World Dialogue on Regulation

Published every other year, the OECD Communications Outlook provides an extensive range of indicators on the development of different communications networks and compares performance indicators such as revenue, investment, employment and prices for services throughout the OECD area. These indicators are essential for industry participants and for regulators who use benchmarking to evaluate policy performance.

The OECD Communications Outlook 2007 presents the most recent comparable data on communication sector performance and provides information on policy frameworks in OECD countries.

The report is based on the data from the OECD Telecommunications Database 2007, which provides time series of telecommunications and economic indicators–such as network dimension, revenues, investment and employment–for OECD countries from 1980 to 2005.

The report also provides detailed time series data of up to 10 years for a number of key indicators. In addition, for the first time, the 2007 edition includes analysis of the communication sector in five large non-OECD countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Graphics and tables in the publication include StatLinks, URLs linking to spreadsheets containing the underlying data.

For more information on trends in information technology, globalisation and the impact on the way people live and work, refer to the OECD Information Technology Outlook, also published every other year.

OECD Communications Outlook 2007
Published: July 2007
Pages: 310
ISBN: 978-92-64-00704-8

Table of contents

Executive Summary

Chapter 1. Policy Issues and Market Structure
Broadband on its way to becoming the dominant telecommunication medium |
Market structure | Emerging policy issues | Sustained growth through transformation

Chapter 2. Recent Communication Policy Developments
Trends in competition | Regulatory issues | Household expenditures on communications

Chapter 3. Telecommunication Market Size
Mobile communications | Broadband | Voice traffic | Research and development

Chapter 4. Network Dimensions and Development
Fixed lines | Blurring of lines between mobile and fixed | Mobile network growth | Wi-Fi | Payphones | Broadband network growth | Investment

Chapter 5. Broadband and Internet Infrastructure
Internet subscribers | Internet hosts | Domain names | Web servers | Secure servers | National and regional Internet development | Peering

Chapter 6. Broadcasting
Market penetration of distribution platforms and digitalisation | Channel and content availability | Changes in market structure | Regulation | Challenges

Chapter 7. Main Trends in Pricing
Residential and business telecommunication baskets | International pricing trends | Mobile pricing trends | Broadband pricing trends | Leased lines

Chapter 8. Trade in Telecommunication Equipment
Worldwide trends in telecommunication equipment trade | Trade among OECD member countries | Comparative advantages | Breakdown of intra-industry trade

Chapter 9. Communications in the Emerging BRICS Economies
Emerging economies | Network dimensions | Comparative position | Policy contexts, structures and developments

Glossary

Annex Tables

The full report is available in French here...