Statistics for the information age

The rapid changes in the telecommunications sector shorten the useful lifes pan of many of the established telecommunications traffic indicators, creat ing the need for constant re-assessment and improvement of existing indicat ors and the development of new ones. This paper first reviews two prominent publications by TeleGeography, Inc. that provide telecommunications traffi c and Internet statistics. It then lists other data sources and discusses s everal prominent measurement efforts that highlight the need for internatio nally agreed upon measurement standards. Finally, it is pointed out that ma ny of the economic and social statistics that are needed to help interpret the impact of the information revolution, as well as the techniques used to analyse them, are also in dire need of improvement. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scie nce B.V. All rights reserved.