Information and communications technology (ICT) is often used as an extended synonym for information technology (IT), but is a more specific term that stresses the role ofunified communications^[1] and the integration of telecommunications (telephone lines and wireless signals), computers as well as necessary enterprise software, middleware, storage, and audio-visual systems, which enable users to access, store, transmit, and manipulate information.^[2]

The phrase ICT had been used by academic researchers since the 1980s,^[3] but it became popular after it was used in a report to the UK government by Dennis Stevenson in 1997^[4] and in the revised National Curriculum for England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2000. As of September 2013, the term "ICT" in the UK National Curriculum has been replaced by the broader term "computing".^[5]

The term ICT is now also used to refer to the convergence of audio-visual and telephone networks with computer networks through a single cabling or link system. There are large economic incentives (huge cost savings due to elimination of the telephone network) to merge the telephone network with the computer network system using a single unified system of cabling, signal distribution and management.

The term Infocommunications is sometimes used interchangeably with ICT. In fact Infocommunications is the expansion of telecommunications with information processing and content handling functions on a common digital technology base. For a comparison of these and other terms, see.^[6]

The ICT Development Index compares the level of ICT use and access across the world.^[7]

Global Costs of IT[edit]

The total money spent on IT worldwide has been most recently estimated as US $3.5 trillion, and is currently growing at 5% p.a. – doubling every 15 years. The 2014 IT budget of US Federal Government is nearly $82 billion.^[8] IT costs, as a percentage of corporate revenue, have grown 50% since 2002, putting a strain on IT budgets. Today, when looking at companies’ IT budgets, 75% are recurrent costs, used to “keep the lights on” in the IT department, and 25% are cost of new initiatives for technology development.^[9]

The average IT budget has the following breakdown:^[9] 31% – personnel costs (internal) 29% – software costs (external/purchasing category) 26% – hardware costs (external/purchasing category) 14% – costs of external service providers (external/services).

The WSIS Process and the stocktaking process[edit]

On 21 December 2001, the United Nations General Assembly by approving Resolution 56/183 endorsed the holding of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to discuss on information society opportunities and challenges.^[10] According to this resolution, the General Assembly related the Summit to the United Nations Millennium Declarationto implement ICT to facilitate achieving Millennium Development Goals. It also emphasize on the multistakeholder approach to use all stakeholders including civil society and private sector beside the governments. The resolution gave ITU the leading managerial role to organize the event in cooperation with other UN bodies as well as the other international organizations and the host countries and recommended that preparations for the Summit take place through an open-ended intergovernmental Preparatory Committee – or PrepCom – that would define the agenda of the Summit, decide on the modalities of the participation of other stakeholders, and finalize both the draft Declaration of Principles and the draft Plan of Action.^[11]

In 2003 at Geneva, delegates from 175 countries took part in the first phase of WSIS where they adopted a Declaration of Principles.^[12] This is a road map for achieving an information society accessible to all and based on shared knowledge. A Plan of Action^[13] sets out a goal of bringing 50 percent of the world's population online by 2015.

The second phase took place from November 16 through 18, 2005, in Tunis, Tunisia. It resulted in agreement on the Tunis Commitment and the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, and the creation of the Internet Governance Forum.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted in 2006 also requires information and communication technology as definition of communicationand right to accessibility^[14]

The WSIS Stocktaking Process

The WSIS Stocktaking Process is a follow-up to WSIS. Its purpose is to provide a register of activities carried out by governments, international organizations, the business sector, civil society and other entities, in order to highlight the progress made since that landmark event. Following § 120 of TAIS, ITU has been maintaining the WSIS Stocktaking database as a publicly accessible system providing information on ICT-related initiatives and projects with reference to the 11 WSIS Action Lines.

Furthermore, regular reporting on WSIS Stocktaking is the outcome of the Tunis phase of the Summit, which was launched in order to serve as a tool for assisting with the WSIS follow-up. The purpose of the regular reports is to update stakeholders on the various activities related to the 11 Action Lines identified in the Geneva Plan of Action, that was approved during First Phase of the WSIS.