Much of the research for this report was carried out under the `New Initiatives' programme, launched at the ITU in 1999. The research program included the case studies and a workshop on IP Telephony in Geneva on 14-16 June 2000 (see: www.itu.int/iptel).
The ITU is committed to playing a positive role in the development of the Internet and to extending the benefits of new telecommunication technologies, such as the Internet, to all the world's inhabitants. The Minneapolis Plenipotentiary Conference (1998) passed Resolution 101, which calls upon the ITU to "fully embrace the opportunities for telecommunication development that arise from the growth of IP-based services." The ITU Internet Reports are hopefully a significant contribution to that commitment.
Figure 2: Internet host distribution
Source: ITU, partially based on data from the Internet Software Consortium (www.isc.org) and RIPE (www.ripe.net).
Table 1: Multimedia access - Major economies
Economies rank based on the cumulative score in Teledensity, TVs, Internet hosts, and Cellular mobile
Telephone main line density per 100 inhabitants
TV sets density per 100 inhabitants
Internet host density per 10'000 inhabitants
Cellular mobile subscriber density per 100 inhabitants
Overall Rank
Economy
1999
Rank
1999
Rank
1999
Rank
1999
Rank
1
Norway
71.2
5
58.50
16
1'694.55
3
61.75
4
2
Finland
55.2
18
64.3
10
1'850.51
2
65.12
1
3
Denmark
68.5
7
62.1
12
1'134.50
6
49.47
10
4
Iceland
67.7
9
52.00
25
1'895.69
1
61.93
3
5
United States
68.2
8
84.90
2
1'386.99
4
31.15
25
6
Sweden
66.5
10
53.1
23
1'116.40
7
58.29
5
7
Netherlands
60.6
12
55.3
18
1'011.21
9
43.54
17
8
United Kingdom
57.5
16
64.5
9
549.93
18
46.28
13
9
Australia
52.1
23
70.50
7
1'028.81
8
34.28
22
10
Canada
65.5
11
71.50
5
976.98
10
22.65
35
11
Switzerland
69.9
6
51.80
26
714.00
12
41.08
19
12
Japan
49.4
27
71.20
6
371.81
24
44.94
16
13
France
57.9
14
60.3
13
313.22
26
36.40
20
14
Austria
48.2
31
51.6
27
583.87
16
51.44
8
15
Hongkong SAR
57.6
15
43.40
38
305.00
28
63.61
2
16
Germany
58.8
13
58
17
361.48
25
28.57
28
17
Luxembourg
72.4
4
38.9
50
399.91
21
48.70
11
18
Taiwan-China
54.5
20
41.60
41
482.19
19
52.24
7
19
Belgium
50.2
26
52.3
24
582.19
17
31.45
23
20
New Zealand
49.0
28
51.20
28
1'262.38
5
23.01
34
21
Italy
46.2
34
48.8
30
142.60
40
52.83
6
22
Portugal
42.4
41
54.2
21
149.22
37
46.81
12
23
Ireland
47.8
32
40.7
48
298.40
28
45.67
15
24
Greece
52.8
22
47.2
34
128.14
42
31.06
26
25
Spain
41.8
43
50.8
29
201.80
31
31.20
24
26
Israel
45.9
35
32.80
60
424.95
21
45.89
14
27
Singapore
48.2
30
29.00
70
679.92
15
41.88
18
28
Czech Republic
37.1
50
46.70
35
205.32
31
18.95
46
29
Korea (Rep.)
44.1
38
34.60
57
44.92
61
50.03
9
30
Hungary
37.1
50
44.20
36
200.76
33
16.21
49
31
Poland
26.3
68
41.30
42
81.25
46
10.21
65
32
Argentina
20.1
85
29.30
69
69.49
50
12.12
58
33
Turkey
26.5
66
31.50
65
22.02
72
11.91
60
34
Chile
20.7
81
23.60
91
47.74
59
15.05
51
35
Brazil
14.9
95
32.40
61
47.41
60
8.95
70
36
Mexico
11.2
101
26.10
80
74.19
49
7.94
74
37
Malaysia
20.3
84
17.00
111
48.23
58
13.70
54
38
South Africa
13.8
97
13.40
120
74.96
48
13.21
55
39
Russia
20.6
82
42.10
39
15.78
78
0.92
126
40
Venezuela
10.9
103
18.50
107
10.75
94
14.34
52
41
Thailand
8.6
115
24.00
86
11.78
91
3.84
94
42
China
8.6
114
28.70
71
1.01
133
3.42
97
43
Philippines
4.0
140
11.00
128
2.97
113
3.66
95
44
Indonesia
2.9
118
13.60
118
1.79
121
1.06
123
45
India
2.7
140
7.50
140
0.42
148
0.19
159
Source: ITU, partially based on data from the Internet Software Consortium (www.isc.org) and RIPE (www.ripe.net).
