At the invitation of the Directors of the ITU’s TSB and BDT, and kindly hosted by the government of
Ghana, an ITU Regional Development Forum on Bridging the ICT Standardization Gap was held in Accra,
Ghana, from 26-28 May 2008. Some [210] participants from [39], mainly African, ITU Member States participated. The meeting was preceded by a regional meeting of the Commonwealth Telecommunication
Organization on 24-25 May and followed by a regional WTSA-08 preparatory meeting on 29-30 May.
Mr Godwin Avenorgbo , Retired Director of Radio, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, served as Master of
Ceremonies and introduced Mr Jude Arthur , Chairman of the Board of the National Communication
Authority (NCA), Ghana as the overall chairman of the event. Mr Arthur congratulated ITU on their choice of topics for the event, as Bridging the ICT Standardization Gap is of critical importance for Africa.
The opening address was given by Mr Malcolm Johnson , Director ITU-T who thanked the government of
Ghana for hosting the event. He explained the purpose of the meeting as being to help bridge the standardization gap which, due to a shortage of human resources, means that the level of participation of representatives from developing countries in ITU-T and ITU-R study groups is lower than it should be. The standardization gap contributes to the persistence of the wider digital divide. This regional forum builds upon the success of the first event, held in Kigali 2-4 October 2007, and is one of a series of regional meetings— one per region per year—which will be held as a way of bringing discussion and debate on hot topics in current ITU work closer to the regions. In 2008, the regional events are being held in Brasilia, Damascus,
Hanoi and Tashkent, as well as in Accra, and are being held back-to-back with WTSA-08 regional preparatory meetings. Mr Johnson highlighted a number of initiatives that ITU-T has taken recently to help assist in bridging the gap, including making ITU-T Recommendations online free of charge, establishing a fund, offering a range of remote participation tools, establishing links with academia (through the
Kaleidoscope series of workshops) and holding the first Global Standardization Symposium (GSS), on the theme of Bridging the Standardization Gap, in Johannesburg, on 20 October 2008.
The welcome address was given by Mr Akossi Akossi , Secretary-General of the African
Telecommunication Union (ATU). He thanked the host country and the ITU for organizing the event. He highlighted the critical importance of reducing the price of ICT services as a way of widening access and bridging the digital divide. He said that a major concern should be how to accelerate the pace of Africa’s development and to meet the challenge of global competition. This will require industrialization to prepare
African economies and reduce their dependence on export of primary commodities. This will require a vibrant private sector. He called on the Forum to consider how to create an enabling environment, how to learn from others and how to bridge the digital divide and the standardization gap.
The keynote address: “ Ghana’s vision on ICT ” was given by H.E. Dr Benjamin Aggrey Ntim , Minister of
Communications, Ghana. He welcomed the different delegations that have come from all over the continent, including a large delegation from South Africa, which will host WTSA-08. He outlined the series of national development plans that had helped to shape Ghana’s communications environment. The aim is to make available the benefits of ICTs to all citizens, irrespective of where they may be in the country. The policy also aims to establish Ghana as an international hub for communications and to establish a new cadre of young ICT entrepreneurs. The programme is supported by the World Bank to the tune of US$40 million.
Ghana hopes to build an open access, non-discriminatory national fibre optic network, for completion by
2012. The first phase (over 4’000 km) is already complete and is currently undergoing testing. The network is being complemented by some 230 community information centres, of which 90 had been installed by the end of 2007. More information is available in the brochure: “Facilitating an Information and Knowledgebased Society for Ghana”, distributed at the Forum.
1

