Workshop on ICT Indicators for Benchmarking Performance in Network and Services Development

Posted on March 9, 2006 / 6 Comments

LIRNEasia and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), with the assitance of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, co-sponsored the “Workshop on ICT Indicators for Benchmarking Performance in Network and Services Development” in New Delhi from 1-3 March 2006. The workshop highlighted the need for accurate, standardized and comparable indicators for the region and was intended to initate action to develop such indicators.

The workshop brought together representatives of National Regulatory Authorities (NRAs), National Statistical Organizations (NSOs) and operators from Afghanistan, Bangaldesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka along with the foremost authorities on the subject from the ITU, OECD, and the US National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI). With nearly 60 participants from 16 countries, the Workshop was also attended by telecom researchers from the Asian region.

The three day workshop was intended to elicit the cooperation of representatives from NRAs, NSOs and industry associations from the regional countries in establishing a sustainable system for measuring and benchmarking ICT sector input and output indicators for South Asia that can be extended to developing Asia.

Download the workshop materials HERE

Download the complete programme HERE

Download the workshop report from HERE

1 March 2006

Welcome and Introduction
Rohan Samarajiva, LIRNEasia | Download Speech |

Keynote Address
Pradip Baijal, Chairman, TRAI | Download Speech |

2 March, 2006

Improving Sector Performance through indicators and benchmarking
Sam Paltridge, OECD | Download Presentation |

What needs measuring in Developing Asia
Sriganesh Lokanathan & Ayesha Zainudeen, LIRNEasia | Download Presentation |

TRAI’s experience with gathering and publishing indicators
Rajendra Singh, Secretary, TRAI | Download Presentation |

Socio-Economic Indicators on ICTs
Laveesh Bhandari, Indicus Analytics | Download Presentation |

3 March, 2006

Ensuring quality of Indicators
Tim Kelly, ITU | Download Presentation |

Operator Perspectives
S.C. Khanna , Association of Unified Telecom Providers of India (AUSPI)

e-indicators
Sam Paltridge, OECD | Download Presentation |

Investment, Employment & Value Chain Benefits
Rohan Samarajiva, LIRNEasia | Download Presentation |
Gaurav Singh, NASSCOM

Next Steps
D.P.S. Seth, Member, TRAI
Rajendra Singh, Secretary, TRAI

6 Comments

Sriganesh Lokanathan
March 15, 2006, 12:12 pm
http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/newslog/ICT+Indicators+For+South+Asia.aspx
H.M.A.W. Herath
March 19, 2006, 10:36 pm
After coming back from Delhi workshop I discussed with my Director General (Dept. of census and Statistics) what we did in the work shop. I explained him purpose of the workshop and the next step. We are planning to conduct the (ITC Survey) Computer Literacy Survey on August 2006 with the help of ICTA. I am directly involved in all activities of this survey.(Selection of sample, Finalize the questionnaire ,Training field Staff, Supervision and data analyzing ) So I am going to include Core ICT indicators that you mention in the next step annex 2b page no.21 and 22 . (A1,A2,A3,A4,A5,A10,A11,A12, and HH 1:HH 10) Before finalize the Questionnaire I will send a copy to you for further modification.

Thank you
Herath (Sri Lanka)
samarajiva
March 20, 2006, 10:22 am
Mr Herath’s comment is most encouraging. LIRNEasia will work to facilitate coordination between the Department and the relevant agencies such as ITU and OECD. National surveys have to be done by NSOs, not by organizations such as LIRNEasia, though we can contribute with ideas and through events such as the Delhi Meeting. We are most pleased that the Sri Lanka NSO is setting an example of what can be done.
Chanuka
March 22, 2006, 11:05 am
Yes, I agree Mr Herath’s comment is most encouraging.

Computer Literacy survey is an important activity conducted by the Department of Statistics, but the most important part is how the indicators are defined.

For example, ‘literacy’ is often defined in the South Asian context as the ability to write ones own name. (against using the thumb impression as the signature) This does not necessarily makes us complacent. There are so many in our country who cannot even fill a simple form. Many times I have helped people to fill forms at government agencies and particularly at the Airport. As a county Sri Lanka might be high in the literacy levels, but our functional literacy levels are not that high.

The same is true for IT literacy. There is no point of measuring IT literacy levels by the knowledge one has to put on and shut down a computer.

At the very basic level IT literacy should be defined as the ability to do at least five key things: (a) Use a word processing package (b) Use a spread sheet package (c) Use a presentation/graphic package (d) Use Internet and e-mail (e) Basic computer usage like identifying the part of PC and the roles of each part, taking a printout, scan a document, copy a document, search for a document etc.

The IT literacy survey can also check how many people know to use a mobile phone and how many know to send an SMS message. One possible reason why not many people use SMS is they do not know how to do it!
goswami
May 22, 2006, 4:02 pm
This article underlines the importance of why it is necessary to have harmonized and accurate indicators for the telecom sector and the high stakes that are involved…

From Telegepgraphy May 22, 2006

Tata calls for investigation into overstating of subscriber stats

Indian mobile operator Tata Teleservices has asked the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to contract an ‘accredited third party’ to verify the subscriber bases of the country’s wireless operators, amid claims that companies are overstating their customer numbers in order to retain spectrum rights, Zee News reports. A new spectrum distribution policy was published in March, stating that future frequency allocations will depend on the size of an operator’s subscriber base in any given telecoms circle or a city in metro areas. The new rules mean that the more subscribers an operator has, the more spectrum it can apply for, subject to availability.

The new policy has led to concerns that cellcos will illegally inflate subscriber numbers to obtain or retain spectrum. In a letter sent to DoT Secretary J S Sarma, Tata Tele claims that an executive at a rival operator has already admitted to overstating customer figures: ‘It may be recalled that during the course of discussions, one of the heads of a leading telecom company openly accepted the fact that verification of existing pre-paid subscribers will result in shortfall of up to 40% of the subscriber base’.
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