By Mark A. Ollig
“Measuring the Information Society Report” was released
to the public recently by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
The data contained within this report is considered
some of the most trustworthy, and is often referenced.
It provides statistics, and analyzes the current state
of information and communication technology (ICT) throughout the world.
Dr. Hamadoun I. Touré, ITU Secretary-General, calls
this report “a critical part of the global ICT development process.”
The ITU gathers statistics for 200 economies across 100
indicators, which provide measurement data to track progress.
The report discloses the use of the Internet growing at
a rate of 6.6 percent, globally.
In developing countries, the Internet growth is 8.7
percent, the number of Internet users in these countries has doubled from 2009
to today.
More economically developed parts of the world have
seen a 3.3 percent increase.
Still, 4.3 billion people in the world do not use the
Internet. Of these people, 90 percent are living in economically developing
countries.
The ITU says of this 4.3 billion, 2.4 billion are
living in what they call the world’s 42 Least Connected Countries (LCC).
The benefits provided from information and
communication technology, are not available to those living in the LCC.
“ICTs have the potential to make the world a much
better place – in particular for those who are the poorest and the most
disenfranchised, including women, youth, and those with disabilities,” Touré
said.
The ITU report noted the improvement in LCC’s Internet
bandwidth; from 9 percent in 2004, to 30 percent today.
This is a promising indication of the future
availability of the Internet’s full potential being made available to the LCC.
Global rankings for ICT access, use, and skills, among
166 countries, according to the ITU’s Global ICT Development Index (IDI) level,
were revealed.
In Europe, the top five IDI countries are Denmark,
first; Sweden, third; Iceland, fourth; United Kingdom, fifth; and Norway sixth.
South Korea in the Asia and Pacific region was listed
at 2nd.
The top five per region chart in The Americas, showed
the US with a global IDI ranking of 14; Canada 23; Barbados 35, Uruguay 48; and
St. Kitts and Nevis, 54.
The top IDI countries have high incomes, competitive
markets, and a skilled population.
A breakdown of 230 countries, and the percentage of
their population using the Internet, was displayed on an Excel spreadsheet from
the ITU website.
Russia, in 2000, had 2 percent of its population using
the Internet, as compared to nearly 62 percent today.
The US is shown having 84.2 percent of its population
currently using the Internet, which is almost double the percentage of users
since 2000.
In the United Kingdom, nearly 90 percent of the people
there are using the Internet, which is a dramatic difference from 2000, when it
was only 27 percent.
Almost 95 percent of Sweden’s population now uses the
Internet.
The Excel file can be viewed at
http://tinyurl.com/ocr5bg7.
The ITU also contains a wealth of historical
statistics.
Yours truly, being in the telecommunications business,
noticed the global General Telephone Statistics for 1948.
In 1948, the population of the US was 146.3 million.
During this time, the ITU reported there were 38.2
million (corded) telephones operational in the US.
The ITU’s ICT statistics home page is
http://tinyurl.com/mkw4cwc.
In less than two months, it will be the 100th
anniversary of the first transcontinental telephone call from New York to San
Francisco.
It was Jan. 25, 1915, and the person holding the patent
for the first telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, was in New York City.
His former associate, Thomas A. Watson, was located in
San Francisco
Telephone wire lines and transmission equipment,
spanning some 3,400 miles, connected Bell and Watson.
Bell spoke the words into the telephone’s transmitter
he first said some 39 years previously, “Mr. Watson, come here, I want you.”
Watson, upon hearing Bell, replied into his telephone,
“It would take me a week to get to you this time.”
Indeed. For it was in Boston, March 10, 1876, while the
two were working on an experimental telephone, when Watson first heard Bell’s
voice over a telephone connected to wires.
The New York Times Jan. 26, 1915 article, “Phone to
Pacific From the Atlantic” can be read at http://tinyurl.com/l49q7r8.