OPENING SESSION: Assessing needs and opportunities: standardization and ICT development in
Africa
The opening session, which was intended to set the stage for the later discussions, was chaired by Mr Akossi
Akossi , Secretary-General of the African Telecommunication Union.
The opening presentation was given by Eng.
Thomas A. Senaji (Telecom Kenya) on
“
Making sense of the Linkage between ICT standardization and development: The case of developing countries
”. He showed that standardization is a very broad concept, covering not only technical standards but also policy and regulatory harmonization, quality of service, human resource development etc. The challenges to be faced include the need to establish a framework for public/private partnership, to establish a fair basis for efficient utilization of scarce resources, establishing a migration path for NGN, providing wider access to capital resources and managing the choice of vendor systems to ensure compatibility (see
Figure 1: Standardization Gap Challenges
Source: Presentation by Thomas Senaji (Telekom
Kenya)
Figure 1). There is also an important role to play for human capacity building, especially in the area of NGN and ICT standardization.
Mr Massimo Migliuolo (Vice President
Emerging Markets Theatre, Cisco) presented on
“ New business models and partnerships for productivity, competitiveness and innovation gains ”. In his presentation he showed how new services can be used to fuel economic growth in emerging markets. He argued that broadband is an essential element in this process (see Figure
2). Using the example of Qatar, which is investing heavily in broadband, he showed how this underlies Qatar’s hope to establish itself as
Broadband is Crucial to Boost Economic
Development and Productivity
Education
Healthcare
Public
Welfare
National
Security
Tax/Revenue an educational hub for the region. Even in developed countries, there are still large parts of rural areas that are not yet served with broadband. He described some of CISCO’s products for small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), including WebEx, which is a remote collaboration tool, and therefore particularly important for reducing the geographical
© 2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Economic
Development
Cisco Confidential
Figure 2: Broadband as the key to growth
Source: Presentation by Massimo Migliuolo (CISCO)
4 disadvantage of SMEs in developing countries. He outlined CISCO’s commitment to fostering development, in particular through its networking academies. The networking academy in Ghana was established in 2006.
2

Mr John Visser , CTO Office, International
Standards, Nortel Networks (Canada) (on behalf of Bilel Jamoussi, CTO, Strategic
Standards, Nortel) presented on “One Laptop
Per Child” and “Connect the World”. The one laptop per child (OLPC) programme is perhaps better known as the US$100 laptop programme (though in fact the price of an XO computer is closer to US$188 per laptop at the moment. The programme was launched by
Nicholas Negroponte during the Tunis Phase of WSIS. The five principles of OLPC are child ownership, at an early age, saturation coverage, connectivity (via mesh network technology) and the use of free and open source software (see Figure 3). A recent initiative--“Give One, Get One (G1G1)”-- allows children in Canada and the USA to buy two laptops for US$399, one of which is given
Figure 3: One Laptop per Child project
Source: Presentation from Bilel Jamoussi/John Visser free of charge in a developing country. Although the XO uses primarily open-source software, Microsoft has recently announced a new venture to develop a cut-down version of Windows for the XO. The XO has a number of other child-friendly features, such as automatic net configuration, interconnection of devices, ruggedized design, 12-hour battery etc. Current deployments of OLPC in Africa include Nigeria and
Rwanda. The XOs are a good illustration of the principle of hyperconnectivity.
The final presentation in the opening session was given by Mr John Saidi Kimbe ,
Manager, Technology & Policy, South Africa
Telecommunications Association (SATA), on
“ E-Readiness in Southern African
Development Community ”. SADC is an economic grouping of 14 states in the southern
Africa region. SATA is a trade association representing each of the main incumbent operators in the region and addressing critical industry issues (see Figure 4). One of the concerns of the Association is the growing use of VoIP in the region. Another problem is the high diversity of different equipment used in the region, which makes interoperability
Figure 4: Critical industry issues
Source: Presentation by John Saidi Kimbe (SATA) challenging. He described his presentation as a
“cry for help” to ITU and other partners. The SADC report on e-readiness is available at www.bridges.org
.
In discussion at the end of the session, it was noted that there is a need to address also legal and regulatory challenges. For the OLPC projects and CISCO networking academies, the importance of linguistic support was also stressed.
The first session, presenting an overview of ITU activities, was chaired by John Visser , ITU-T SG 19
Chairman, Nortel, Canada.
In the opening presentation, Dr Tim Kelly , Head, Standardization Policy Division, ITU-T, explained the concept of “ Bridging the ICT Standardization Gap ”. He explained that the Gap might be defined as
3

