Telecommunication indicators “ASETA’s model for quanitification of the digital divide”

Humankind is now moving from the Industrial Age to the Information Society.  The telecommunication sector is the fundamental basis for this change, owing to the evolution it has experienced based on the technological convergence phenomenon and the emergence of services for the new era.  Such services address new needs of those playing a part in different societal activities and are based on information and communication technologies (ICTs).

One highly important aspect of such changes, which emanate from the transition to the Information and Convergence-Based Society, is the need to take account of the citizen’s right to communication, this being a basic human need and the Information Society’s central focus.  Such changes, consequences of the convergence of the telecommunications, information technology, and audiovisual sectors, therefore give rise to a need for public policy and an appropriate regulatory framework for effective democratization of ICTs, promoting the development of infrastructures that reach everyone and taking account of user demands, services, applications, and content that providers must offer.

The need for monitoring and evaluation of advances in the development of services arose from the adoption of indicators which, for traditional telecommunications, were designed mainly to measure infrastructure development, since infrastructures were used solely to transport information, their measurement being made in terms of numbers of inhabitants. ASETA has been pointing to a need for such telecommunication indicators to evolve in keeping with the new concepts of convergence and Information Society, and for new, more complex indicators to be defined that take account of aspects such as supply, demand, human capacities for infrastructure use, and content, and enable progress with democratization to be evaluated.

The existence of a digital divide among countries, confirmed on viewing the basic indicators traditionally used in telecommunications, which only take account of disparities in infrastructure development, has led to major concerns among telecommunication sector players worldwide, and to significant efforts to reduce it.  Planning such actions and monitoring their progress require appropriate quantification of the digital divide, since it no longer corresponds solely to indicators that take account of variables measuring infrastructure development.  Rather, in the new convergence environment, quantification must be based on indicators that bring together the different variables with impact on the development, use, and advantage taken of ICTs.  Thus far, however, little work has been done to define a method for quantification or measurement of the digital divide.  Accordingly, ASETA, with ITU cooperation, has done work which, taking account of the new telecommunications environment and ICTs, establishes a mathematical model that includes different variables related to infrastructure, users, content, and the enabling environment for the transition to the Information Society.  Said model is applicable to countries, areas, sectors, etc., and their requirements and outcomes.

This work, now available to the sector, has been presented to CITEL as “ASETA’s Model for Quantification of the Digital Divide,” with the expectation that it will be used as a tool to support the planning and monitoring of levels of digital development.

Marcelo López Arjona
Secretary General
Aseta