Measuring the Information Society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ox 2.1: The challenges of measuring mobile broadband As more and more countries launch 3G networks, and at the same time mobile devices designed to go online at high speed (e.g. smartphones, tablet computers) become increasingly popular, data that accurately reflect such developments are needed. In the past, ITU statistics measured mobile-broadband access primarily through its indicator “mobile-cellular subs-criptions to collect new indicators in the same year.5 The new indicators include satellite broadband subscriptions, terrestrial fixed wi-reless- broadband subscriptions and terrestrial mobile wireless subscriptions. For the purpose of this edition of the IDI, the latter of the three, terrestrial mobile wireless subscriptions, has been used.6 Terrestrial mobile wireless subscriptions include (a) standard mobile subscriptions with use of data communications at broadband speeds (i.e. mobile-cellular subscriptions with adver-tised with access to data communications at broadband speeds”. This indicator measures the potential of mobile-cellular subscriptions to access, for example, 3G networks (and the Internet), but it does not reveal how many subscriptions have actually been actively used for data transfer. In other words, the indicator only captures “potential” broadband access rather than active usage. During the past couple of years, more and more countries (especially OECD countries) report that all of their mobile subscriptions are by now 3G enabled. At the same time, many countries no longer report subscriptions with potential access, but rather the number of active broadband subscriptions (i.e. those that have been used for data connections). As a result, data have become incomparable across countries, with some countries reporting potential access, others active usage and yet others none at all. In anticipation of these developments, ITU revised the defini-tion data speeds of 256 kbit/s or greater and which have been used to set up an Internet data connection) and (b) dedicated mobile data subscriptions at broadband speeds (i.e. subscriptions to dedicated data services over a mobile network which are purchased separately from voice services, either as a standalone service – e.g. using a data card such as a USB modem/dongle – or as an add-on data package to voice services requiring an additional subscription). The reporting on those two new indicators is still very patchy. Therefore, ITU has complemented the data using private data sources (from Wireless Intelligence).7 While the values of the new indicator are generally lower than those of the previous one, they are consistent across countries and – most importantly – are more meaningful since they look at actual data connections to broadband networks rather than potential connections. of wireless-broadband subscriptions in 2010 and started 9