“disparities in the ability of developing countries, relative to developed ones, to access, implement, contribute to and influence international
ICT standards, specifically ITU-T Recommendations”. He introduced the concept of the “standardization development ladder to describe the different levels at which a developing country can participate in ITU’s
Making proposals to WTSA on future study questions and work programmes standards-making activities. At each stage of the ladder, it is possible to identify both indicators to measure the level of participation, and actions that can be taken to promote participation. He encouraged
African countries to use the opportunity of this Forum and WTSA-08
Nominating representatives as study group chairs, vicechairs. rapporteurs, focus group chairs etc preparatory meeting to make proposals to the Assembly, for instance in terms of an update to Resolution 44 on Bridging the Standardization
Gap, proposals for new study group questions, nominations of regional representatives for study group officials, proposals on the allocation of the Standardization Gap Fund etc.
Making contributions to
Study Groups and related meetings
Hosting ITU-T events and/or regional groups
(Res 54)
Programme 1: Regulatory reform
Programme 2: Information and communication infrastructure and technology development
Programme 3: E-strategies and ICT application
Programme 4: Economics and finance, including costs and tariffs
Programme 5: Human Capacity building
Programme 6:Least Developed countries and small island developing states and emergency telecommunications
Participation in Study
Groups and related meetings
Domestic ITU-T Sector
Member or Associates
Domestic training and capacity-building in use of
ITU Recommendations
Accra, Ghana, 26-28 May 2008
International
Telecommunication
Union
4
Domestic usage of ITU
Recommendations
Figure 5: The standardization ladder of development
Source: Presentation by Tim
Kelly (ITU-T)
Figure 6: ITU-D Programme structure
Source: Presentation by Ms Chali Tumelo (ITU/BDT)
Ms. Chali Tumelo (ITU/BDT) presented on “ ITU-D Overview: Doha Action Plan (WTDC-06), addressing the digital divide ”. She described the structure of ITU-D activities, which was shaped, most recently by the
World Telecommunication
Development Conference (WTDC) held in Doha, Qatar, March 2006. The
WTDC adopted the Doha Action Plan which sets out six main programmes
(see Figure 6) as well as two activities
(indicators and partnerships) and a special initiative (on women, youth, children, indigenous people, persons with disabilities rural areas and private sector issues). She also outlined the Connect Africa project, for which the Summit was held in
Kigali, 29-30 October 2007.
4.
Besoins minimaux en Infrastructures dorsales à l l
’ ’ horizon 2012
Fibre Optique existante
Projets de Fibre Optique en cours
Fibre Optique planifiée
Fibre Optique proposée
Projets Câbles sous-marins
68'996
4'150
41 ‘092
24'915
25 ’778
Afrique Centrale
Afrique de l’Est
Afrique du Nord
Afrique Australe
Afrique de l’ Ouest
Backbone Terrestre
Câbles Sous-Marins
Total
8’796 km
6’286 km
7’166 km
24’235 km
19’524 km
66‘007 km
25’778 Km
91’785 Km
Mr Seydoux B. Bassavé (ITU/BDT) presented on “Connect Africa: An
Figure 7: African needs for backbone infrastructure
Source: Presentation by Mr Seydoux Bassavé (ITU/BDT)
4

