RCC Commission on the Economics of Infocommunications
The RCC Commission on the Economics of Communications was created by the decision of the Board of the RCC CAs Heads on 01.13.1993 №7/7 and was further renamed the RCC Commission on the Economics of Infocommunications by the Board of the RCC CAs Heads dated July 15-16, 2014 №49/20-12.2, while maintaining succession.
The main tasks and functions of the RCC Commission on the Economics of Infocommunications are:
- consideration and preparation of joint proposals on the issues by the RCC communications administrations of the CIS member-states of an agreed tariff policy for international telecommunication and postal services;
- consideration and preparation of proposals for improving mutual settlements between RCC telecom operators for the provided international telecommunication services within the CIS;
- coordination of the interaction of the RCC CAs in resolving quality management issues in the market of information and communication services;
- the formation of research topics on the development of the infocommunication industry, financed jointly by the RCC CAs, their examination;
- preparation of recommendations for improving the statistical base created for the exchange of comparative and analytical data on the activities of communications administrations and national CIS informatization bodies in the field of information communications within the framework of the RCC;
- development and approval of programs for seminars to improve the skills of specialists in the communications industry and ICT RCC CAs;
- exchange of experience on the most pressing issues of the economy of the information communications industry;
- Promoting the innovative development of cooperation among the RCC members using the principles of investment activity, including public-private partnerships;
- development of recommendations for improving the financial activities of the RCC;
- coordination of the interaction of the RCC CAs on topical issues: development of activities in the field of information communications, the system of financial and economic indicators and methods for their calculation;
- preparation of proposals on the regulation of activities in the field of infocommunications in accordance with the current regulatory framework and patterns of development of market relations in the field of infocommunications;
- study of the composition of the industry market participants, the features of their interaction in the process of information exchange and service provision;
- consideration and preparation of proposals for assessing the production efficiency and use of production resources of infocommunication services;
- exchange of experience on issues of state regulation of tariffs for communication services and free pricing for information and communication services in the CIS Member-States;
- exchange of experience on the composition of the production resources of business entities operating in the field of informatization, including production assets, labor, radio frequency and information resources, numbering resources;
- study of the prospects for the economic and social development of infocommunications, as well as the criteria for infocommunication development and movement towards the information society.
Within the framework of the Commission on the Economics of Infocommunications, there are: the RCC Contribution Review Working Group and the Statistical Indicators Unification Working Group, which functions are transferred to the Initiative Expert Group on Improving Statistical Indicators while maintaining succession.
On improving the structure of the Collection of the Statistical Digest of the activities of the RCC Communications Administrations
One of the activities of the RCC from the first years of its creation is the exchange of information between RCC participants on the development of communications in the countries representing them.
The publication of the RCC statistical compilation was a logical step in informing the RCC CAs about the levels of development of technical means and communication services.
The first RCC Statistical Digest was published in 1993 following the results of work for 1991-1992. This collection contained 102 indicators, of which: 35 - reflected system-wide indicators of communication development, 41 - indicators of telecommunications, 11 - broadcasting and television, 15 - mail.
Immediately after the release, the Collection gained popularity not only among RCC participants and their subordinate organizations and enterprises, but also among scientific and educational centers of many countries, international organizations (ITU and UPU, and others.), regional communication organizations, various companies and telecom operators.
The total circulation of the first Statistical Digest was 200 copies, but the need for its publication was much higher.
The collection was published on the basis of the general statistical base of the RCC CAs and methodological recommendations on filling in the indicators that were developed by the RCC Communications Economics Commission together with the RCC Executive Committee based on the proposals of the RCC CAs. The general statistical base and methodological recommendations were approved by the Board of the RCC CAs Heads in 1997 (Decision №17/10 of June 6, 1997). The creation and maintenance of the statistical base were entrusted to the RCC Executive Committee, its further improvement - to the RCC Commission on the Economics of Communications.
Over the following years, the indicators of the RCC general statistical base and the RCC Statistical Digest were constantly improved: new indicators were introduced taking into account changes in the statistical accounting system in the RCC CAs as a result of the development of the communications industry in a market economy.
The statistical compilation on the activities of the RCC CAs for 2006 contained 525 indicators, 129 of them were system-wide indicators for the development of communications, 183 were indicators of telecommunications, 30 were broadcasting and television, 70 were mail communications, 113 were indicators of access to telecommunication networks, information and information resources. CIS countries and "electronic" development in the CIS countries.
Since 2001, the publications began to post an analytical review of the development of communications and since 2004, indicators of access to telecommunication networks, information and information resources and the corresponding analytical review.
Starting in 1998, the information in the Collection has been presented in two languages: Russian and English Languages. The RCC Statistical Digest, with a circulation of 570 copies, has been published since 2001 not only in hard copy, but also in electronic forms (on CD).
