International Telecommunication Union

1. International Telecommunication Union Preparation for WTSA-08Malcolm JohnsonDirector, TSB ASTAP-12 12 March 2007Bangkok, Thailand

2. Outline • What is WTSA? • WTSA-04, Florianópolis, Brazil • Interests of developing countries • Plenipotentiary Conference 2006 • Instructions from PP ‘06 • Standardization roundtable and coordination meeting • WTSA-08, venue TBA • Some considerations for 2008 • Hot topics for 2008 • Getting involved

3. World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly • WTSA sets direction and structure for ITU-T • Meets every four years • Defines the general policy for the Sector • Establishes the study groups • Approves their expected work programme • Appoints their chairmen and vice-chairmen • WTSA Resolutions are available at:itu.int/ITU-T/wtsa/resolutions

4. Major outcomes of WTSA-04Interests of developing countries • Telecom’n standardization in relation to interests of DCs was enhanced (Res.17) • Assistance to regional tariff groups (Res.26) • Regional preparations for WTSA (Res.43) • Action Plan for PP Res.123 on bridging the standardization gap (Res.44) • Creation of regional groups (Res.54) • Action Plan for TDR and Early Warning

5. Res. 17 - Telecom’n standardization in relation to the interests of DCs … instructs the Director of the TSB to provide BDT with all the necessary support with a view to: • encouraging and increasing the participation of DCs in telecommunication standardization activities; • assisting and advising in the organization and holding of information meetings concerning the work of the ITU-T study groups; • assisting DCs with studies in respect of priority questions, such as VoIP, mobile technology, multimedia, etc.

6. Resolution 43Regional preparations for WTSAs • … organize… one regional preparatory meeting per region • … closest in time possible to the next WTSA • … followed by an informal meeting of the chairmen and vice-chairmen of the regional preparatory meetings • … not earlier than six months prior to WTSA…

7. Annex to Resolution 44 • Objective • To improve the standard-making capabilities of DCs • Activities • Developing guidelines to assist developing countries in their involvement in ITU-T activities. • Developing webcasting systems that enable developing-country experts to follow study group meetings from their office workstations. • Conducting a certain number of consultancy projects designed to support DCs in the development of standardization plans, strategies, policies, etc. • …outputs should be further transformed into best practices.

8. Resolution 54 – Creation of regional groups • Instructs the Director of the TSB, in collaboration with the Director of the BDT • to provide all necessary support for creating and ensuring the smooth functioning of the regional groups; • to take all necessary measures to facilitate the organization of the meetings and workshops of those groups, • Invites • the regional groups thus created to cooperate closely with the relevant regional organizations.

9. ITU Plenipotentiary Conference6-24 November 2006, Antalya, Turkey • Top policy-making bodyof ITU • Sets the Union's general policies • Adopts four-year strategic and financial plans • Elects the senior management team of the organization, the members of Council and the members of the Radio Regulations Board

10. PP ’06 instructs ITU to… (1) • Strengthen regional presence • Maximise the benefits of regional presence for the whole of the Union’s benefit • Bridge the standardization gap between developing and developed countries • Maintain close coordination among the three sectors of ITU at the regional level • Build confidence and security in the use of ICTs • Take part in all international discussions relating to internationalized Internet domain names

11. PP ’06 instructs ITU to… (2) • Continue studies to meet the needs of public protection and disaster relief • Assist members in deploying NGN effectively • Assist in finding appropriate solutions for affordable NGN deployment • Highlight the contribution of ICTs to development • Conduct a review of the International Telecommunication Regulations

12. PP ’06 instructs ITU to… (3) • Continue activities on IP-based networks • Provide a summary of activities relating to IP-based networks • Organize a Worldwide Standardization Roundtable and Coordination Meeting

13. Worldwide Standardization Roundtable and Coordination Meeting • A first for WTSA • Builds on the success of the Informal Forum Summits • Brings together all standards makers, forums, consortia etc • Correspondence group created • Plan is for 1 day before WTSA • Two or three thematics will be defined, for major ongoing and future standardization topics

14. Consequences… or why does WTSA matter ? • Make ITU-T THE most attractive place to do international standards • Make best use of experts’ time and resources • Avoid duplication and overlap of work • Lower costs to membership and to ITU • A bad structure will slow down or stop work • A good structure can speed up work

15. What are the objectives for restructuring the study groups • Efficiency, relevance, clear mandates • Visibility to outside world • Many different views and objectives have been introduced by the membership • A correspondence group on restructuring has been set up • Two approaches • Change for change sake vs. if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it • Balance between: massive consolidation into a few large Study Groups vs. Study Groups based on specific topics and expertise

16. Some considerations for 2008 • Implementation of PP Resolution 123 – Bridging the standardization gap • Remote participation • TSB support for DC participation • Regional presence • Some consolidation of work will help • Avoid divergent solutions • Share time of experts among study items • Reduce need for liaisons • Too much consolidation of work will hurt • Less time per study item during meeting • Parallel meetings cannot be covered by experts • External liaison relationships become less clear

17. ITU-T should have a strong presence in certain areas • Critical areas for future work must include: • Bridging the standardization gap • Next Generation Network (NGN) • IPTV • Home networking • Cybersecurity • Mobility • Ubiquitous networks • Network infrastructure: optical transport, network management, signalling, performance and QoS, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), architecture, interoperability, etc.

18. Get involved • Regional preparatory meetings are a proven platform for the development of successful proposals by APT • The next two TSAGs will start the review process • Correspondence group on SG structure • Convenor: Haruo Okamura tsagstructure@itu.int • Correspondence group for the Standardization Roundtable • Convenor: Jean-Yves Monforttsagroundtable@itu.int