African challenge to bridge the digital divide ”. He recalled the objectives of the Connect Africa Summit and the US$55 billion that was made in investment commitments to the region, more than US$50 billion of which comes from the mobile operators. He presented the minimum infrastructure requirements for a
IMT
Committed to Connecting the World
The “ Work of the ITU
Radiocommunication Sector relevant to Africa
”, was presented by Mr Fabio Leite , Deputy-
Director, BR. He focused on the outcomes of the Regional
Radiocommunications Conference
(GE-06), the World Radio
Conference (WRC-07) and the
Globally harmonized spectrum identified for use by IMT represents an important step in the worldwide development of
IMT systems:
450−47
0 MH z (((
2 MH z
))) 69
8−86
R2 &
R3
(9 co untr ies) z
))) 790−
862 MH
R1 & R3 preparations for WRC-11. The GE-
06 agreement is now being implemented and a new digital
3.6 GHz
band (((
3.4−
(no g lobal
alloc ation
)
Note:
))) 2.
3−2.4 GHz broadcasting notice processing tool has just been announced. Certain - Higher frequencies: to face growth in densely populated areas.
- Lower frequencies to provide, at a reasonable cost, high speed mobile
African countries have been granted services everywhere, in particular in less densely populated areas. an extension to 2020 (rather than
2015) for the transition to digital
Figure 8: Harmonized spectrum for IMT
ITU Development Forum 2008
Source: Presentation by Mr Fabio Leite (ITU/BR) broadcasting. WRC-07 attracted almost 3’000 delegates from 161 Member States, with 2.4 million documents downloaded and resulted in a
12
Final Acts of some 500 pages. The African preparatory meeting for WRC-07 had been hosted by Nigeria, in
Abuja, 25-29 June 2007. This had resulted in a number of African proposals for the conference. One of the major outcomes of the conference was harmonized outcomes for the spectrum requirements for IMT
(popularly known as 3 rd generation mobile communications: see Figure 8). The Final Acts of WRC-07 are available at: http://www.itu.int/publ/R-ACT-WRC.8-2007/en . The next WRC will take place in 2011 with some 33 agenda items in prospect. African countries are encouraged to identify which issues are likely to be of importance to them and to develop regional positions.
This session was chaired by Mr Patrick Mwesigwa , Uganda Communications Commission, on behalf of
Mr Patrick Masambu .
The first presentation was given by
Mr Ali Drissa Badiel (ITU/BDT) on the topic “ICT applications and network development”. He gave, as examples of the ICT standardization gap in Africa, the fact that:

Africa has the lowest Internet penetration rate of any region
 A concrete beginning of implementation of all those projects:
 Project documents elaborated and their ongoing follow-up actions
 The broadband wireless connectivity project (ITU/Mc Caw foundation) for 13 African countries:
 Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Swaziland, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Malawi,
Djibouti, Chad, Cameroon, Tanzania
 The African Health Infoway (AHI) project for all the 53 African Countries
(WHO/ITU/AU)
 The e-Post project for African countries (ITU/ATU/PAPU)
 The e-Portuguese Telemedecine network project (WHO/ITU)
(5.3 per cent in March 2008);

Africa is paying more than
US$400 million to other regions in transit charges;

Africa hosts no Internet root servers and only 13 out of 54
African economies have an
Internet Exchange Provider
(IXP).

ITU is willing to work in partnership with all organizations aiming at ICT developement in Africa:
 A partnership program is already going on with ECA
 Some projects are being run in partnership with other organizations
(ATU, PAPU, WHO, …)
 ITU invites all the potential partners in the field of ICTs to work in synergy to avoid efforts duplication on the ground
Figure 9: Ongoing African ICT development projects in ITU
Source: Presentation by Ali Drissa Badiel (ITU/BDT)
5

