	Click here (pdf format)

Data collection schedule 2026

The consolidated BDT data questionnaire schedule for 2026 is available here. The schedule outlines the timelines and details for all data questionnaires that will be issued by ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) to Member States in 2026. It is subject to adjustments.

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		As the UN specialized agency for ICTs, ITU is the official source for global ICT statistics. Find out more about how we produce and disseminate data, our main events and products. More>