Editorial
Dr Hamadoun I. Touré
ITU Secretary-General
ITU joined international efforts to provide emergency
communications to Haiti — following a devastating
earthquake — and later to Uganda, Chile, Pakistan
and Indonesia. Satellite terminals were deployed to
help re-establish basic communication links in these
countries.
Third-generation (3G) IMT-2000 mobile phone
systems will enjoy worldwide compatibility, international roaming, and access to high-speed data
services, thanks to a new ITU standard. Our
Radiocommunication Sector also designated two
next-generation 4G mobile technologies as IMTAdvanced. “LTE-Advanced” and “WirelessMANAdvanced” are now qualified as true 4G technologies.
World Telecommunication and Information
Society Day was celebrated in Shanghai, China, with
the theme, “Better city, better life with ICT”. WSIS
Forum 2010 focused on the impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the
Millennium Development Goals, while ITU’s World
Telecommunication/ICT Development Report provided a mid-term review of the progress made in implementing the ten targets of the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS).
The World Telecommunication Development
Conference held in Hyderabad, India, outlined a road
map to foster the global development of ICT networks
and services and established five programmes that
will form the core work of our Telecommunication
Development Bureau for the next four years. The
Global Symposium for Regulators meeting in Dakar,
Senegal, defined Best Practice Guidelines that will
ITU/V. Martin
2010: A year of great
achievements
help stimulate the roll-out of networks, notably
broadband. Busan, Republic of Korea, hosted ITU’s
first-ever ICT•LEARN, a biennial global forum designed to build the skills and talents needed to nurture and fuel tomorrow’s broadband-enabled global
economy.
A new Focus Group was established in our
Telecommunication Standardization Sector to create
standards for smart grid electricity distribution — a
move that will help protect the environment. Also,
ITU and the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI)
launched a report on the power of ICT in tackling
climate change. ICT can help cut emissions and raise
energy efficiency, as well as monitoring climate and
the environment worldwide.
ITU, in partnership with the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), launched the Broadband Commission
for Digital Development. ITU will participate in the
new high-level United Nations Commission on
Information and Accountability for Women’s and
Children’s Health.
The Plenipotentiary Conference in Guadalajara,
Mexico, strengthened ITU’s commitment to work
with the Internet community, and boosted ITU’s work
in many new areas such as accessibility, ICT and climate change, and conformance and interoperability.
Good progress is being made in connecting the
world. ITU’s latest statistics reveal that the world now
boasts an estimated 5.3 billion mobile subscriptions,
of which 3.8 billion are in developing countries, and
Internet users have surpassed the 2-billion mark.
ITU News  10 | 2010  December 2010
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