He gave a number of examples of ITU projects currently underway that can represent a possible way forward
(see Figure 9). These include projects being jointly undertaken with the McCaw Foundation, the WHO,
ATU, ECA and other organizations.
Mr Désiré Karyabwite
(ITU/BDT) presented on the Activities of ITU-D on ICTs , focusing on the regional offices. He supplemented the earlier presentations, mentioning also the new EU-funded project and the role of the private sector. He provided more details on the implementation of the Doha Action Plan as well as the
ITU-D Study Groups. He also presented data specific to Africa from the recent Telecom Indicators report,
Dr Shem Ochuodho presented on
, Chairman, Africa
Regional Computing Centre, Kenya,
ICTs for employment creation, productivity enhancement and poverty reduction in Africa , including the outcomes of a joint ITU/UNECA/ILO study on this topic. He argued for the need to better understand the nature of poverty.
He argued that it is not possible to reduce poverty without first creating employment. In this context, Africa is not keeping up with other regions of the world, such as China, in terms of productivity growth. In Sub-Saharan
Africa, agriculture still accounts for twothirds of total employment in 2007)
Productivity in High-Volume Employment
Productivity in High-Value Employment
Enhanced Employment in Services Sector
Some Suggested Focus Areas
Health/HIV-AIDS/Malaria
Agriculture/Food Security
Commerce/Wholesale Trading/SMEs
Transport & Communications
Manufacturing & Construction
Financial/Banking Sector
Public Service/Education
International
Telecommunication
Union
11 creation
Source: Presentation by Dr Shem Ochuodho, ARCC compared with less than 4 per cent in the OECD area. He argued that employment creation is where the
“rubber hits the road” in ICT policy and he identified some potential high-impact focus areas (see Figure 10).
The final presentation of the first day was made by Mr John Saidi Kimbe , Manager,
Technology & Policy, South Africa
Telecommunications Association (SATA) on the topic “Potential of ICT standards in an emerging innovative ICT environment: Case of SATA”. He argued that the dominant economic view of standards is based on information economics which typifies standards as non-rival commodities lacking super-additivity. In other words, having the same piece of information or standard twice does not increase its value, in fact the value may actually decline in the case of standards.
He gave a case study of rural m-banking in
Generic ICT Vision:
Network, Security, Trust and Confidence
Case Study
 Rural Cell-phone Banking in South Africa – WIZZIT (adopted by some SADC Countries e.g. Tanzania)
 To provide the mass market with a fully functional interoperable bank account regulated by the South
African Banks Act
 to enable cell phones effect person to person transfers, person to business transactions, pre-paid purchases and any other internet enabled banking process.
 Act as a point of sale device in the informal sector
 Already given opportunities to 1,500 people and provides affordable transaction fees, including no monthly fees, easy account opening, no minimum balance, real-time transfers from WIZZIT to WIZZIT and 24 hour balance enquiries, air time purchases and transfers.
Source:
Telecommunication
Presentation by Mr John Saidi Kimbe 20
South Africa, using the WIZZIT standard (see Figure 11). The system is already in use by some 1’500 people and it is intended that this should become a mass market and it is now being transferred to other
SADC countries.
The first day concluded with a welcome dinner hosted by NCA>
6

The first session on the second day of the
Forum, dealing with the activities of the ITU
Telecommunication Standardization Sector
(ITU-T), was chaired by Dr Tim Kelly ,
Head, Standardization Policy Division, ITU-
T.
Mr Saburo Tanaka , Chief, Services
Division, ITU-T gave the opening presentation on “
ITU-T Overview, focusing on Study Group 3 activities
”. ITU-T is one
Workshops,
Seminars,
Symposia,
…
WORLD TELECOMMUNICATION
STANDARDIZATION ASSEMBLY
TELECOMMUNICATION
STANDARDIZATION
ADVISORY GROUP
IPR ad hoc of three ITU Sectors, and has some 303
Sector Members and 121 Associates. The structure of the Sector (Figure 12) is headed by the World Telecommunication
Standardization Assembly (WTSA), which meets once every four years, and the work programme is established by the
Telecommunication Standardization
Focus
Groups
WORKING
PARTY
R = RAPPORTEUR GROUP
WORKING
PARTY
R R R
Joint Rapporteurs Groups
WORKING
PARTY
Figure 12: Structure of ITU-T
Source: Presentation by Saburo Tanaka (ITU-T)
R
Advisory Group (TSAG), which meets once or twice per year. Most to the work is carried out by Study
Groups, and this is in turn filtered down to Working Parties, Rapporteur Groups and Focus Groups. ITU-T works quickly, typically approving Recommendations in just two months. One of the Study Groups which is best attended by developing countries in SG3 on tariff and accounting issues. Many of the issues that SG3 is dealing with touch directly on the settlement of accounts from international traffic, and these have become quite controversial, such as the Focus Group
on accounting rates, in the late 1990s, and more recently the issues of international internet interconnection, mobile termination and network externalities.
Mr Pierre-André Probst , Chairman, ITU-
T SG 16, OFCOM (Switzerland) presented on “ Multimedia, facilitating accessibility ”.
SG 16 leads ITU’s work on multimedia services, terminals and applications and is also the lead SG for ubiquitous communications. Its work include multimedia service descriptions (F-series), including F.790 on accessibility guidelines; video coding (H-series), including the best-
Trends within SG (apart from restructuring
discussions)
Improve speech, audio and video coding algorithms: new codecs or extended features
Advanced multimedia communication system
Vehicular gateway studies
Media-rich content delivery (e.g. tag-based MM retrieval, home networking, IPTV, video surveillance)
Expand media gateway control protocol suite to respond to MM interoperability needs
Tender to legacy systems and their interoperation with packet-based networks (e.g. modem over IP, conferencing, codec transcoding, etc)
Figure 13: Future work topics for ITU-T SG 16
Source: Presentation by Pierre-Andr é Probst (ITU-T SG 16)
21 seller H.264 which is perhaps better known as MPEG-4; and audio-speech coding (G-series). SG 16 also deals with conferencing systems, originally supported by ISDN but now increasingly on
IP-based and mobile networks. Work is
End-user
Network provider
Service
Provider
Content provider currently ongoing on Advanced Multimedia
Systems (AMS) which is expected to form the basis for a future new recommendation
H.325. New multimedia systems aspects
Gaming
Console
Home
Computer
Your Music Station
XYZ TV Programs now being addressed include IPTV, home networking and vehicular gateway. These are expected to feature heavily in the future work of the Study Group (see Figure 13).
Encoders
Management
VOD /
Middleware
ACME Movies
Mr John Visser , ITU-T SG 19 Chairman,
Nortel, Canada presented ITU-T’s work on
Conditional access
EAS
Figure 14: IPTV domains
Source: Presentation by John Visser (ITU-T SG 19)
7

