Off the wire
• Bulgaria needs better coordination, raised awareness to deal with terrorism threats: Deputy PM  • Ukraine, Turkey to boost agricultural cooperation, trade  • Urgent: More than 100 injured in tansit train crash in Hoboken, New Jersey, multiple passengers trapped: ABC  • Somalia improves payroll system to pay troops on time  • Albanian exports up by 6.8 pct  • Indonesia claims success in tax amnesty program  • Situation in war-torn Aleppo compromising humanitarian taskforce: UN official  • Commentary: China breathes life into global governance reforms  • Half million British age 90 or over  • Mine explosion injures 14 Vietnamese miners  
You are here: 　 Home

ITU picks Kenya for pilot use of big data development

Xinhua, September 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN's International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has selected Kenya to pilot the use of big data for improved measurement of the information society.

ITU Consultant Margus Tiru said on Thursday the pilot study is part of ITU's initiative that seeks to explore innovative ways of using big data for development and improved measurement of the information society.

"The main aim is to identify big data sources for ICT measurement, to engage with new partners, and to implement concrete, big data case studies that could later be scaled up as part of a larger, long-term project," Tiru told a big data conference in Nairobi.

Big Data is a phrase used to mean a massive volume of both structured and unstructured data that is difficult to process using traditional database and software techniques.

In most enterprise scenarios the volume of data is too big, moves too fast or it exceeds current processing capacity.

This data, when captured, formatted, manipulated, stored, and analyzed can help a company to gain useful insight to increase revenues, get or retain customers, and improve operations.

Kenya is among six countries selected by the UN telecom agency ITU to pilot the use of big data for better ICT measurement. The other countries are Philippines, Colombia, United Arab Emirates, Korea and Georgia.

Tiru noted that the countries were picked based on their geographical areas and the level of ICT penetration in the countries. ITU will provide the countries with data scientists to coordinate the pilot studies.

"The aim is to move away from static traditional data collection methods like household surveys, to use of indicators which are much faster," Tiru added.

Richard Tonui, Acting Assistant Director/Market Analysis and Tariffs said big data if well analysed has the capacity to provide input into processes to save lives, improve education, enhance government services, increase marketplace efficiency, and boost economic productivity.

"Official statistics based on big data will help the governments close digital and economic gaps, and private sector identifies market opportunities," Tonui noted. Endit