Chapter 5. Measuring communication capacity in bits and bytes
Chapter 5 presents a new approach, which consists in measuring the information society by looking at subscribed and effective telecommunication capacity, to complement traditional approaches based on subscription data. It shows that technological advances, such as the improved capacity of devices to transmit and receive data and enhanced data compression algorithms, have contributed significantly to increasing telecommunication capacity. The analysis is based on 30 telecommunication and 12 broadcasting technologies, and covers the period of digitization from 1986 to 2010. It highlights the differences in results obtained when comparing capacity with subscription numbers at the global level, as well as between developed and developing countries, and makes suggestions for policy conclusions that can be drawn from the analysis.
For related reports, see: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/idi/