IPTV (Internet Protocol Television). IPTV might be defined as multimedia services delivered over an IPbased network which is managed to provide a required level of quality of service/quality of experience, security, interactivity and reliability. IPTV domains are illustrated in Figure 14. ITU-T’s IPTV Focus Group had been established in April 2006 and terminated its work in January 2008. However, the pace of work is continuing under a new guise as an IPTV-GSI (Global Standards Initiative), with five meetings planned during 2008. The work to date has succeeded in establishing an agreed functional architecture for non-NGN and NGN-based platforms and has conducted an in-depth discussion on home network architecture and related issues. The proceedings of the Focus Group are available for free-of-charge download at: www.itu.int/publ/T-PROC-IPTVFG-2008/en .
The final presentation in this session was given by Mr Vince
Affleck , Director of International,
OFCOM (UK) on “
Network
Externalities
” in the work of SG3.
That developing countries examine whether it would be appropriate for a premium, referred to as a network externality premium, to be a non-cost, additional element, on the accounting rate for incoming international traffic by the operators of developed networks to the operators of developing-country networks;
That this premium be negotiated on a commercial bilateral basis;
Network externalities might be defined as spillovers. In the context of international communications, positive
That this premium be paid on the tariff for incoming international traffic from developed countries to developing countries, in other words, that it be a non-cost, additional element on the termination rate/accounting rate; externalities might include the fact that the value to each individual user grows as the network as a whole grows.
However, negative externalities
That the funds made available by the network externality premium, be used exclusively for extending networks in developing countries
That the use of the funds made available by the network externality premium be monitored by the concerned parties, as mutually agreed, with appropriate oversight.
might arise from network congestion. ITU-T SG 3 has been
Figure 15: Draft Rec. on Network Externalities
Source: Presentation by Vince Affleck (OFCOM) studying network externalities through a rapporteur group since 2002/03 and has developed the work through a questionnaire and more recently a workshop held in September 2007. In April 2008, a draft Recommendation was introduced by
Cameroun and Cote d’Ivoire which introduces the idea of a premium on accounting rates to take account of network externalities, as a targeted subsidy (see Figure 15). This will now go forward under the Traditional
Approval Process (TAP) at WTSA-08, where is it is likely to be the subject of considerable discussion.
This session, focusing on the work of the ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) was chaired by
Mr Bruce Gracie , Industry Canada and chair of the ITU Radiocommunication Advisory Group (RAG).
The first speaker was Mr Fabio Leite,
Committed to Connecting the World
Delegates in ITU-R Study Group meetings
Deputy Director, BR, who addressed the topic “ITU Radiocommunication
Standardization Activities”
. The objective of the ITU-R study groups is to develop the
1600
1400
1200
Countries technical bases for radio conferences and to establish Recommendations. In the context
1000 Developed (30) of bridging the standardization gap, the signs in ITU-R are encouraging (see Figure
800
600
Developing (113)
LDC (48)
16). Since 2005, the number of delegates from developing countries has overtaken
400
200 those from developed ones and there has been a sustained growth in delegates from
0
2003 2005 2007
LDCs. Nevertheless, in terms of the number of contributions, it is still the developed
Figure 16: Standardization gap in ITUR’s work
Source: Presentation by Fabio Leite (ITU-R)
5 countries that dominate. Mr Leite provided more detail of different aspects of ITU-R’s
8