In the CIS countries, as well as around the world, there is an intensive development of info-communications and the process of building the information society is ongoing.
In 2004-2007, the FSUE “Moscow Research Center” (Russia) with the participation of the Center for Scientific, Technical and Marketing Research of the Uzbek Agency for Communication and Informatization (CSTMRUACI) developed a system of indicators characterizing the state of development of informatization in the CIS countries, and recommendations on the methodology filling them out.
In addition, at the initiative of the RCC Commission on the Economics of Communications in 2005-2006. The Scientific and Research Institute for Economics of Communications and Informatics “INTERECOMS” (Russia) was conducted with the participation of the Central Scientific and Research Institute of Computer Engineering CSTMRUACI and the research work “Unification of the indicators of statistical reporting on communications in the CIS countries used in the Statistical Digest on the Activities of RCC CAs”.
The purpose of this work was to unify the communication indicators used in the Collection to ensure comparability and comparability of results not only in the countries of the region, but also with other countries.
Based on the research work, a "List of unified statistical indicators characterizing the state of communication in the RCC participants' countries, intended for inclusion in the" Statistical Compendium on the Activities of the RCC CAs and recommendations for their completion, was prepared.
The new List of communication indicators for the RCC Digest already included 400 unified indicators and is presented in five blocks, including:
General information about the state.
Network of telecom operators.
Availability of technical means of communication.
Communication services.
Economic indicators.
Research and development were carried out taking into account the harmonization of indicators with recommended international consolidating organizations.
The UPU recommendations were used for indicators of the state and development of postal services; for indicators of telecommunications, electronic development, recommendations of the ITU, Eurostat, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the UN Statistics Division, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and other organizations involved in the development of telecommunications and information and communications were used. technologies around the world involved in the development of key telecommunication indicators (TI), indicators of access to telecommunication networks, inform resources and constantly working on their improvement. At the same time, the peculiarities inherent in each country, where there is already an established terminology for communication and informatization, supported by a national regulatory framework, were taken into account.
The results of the research were considered at the meetings of the specially created Working Group at the RCC Commission on Communications Economics with the involvement of specialists from the CIS Interstate Statistical Committee and Rosstat, at the meetings of the RCC Commissions on the Economics of Communications and Informatization, as well as at joint meetings of these Commissions. Research reports were agreed with the RCC Communications Administrations.
The RCC General Statistical Database, created on the basis of the completed developments, was approved at the 38th meeting of the Board of the RCC CAs Heads and the “Statistical Compendium on the Activities of Communications Administrations in the Field of Communications and Informatization” for 2007 was released using a unified system of indicators for communications and informatization.
Annex 1. The list of unified statistical indicators characterizing the state of communication in the countries of the RCC participants, intended for inclusion in the “Statistical Digest on the Activities of the RCC CAs” and recommendations for their completion.
Annex 2. Indicators of access to telecommunication networks, information and information resources in the CIS countries and the "electronic" development of the CIS countries and recommendations on how to fill them out.
At the 41st meeting of the RCC Board (November 2009, Minsk), in order to develop and implement a policy for the development of the information society of the countries of the RCC participants, a High-Level Working Group (HLWG) was created. At the meeting, it was deemed necessary to establish closer contact with state statistics authorities in order to obtain timely statistical information to most fully and adequately reflect the activities of communications administrations in the field of ICT development. Given the existing developments and the potential of the RCC Commissions on the Economics of Communications and Informatization, they were instructed to provide the necessary support for the HLWG to monitor the implementation of ICTs and the readiness of the countries of the RCC participants to build the information society.
In 2009, a qualitatively new step was taken towards the coverage of the formation of the information society. In accordance with the Decision of the Board of the RCC CAs Heads №39/3-CIS dated September 25, 2008, the Collection included indicators characterizing the business climate, human capital, and government regulation in the field of ICT as a reference application.
The composition of these indicators includes the most relevant indicators used by international organizations and characterizing not only ICTs, but also the conditions and factors for their development. Among them were composite indexes: Index of readiness for the networked world, Index of electronic readiness, Index of digital capabilities, Index of readiness for "electronic government". Such indices are calculated on the basis of a number of indicators; therefore, they can be used to compare the degree of electronic readiness of countries by the totality of factors influencing it.
The RCC Commission on the Economics of Communications conducted an analysis and evaluation of the activities of “electronic government” in the countries of RCC participants, followed by a synthesis and analysis of the results.
At the meeting, members of the RCC Commission on the Economics of Communications (August 2010, Odessa) discussed and proposed the organization of a system of regional monitoring of the state and development of ICT in the countries of RCC participants, contributing to the improvement of the existing system of indicators. Further, this issue was submitted for consideration at a meeting of the HLWG.
In accordance with its tasks and powers, the HLWG worked out in detail the issue of Regional Monitoring of the state and development of ICT in the countries of RCC participants and brings it to the discussion of the Board of the RCC Communications Administrations Heads.
