GSMA APAC Policy Group: Mobile Connectivity Index Webinar
The GSMA APAC Policy Group* organised a webinar on the GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index (MCI) on April 15 for members of the Asia Pacific Policy Group and their colleagues. 43 participants represented MNOs across the breadth of Asia Pacific and beyond. The webinar was opened by Chee Kheong Foong, Group Head of Regulatory Affairs at Axiata Group. After the webinar, Mudassar Hussain, Vice President, Public Policy & Regulatory Affairs, Jazz Pakistan, commented that “The MCI event was very well organized and helpful. MCI is a great tool to serve the purpose of evidence-based and well-targeted advocacy with policymakers and regulators.”
The Mobile Connectivity Index
The GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index (MCI) measures the performance of 170 countries – representing 99% of the global population – against key enablers of mobile internet adoption: infrastructure, affordability, consumer readiness, and content and services. This data can help the mobile industry and other stakeholders understand where to focus action in order to drive increased mobile internet adoption. It now includes data from 2014 to 2019.
Countries are scored within a range of 0 to 100 across a number of indicators, with a higher score representing stronger performance in delivering mobile internet connectivity. This web tool allows you to explore the data used in the MCI, and to compare countries across a range of metrics.
Source: GSMA Intelligence
Using the Mobile Connectivity Index
The GSMA created the MCI as a reference for mobile industry, governments, and the wider international community to deliver on the ambition of universal access to the internet.
It allows operators and other stakeholders to make an assessment of the enablers of connectivity. The figure below breaks down the MCI into its components.
By comparing key indicators across time and across markets, MNOs can identify the main challenges in their market as a starting point to prioritise and set the course of action. The MCI demonstrates high correlation with actual mobile internet adoption across markets, as shown below. In addition to our members, the MCI is referenced by credible organisations such as the World Bank, UNESCO, USAID, ITU, and others.
Source: GSMA Intelligence
MCI Policy Guidelines
GSMA is in the process of creating a set of guidelines to allow policymakers to make a similar assessment of their policy framework, with the aim of identifying the necessary changes to enable improvements in the level of connectivity. The Guidelines detail a step-by-step process of how to use the MCI along the policy cycle:
- Investigate: systematically review performance on the MCI
- Benchmark: assess performance against global and regional peers
- Prioritise: determine where to focus efforts
- Research: find the underlying reasons for current scores
- Resolve: adopt policies and monitor performance (restart)
The MCI Policy Guidelines will be published in June 2021.
To know more:
Access the MCI at https://www.mobileconnectivityindex.com/ and:
- View a global map of overall scores as well as scores for each Enabler, Dimension and Indicator
- Review global and country-specific numerical scores
- Build comparison sets
- Download the full data set
To review the methodology, see: https://www.gsma.com/r/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GSMA-Mobile-Connectivity-Index-Methodology-2020.pdf.
* The APAC Policy Group comprises senior public policy executives from operator groups in the APAC region to discuss policy priority interests in the region such as, 5G deployment, spectrum, data privacy and cybersecurity. If you are interested in joining the APAC Policy Group, please kindly email [email protected].