Baseline knowledge about ICT in Nepal

Rohan Samarajiva Nagarkot, 28-31 March 2015

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre, Canada and UKaid from the Department for International Development, UK.

2

Internet Ecosystem: All elements are important

Infrastructure

Users

Content/ ApplicationsDevices

How can we find data on the components?

• Because telecom (underlying infrastructure of the Internet) is regulated, possible to obtain supply-side data from the government (sector regulator ITU) and small number of suppliers ( GSMA)– More details tomorrow

• Government collects a lot of data • Some market research is also published

3

Comparative data Bangladesh Cambodia Myanmar Nepal Sri Lanka

GDP per capita (OER)/USD

985 1167 1,156 730 3,212

Population (’000)

142,319 13,396 51,419 26,494 20,360

Literacy rate adult (15 and above) %

58.6 80.7 93 57 89.9

Secondary school enrolment % net

48 38 47 60 85

Secondary school enrolment % gross

54 45 50 67 99

Tertiary school enrolment %

13 16 14 14 17

4

Comparative data

5

Bangladesh Cambodia Myanmar Nepal Sri Lanka

GDP per capita (OER)/USD

985 1167 1,156 730 3,212

Population (’000)

142,319 13,396 51,419 26,494 20,360

Internet subscriptions (2014)

43,642,000 99,785 5,305,485

Internet subscriptions per 100

30.7 3.8 26.1

Households with Internet access at home (%)

4.6 5.5 2.2 5.6 10.9

Comparative data

Bangladesh Cambodia Myanmar Nepal Sri Lanka

Internet users per 100- ITU method (2013)

6.5 6.0 1.2 13.3 21.9

Internet users per 100- LIRNEasia method (2013)

6.5 6.0 13.6 13.3 34.8

International Internet bandwidth bits per Internet user

3,984 9,301 26,199 2,434 4,964

International Internet bandwidth bits per Internet user adjusted to LIRNEasia Internet user numbers (2013)

3,984 9,301 2,312 2,434 3,124

6

Comparative data: Nepal is highest among peers in one thing

Bangladesh Cambodia Myanmar Nepal Sri Lanka

Population (’000) 142,319 13,396 51,419 26,494 20,360

Facebook users (2014), millions

9.8 1.88 2.8 4 2.4

Facebook users per 100

6.89 14.03 5.45 15.10 11.797

Nepal is only S Asian country where Facebook users > Internet users

8

Population (‘000s)

Internet users, ITU est. (‘000s)

Internet users/100 pop

Facebook users ('000)

Facebook users/100 pop

Internet user-Fb user ('000)

Philippines 92,338 34,165 37.0 38,000 41 -3,835

Thailand 65,479 18,950 28.9 30,000 46 -11,050

Sri Lanka 20,271 4,439 21.9 2,400 12 2,039

Indonesia 237,641 37,595 15.8 70,000 29 -32,405

India 1,210,855 182,839 15.1 110,000 9 72,839

Pakistan 197,361 21,512 10.9 16,200 8 5,312

Bangladesh 156,887 10,198 6.5 9,600 6 598

Myanmar 51,419 617 1.2 2,000 4 -1,383

Nepal 26,494

3,524 13.3 4,000 15 -476

Mostly not surprising

• Correlated with wealth and literacy• Not correlated with median age, but that can be

explained

9

Median age of population

24.3 24.1 27.9 22.9 31

10

11

Any other interesting conclusions?

• Nepal being high on Facebook/100: Good? • Any others?

12

Composite indices Bangladesh Cambodia Myanmar Nepal Sri Lanka

Inward FDI Attraction Index (2011) - out of a possible 189

144 65 133 175 159

Doing business index (2014) - out of a possible 189

173 135 177 108 99

Network Readiness Index (2013) - out of a possible 148

119 108 146 123 76

ICT Development Index (2012)- out of a possible 157

135 120 134 N/A 107

Knowledge Economy Index- 2012 (KEI) - out of a possible 145

137 132 145 135 101

13

What’s the value of composite indices?• If you want to measure progress on Internet

access are the individual metrics adequate?

14

What do we have data about? Where can we find what is missing?

Infrastructure

Users

Content/ ApplicationsDevices