ITU – Measuring the Information Society – MIS Report 2014
International Telecommunications Union
November 2014 :: 270 pages w/o Annex
pdf: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/publications/mis2014/MIS2014_without_Annex_4.pdf

The MIS Report, which has been published annually since 2009, features key ICT data and benchmarking tools to measure the information society, including the ICT Development Index (IDI). The IDI captures the level of ICT developments in 166 economies worldwide and compares progress made during the last year. The MIS 2014 highlights the relationship between ICT development (as measured by the IDI) and the MDGs, a contribution to the ongoing discussions on the potential of ICTs as development enablers. The report includes the results of the ICT Price Basket (IPB) and new mobile-broadband price data for over 140 economies. Price data are analysed to provide insights into the relationship between affordability and income inequality, competition and regulation. The report also looks at new ICT data sources for measurement and examines the possible role of ICT big data for monitoring and development.

The 6th edition of the ITU Measuring the Information Society (MIS) Report was launched on November 24th, in Tbilisi, Georgia, at the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Symposium (WTIS) 2014.

Press Release [Excerpt]
Geneva, 24 November 2014 – Over three billion people are now online and information and communication technology (ICT) growth remains buoyant in just about every country worldwide, according to ITU’s flagship annual Measuring the Information Society Report.

The report is widely recognized as the repository of the world’s most reliable and impartial global data and analysis on the state of global ICT development, and is extensively relied upon by governments, financial institutions and private sector analysts worldwide.

Latest data show that Internet use continues to grow steadily, at 6.6% globally in 2014 (3.3% in developed countries, 8.7% in the developing world). The number of Internet users in developing countries has doubled in five years (2009-2014), with two thirds of all people online now living in the developing world.

Of the 4.3 billion people not yet using the Internet, 90% live in developing countries. In the world’s 42 Least Connected Countries (LCCs), which are home to 2.5 billion people, access to ICTs remains largely out of reach, particularly for these countries’ large rural populations…

…In the mobile cellular segment, the report estimates that by end 2014 there will be seven billion mobile subscriptions, roughly corresponding to the total global population. But it warns against concluding that everyone is connected; instead, many users have multiple subscriptions, with global growth figures sometimes translating into little real improvement in the level of connectivity of those at the very bottom of the pyramid. An estimated 450 million people worldwide live in places which are still out of reach of mobile cellular service.

Encouragingly, the report notes substantial improvements in access to international bandwidth in poorer countries, with developing nations’ share of total global international bandwidth rising from just 9% in 2004 to over 30% today. But lack of sufficient international Internet bandwidth in many of the LCCs remains an important barrier to ICT uptake in these countries, and often limits the quality of Internet access…
Executive Summary: