Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

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INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) INDUSTRIES

Industries which involve businesses engaged in the production and distribution of ICT products comprise the ICT sector. In Australia, these are the Telecommunications services industry, the Computer services industry group, and relevant Manufacturing and Wholesale trade industry classes, as defined in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 (1292.0).

For the purposes of presenting statistics, businesses within the ICT sector are classified as either ICT specialists or non-specialists. All businesses in the: Computer services and Telecommunication services industry groupings; and the Telecommunication, broadcasting and transceiving equipment manufacturing and Computer wholesaling industry classes are classified as ICT specialists. Businesses in the remaining ICT industry classes are classified as ICT specialists if 50% or more of their income was derived from ICT activity.

Table 25.1 provides information about businesses which were ICT specialists.

25.1 ICT SPECIALISTS(a), Selected indicators - 2004-05
		Employment	ICT income	Total income	Wages and salaries	Total expenses	Operating profit before tax	Capital expenditure	Industry value added
Industry(b)		no.	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m	$m
Manufacturing
	Computer and business machines	2 450	664.5	818.1	142.3	805.3	^20.9	*9.7	178.9
	Telecommunication, broadcasting and transceiving equipment	5 765	1 189.3	1 386.1	359.6	1 276.0	^125.2	^34.5	483.9
	Electronic equipment n.e.c.	3 528	668.7	742.3	147.7	725.3	^53.0	37.6	260.8
	Electric cable and wire	^736	^187.6	^189.9	^39.9	^170.7	^20.4	2.7	^72.2
	Total	12 489	2 710.1	3 136.3	689.5	2 977.4	219.5	84.6	995.8
Wholesale trade
	Computers	^25 644	20 679.8	21 284.8	^1 786.1	20 677.0	*773.7	^202.1	^3 000.5
	Business machines	9 202	1 952.1	2 966.2	460.6	2 795.2	^182.9	^30.6	721.3
	Electrical and electronic equipment n.e.c.	9 967	6 002.5	6 793.6	700.3	6 575.7	^182.4	^140.1	1 026.3
	Total	44 814	28 634.4	31 044.6	2 946.9	30 047.8	^1 139.0	336.9	4 748.1
Telecommunication services		74 198	34 864.3	35 754.9	4 388.6	29 703.7	6 191.6	5 815.8	18 216.5
Computer services
	Data processing	*1 405	*178.9	^192.9	^62.5	^163.7	**29.2	**21.3	*105.3
	Information storage and retrieval	^853	^182.8	192.0	^46.2	164.6	^27.4	6.4	^94.9
	Computer maintenance	3 727	581.7	588.4	178.5	600.3	*-13.5	^46.9	219.8
	Computer consultancy	106 753	19 546.1	21 210.0	7 360.6	20 126.7	*1 155.8	^1 001.3	10 594.8
	Total	112 738	20 489.4	22 183.3	7 647.9	21 055.3	*1 198.8	^1 075.8	11 014.8
Total		244 238	86 698.1	92 119.1	15 673.0	83 784.2	8 749.0	7 313.0	34 975.2
^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution
* estimate has a relative standard error of 25% to 50% and should be used with caution
** estimate has a relative standard error greater than 50% and is considered too unreliable for general use
(a) The data relates to ICT specialist businesses within the industries in the ICT sector.
(b) Classified according to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC), 1993 edition.
Source: Information and Communication Technology, Australia (8126.0).

Total income for ICT specialists in the Manufacturing industry grouping was $3,136 million (m) in 2004-05, with most income coming from sales of goods produced (86.3% or $2,708m). Total sales of goods produced was mainly comprised of: radio, television and communication equipment and apparatus ($891m); other electronic equipment ($808m); and office, accounting and computing equipment ($724m).

In 2004-05, ICT specialists in the Wholesale trade industry grouping reported total income of $31,045m. The majority of this income came from sales of goods purchased for resale (89.3% or $27,722m) including: computer hardware, parts, components and consumables ($15,397m); and communications hardware, parts, components and consumables ($5,080m).

