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Recognizing the need to update its data, the National
Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) has approved the
first batch of official concepts and definitions for
statistical purposes for the information and
communications technology (ICT) sector to be adopted by
all concerned government agencies.
Among
the concepts approved through NSCB Resolution 2, Series
of 2008, were e-commerce, business-process outsourcing (BPO),
value-added service provider (VASP), Internet service
provider (ISP), broadband Internet subscriber (BIS),
public Internet access centers (PIAC), web presence and
telephone density.
The NSCB
said the inclusion of these concepts and definitions in
government data recognizes the potentials and impact of
the ICT on the economy and society as embodied in the
e-Commerce Act.
“The
NSCB is mandated to prescribe standard concepts and
definitions to ensure harmonization and consistency in
the generation of official statistics for national and
subnational development planning. This would also allow
for comparability of statistics across national and
international boundaries,” the agency said in a
statement.
The NSCB
defined BPOs as the delegation of one or more
IT-intensive business processes to an external provider
that, in turn, owns, administers and manages the
selected process or processes based on defined and
measurable performance metrics.
The VASP
is defined as an entity which, relying on the
transmission, switching and local distribution
facilities of the local exchange and interexchange
operators, and overseas carriers, offers enhanced
services beyond those ordinarily provided for by such
carriers.
ISPs, on
the other hand, are defined as companies which provide
end-users with a data connection allowing access to the
Internet and associated services. such as the worldwide
web, e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, Internet
telephony, among others.
Broadband Internet subscriber, meanwhile, is defined as
an individual, organization, or company that pays for
high-speed access to the public Internet.
The NSCB
noted that high-speed access refers to speed that is
equal to or greater than 256 kilobits per second as the
sum of the capacity in both directions, to the public
Internet.
A PIAC,
on the other hand, is defined as a site, location, or
center of instruction at which Internet access is made
available to the public, on a full-time or part-time
basis.
This,
the NSCB noted, may include digital community centers,
Internet cafes’ libraries, education enters and other
similar establishments, whenever they offer Internet
access to the general public.
The
resolution defined web presence as a web site, home page
or presence on another entity’s web site, including a
related business.
However,
the NSCB said that inclusion in an online directory and
any other web page where the business does not have
substantial control over the content of the page is not
considered “web presence.”
Meanwhile, telephone density is defined as the number of
fixed telephone lines per 100 population. The NSCB noted
that fixed-telephone lines are telephone lines
connecting a customer’s terminal equipment, such as a
telephone set or facsimile machine to the public switch
telephone network and which has a dedicated port on a
telephone exchange.
These
statistical concepts and definitions for the ICT sector
were earlier reviewed and approved by the Interagency
Committee on Information and Communications Technology
Statistics created by the NSCB to serve as a forum for
the discussion and resolution of issues pertaining to
e-commerce statistics and ICT statistics in general.
The NSCB
previously approved the official statistical concepts
and definitions for education, foreign-direct
investments, forestry, health and nutrition, housing,
informal sector, labor and employment, population,
prices, science and technology, and tourism. |
