ITU applies a top-down method to ensure the overall number of Internet users in the country match official data. The process has three key steps:
1. Estimate the relationship between Internet use and geospatial big data at the lowest geographic level with actual data from household surveys or censuses, e.g. municipality.
2. Apply the statistical model and predict Internet use for even smaller geographical areas, e.g. postal codes, enumeration areas or standardized tiles.
3. Use the predicted values as a weighting layer to disaggregate the total number of Internet users within each administrative area into the smaller geographic areas.