The Telecommunication services industry, which is comprised entirely of ICT-specialist businesses, reported total income of $35,755m in 2004-05. Over 90.0% of this income ($32,468m) came from the provision of telecommunication services. These were in turn mainly comprised of: basic telephone service ($11,414m); mobile and paging services ($9,360m); and other telecommunication services ($5,512m).

The Computer services industry grouping is composed solely of ICT specialists. They reported total income of $22,183m in 2004-05. The major source of income was the provision of computer services ($15,549m) including: hardware consultancy ($3,069m); other software consultancy ($2,959m); and customised software services and solutions ($2,687m). In addition, the Computer services industry grouping earned $4,786m from sales of goods (21.6% of total income).

Operating expenses for ICT specialists in the Manufacturing industry grouping in 2004-05 totalled $2,977m. The major expense items for these businesses were: purchases of materials, components, containers, packing materials, electricity, fuels and water ($1,291m); and labour costs ($803m).

ICT specialists in the Wholesale trade industry grouping reported total operating expenses of $30,048m in 2004-05. By far the largest expense for these businesses was purchases of finished goods for resale ($21,575m). The next largest expense was labour costs ($3,444m).

Total operating expenses for ICT specialists in the Telecommunications industry were $29,704m. The major expenses for this industry grouping in 2004-05 were: other operating expenses ($6,723m); telecommunication services ($6,323m); and depreciation and amortisation ($5,458m).

In 2004-05, ICT specialists in the Computer services industry grouping reported operating expenses of $21,055m. The largest expense items for these businesses were: labour costs ($8,894m); and purchases of finished goods for resale ($4,079m).

ICT-specialist businesses recorded total operating profit before tax (OPBT) of $8,749m in 2004-05. OPBT was highest for ICT specialists in the Telecommunication services industry ($6,192m) and lowest for the Manufacturing industry grouping ($220m). The overall operating profit margin for ICT-specialist businesses was 9.7% in 2004-05. At the industry grouping level, profit margins ranged from a high of 17.7% for Telecommunication services to a low of 3.7% for Wholesale trade.

In 2004-05, businesses with 100 or more employees accounted for 58.4% of all ICT-specialist employment (142,674 people) and 72.5% ($66,767m) of total income earned by all ICT-specialist businesses. In contrast, businesses with 0-19 employees accounted for 27.9% (68,173 people) of ICT employment but only 15.4% ($14,181m) of total income. OPBT for ICT-specialist businesses with 100 or more employees totalled $7,283m in 2004-05. This compares with $881m for ICT-specialist businesses with 0-19 employees, and $584m for those with 20-99 employees.

Table 25.2 shows total income from the production of ICT products in 2004-05 was $54.4b. The majority of this income was attributable to the provision of services, in particular telecommunication services ($32.9b or 61%). Exports of ICT products (including re-exports) in 2004-05 totalled $5.1m; total imports were $22.7m, predominantly ICT hardware. This represented a total trade deficit for ICT goods and services of $17.6m. The largest trade deficits occurred in respect of goods; including consumer audio and video electronics ($4,213m) and radio, television and communication equipment and apparatus ($3,641m). In contrast, small trade surplusses were recorded in respect of computer services ($114m) and telecommunication services ($74m).

25.2 ICT GOODS AND SERVICES, Production, imports and exports - 2004-05
	Income from domestic production	Imports(a)	Exports(b)
	$m	$m	$m
Computer and communications hardware, electronic equipment and cables	3 414.1	20 023.8	3 009.7
Packaged software and associated licensing	^728.1	954.8	225.6
Computer services	17 275.9	1 023.0	1 137.0
Telecommunication services	32 948.6	694.0	768.0
Total	54 366.7	22 695.6	5 140.3
^ estimate has a relative standard error of 10% to less than 25% and should be used with caution
(a) Customs value.
(b) Includes re-exports of goods of foreign origin ($1,219.9m).
Source: Information and Communication Technology, Australia (8126.0).

The ICT Satellite Account measures the contribution of ICT to the Australian economy (see the National accounts chapter). In 2002-03, the total market value of ICT goods and services produced in Australia after deducting the cost of goods used up in the process of production was $36.2 billion or 4.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) (graph 25.3). The contribution of ICT to Australia's GDP in 2002-03 was equal to that made by the Mining industry.

25.3 ICT share of the economy - 2002-03