BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin participated as a speaker at the 17th World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium, along with WTIS Chair Mr Anshu Prakash, Secretary, Department of Telecommunication, Ministry of Communications, India, and ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
The ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS) is the main global forum for telecommunication and information society measurements. Since 1996, the WTIS con venes government ministers, business leaders, regulators, national statisticians, top academics, and ICT data producers and analysts, from all parts of the globe, to discuss issues related to information society trends and their measurement. The adopted outcomes of discussions at the WTIS provide strategic guidance to the international community, including ITU, on future work priorities related to international harmonization of information society measurements.
This year's theme was ''towards a digitally inclusive society.'' Ms Bogdan-Martin emphasized that ''in today's digital economy, meaningful digital access needs to be considered a fundamental pillar supporting the functioning of every society.''
She stated that '''digital inclusiveness must be our constant mantra – so that everyone, everywhere, can participate fully, receive a good education, and secure a decent job, so that, as a global community, we can finally attain those 17 Sustainable Development Goals we pledged to achieve just five years ago.''
ITU recently launched the Measuring digital development: Facts and Figures 2020 report, which provides an annual snapshot of the most important global ICT indicators and trends. Pointing to the report's findings, Ms Bogdan-Martin noted that mobile cellular subscriptions are declining for the first time in history, and that global growth in mobile broadband subscriptions is levelling out. Given the many uncertainties at play, it is yet difficult to ascertain what this means. However, the slow rollout of communications infrastructure is a worrying trend.
Nevertheless, ITU research also confirms that where connectivity is available, and affordable, young peopleeverywhere are enthusiastic adopters. While just over half the global population overall is using the Internet, among young people aged 15 to 24, this figure rises to almost 70 per cent. Ms Bogdan-Martin said ''this is particularly encouraging in view of the fast-growing youth demographic in much of the developing world, wheredigital technologies have the potential to become a major accelerator of economic growth and development- a factor so important in these times of school closures.''
Ms Bogdan-Martin reiterated ITU's commitment to providing constituents with the data and insight they need to better track and understand digital transformations and inform decision-making. She stressed the importance of good quality data as ITU pursues its mission to connect the world, and said ''data tell us where we were, where we are, and where we ought to be.''