Regional monitoring of infocommunication development (ICD) is a system that includes comprehensive statistical monitoring of the progress and nature of quantitative and qualitative changes in infocommunication processes and phenomena in the economy and social sphere, assessment and analysis of the development status and potential capabilities of ICDs, development of managerial actions for adjustment national or regional informatization policies.
Integral parts of monitoring are observation, analysis, information generation for the development of managerial decisions, their control and adjustment of the informatization policy in order to achieve the development goal.
The results of the Regional Monitoring are of practical importance for public authorities and communications administrations of the RCC member-states, the RCC Executive Committee, national state executive bodies of various levels, investors, manufacturers and suppliers of ICT, as well as for the public of the countries of the Regional Commonwealth.
Further improvement of the system of indicators and indicators for assessing the level of RBI is aimed both at reflecting the dynamics of ICT development and their deep penetration into society and at developing qualitatively new methodological approaches to studying these processes and ensuring reliable international comparisons.
By the Decision of the Board of the RCC CAs Heads №43/10 of 11.23.10, a decision was made on the appropriateness of using the results of monitoring the information and communication development of the ICD of the countries of RCC participants.
By the Decision of the Board of the RCC CAs Heads №45/7 of 12.07.11. work on the Regional monitoring of the infocommunication development of the RCC participants' countries is included in the List of activities carried out within the framework of the RCC's charter activities.
The results of the RMIKR of the RCC member-states were considered at the 47/18th joint meeting of the RCC Board and the Coordination Council and submitted to the CIS Economic Council for consideration.
On June 18, 2013, the CIS Economic Council decided to use the results of the RMIKR to interested ministries and departments of the CIS member-states, and the Regional Commonwealth to continue work on conducting regular regional monitoring of the information and communication development of the CIS member-states.
The RMIKR results were presented to ITU as the overall RCC Contributions to improve the World List of ICT Indicators at the 9th meeting on World Telecommunications/ICT Indicators (December 7–9, 2011 in Le Pae, Mauritius). Then, the results of the RMIKT were presented at the 11th ITU Symposium on Worldwide Telecommunication / ICT Indicators (WTIS, Mexico City, December 4-6, 2013).
Further improvement of the structure of the Statistical Compendium on the activities of the RCC communications administrations and the system of indicators was aimed both at reflecting the dynamics of ICT development and their deep penetration into society, and at developing qualitatively new methodological approaches to studying these processes and ensuring reliable international comparisons.
In 2014, the RCC Executive Committee and the RCC Commission on the Economics of Infocommunications actively collaborated with the RCC communications administrations on the improvement and development of the overall RCC statistical base. The system of indicators and structure of the Statistical Compendium on the activities of the RCC communications administrations was improved in order to harmonize statistical reporting on regional and international indicators of the development of communications and ICT.
At the suggestion of the RCC Executive Committee, in 2014 the Statistical Compendium on the Activities of the RCC CAs in the Field of Communications and Informatization for 2013 was published in a new format.
Initiating this work, the RCC Executive Committee was guided, first of all, by the tasks of improving the indicators characterizing the information and communication development and the movement of the countries of the RCC participants towards the information society:
- the unity of the information-statistical and methodological basis for reporting;
- unification of indicators for analyzing the development of telecommunications, postal services and infocommunication development in regional and international aspects;
- bringing the existing indicators in line with the achieved level of scientific and technological progress, the digitalization of communication networks, the introduction of ICT.
The statistical collection was released in a new format and 197 standardized indicators were included.
The main differences of the updated Statistical Digest are:
- the names of most of the indicators of the RCC Statistical Digest have been adjusted in accordance with the ITU methodology for the world telecommunication/ICT indicator system;
- the indicators system of the RCC Statistical Digest includes additional indicators corresponding to the components of the sub-indexes of the ICT Development Index (IDI) in order to ensure international comparison with ITU results;
- A link has been achieved between regional monitoring of ICD and international monitoring of the development of ITU's ICT, and it is possible to verify all relative indicators based on absolute data;
- A number of ICD indicators and their components were replaced within the framework of the RMIKR in accordance with the evolution of the formation of the information society;
- significantly reduced the volume of analyzed indicators by reducing the number of indicators for postal services, the availability of technical means of communication, the quality of work and communication services;
- the Supplemental Supplement “Indicators characterizing the business climate, human capital, state regulation in the field of ICT of the RCC member-states” was excluded, the completion of which was fraught with difficulties of the existing national statistical accounting for a number of indicators.
By the Decision of the Board of the RCC CAs Heads №51/22-13 dated May 24, 2016, the List of statistical indicators from the RCC Communications Administrations was approved for inclusion in the “Statistical Digest on the Development of Information and Communication Technologies in the RCC Communications Administrations”.