"The second edition of the World Information Society Report, published by ITU and UNCTAD, looks beyond the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS, Geneva 2003 - Tunis 2005) to the creation of an inclusive, people-centred and development-oriented Information Society, open to all. The report tr
...
acks progress in digital opportunity for 181 economies over the past few years since the start of the WSIS process and is accompanied by a series of tables providing the latest statistics on the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) worldwide. The report has been created by the “Digital Opportunity Platform”, an open multi-stakeholder platform with contributions from governments, private sector, academics and civil society, as well as inter-governmental organisations." (Back cover)
more
"This cross-country study compiles data and calculates ICT Development Indices for the following: connectivity (physical infrastructure for ICTs, in penetration rates of Internet hosts, PCs, telephone mainlines and mobile phones per capita); wider access to ICTs (literacy, GDP per capita and cost of
...
local calls, as well as actual number of Internet users); usage of ICTs (incoming and outgoing telecom traffic, as an alternative to Internet data traffic flows in the absence of publicly available statistics on these); and policy environment (a wider policy framework conducive to the adoption and absorption of ICTs, which can be evaluated in terms of the presence of a domestic Internet exchange, as well as competition in the local loop, domestic long-distance and ISP markets). This study analyses country and regional rankings based on these index measurements, and reviews results over time to identify interesting trends. It also seeks to evaluate the extent and evolution of the digital divide, using basic measures of hardware equipment and numbers of Internet users in each country, to determine how the digital divide is evolving over time." (Preface)
more