work, including on software-defined radio, IMT (International Mobile Telecommunications), ITS (Intelligent
Transport Systems), Digital Broadcasting, Mobile TV, remote sensing and the standards-making process.
Dr Bruce Gracie (Canada) presented the
Global Standards Collaboration background to the Global Standards
Collaboration (GSC) which provides a venue for participating standards organizations (PSOs) and ITU to exchange
ISACC
(Canada)
CCSA
(China)
ARIB
(Japan) information on the progress of standardsmaking in different regions and on the state
TIA (USA) of the global standards environment. GSC has no permanent secretariat but rotates
TTC
(Japan) meetings among all PSOs (see current membership in Figure 17). There are
ATIS (USA)
TTA (Rep.
Korea) separate meetings on telecommunications and radiocommunications standards and discussion focuses on so-called “highinterest subjects” with one PSO taking the
ETSI
(Europe)
ACIF
(Australia) lead on each. A new Resolution is proposed on ICTs and the environment proposing the establishment of a new work area. The next
GSC meeting (GSC-14) will be hosted by
Figure 17: GSC membership
Source: Presentation by Bruce Gracie (Canada)
ITU in 2009.
Mr Fabio Leite (ITU/BR) returned for the next presentation on “ The ITU
Radiocommunication Sector and Study
Groups ”. The ITU’s roots lie in the
International RadioTelegraph Convention
(Berlin, 1906), which forms the basis of today’s Radio Regulations, and international treaty. Its mission is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radiofrequency spectrum by all radiocommunication services. The World
Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) meets every 3-4 years to revise the Radio
Regulations. The Radiocommunication
Assembly (RA), which usually precedes the
WRC, adopted a new structure for the ITU-
R study groups (see Figure 18) that amalgamates the almost 40 Radio Services into a small number of study groups and set
Figure 18: ITU-R study group structure
Source: Presentation by Fabio Leite (ITU/BR) their work programme. These SGs are responsible for some 900 Recommendations in the area of spectrum management and radio technology. In addition, two departments of the BR deal respectively with Space
Services and Terrestrial Services, for the processing of notifications from members and recording in the
Master International Frequency Register (MIFR). The results are published in a series of different publications as well as on the website. With regard to the activities of ITU-R study groups, the close relationship between the radiocommunication standardization work and the development of technical bases for radio conferences was stressed. As a consequence, it was noted that the radiocommunication standardization gap would also result in deficiencies on the technical capacity of countries to effectively participate in ITU radio treaty-making conferences.
The final presentation in this session was made by Mr John Tandoh , Communications R&D consultant,
Ghana, who touched on the topic of “
Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) standards
”. EMC is the situation
9

where two or more electromagnetic devices working together in the same environment perform together without causing undue interference with each other. This requires standards. Mr Tandoh described the recommendations he had made in ITU as long
In the EU Countries, despite individual member States regulations, each Member
State is subject to EU directives. The EMC directive 2004/108/ec is one of a series of measures introduced under article 100a of the Treaty of Rome.
ago as 1989 for the structure of National Radio
Advisory Technical Committees to deal with this matter.
Similarly in the US, Public Law 97-259 gives the FCC the authority to set standards.
Session 5: Security and Regulatory Issues Figure 19: Examples of EMC regulations
Source: Presentation by John Tandoh (Ghana)
Accra, Ghana, 26-28 May 2008 This session, which looked in more detail at two of the issues – security and regulation – which are relevant to all three ITU sectors, was chaired by
International
Telecommunication
Union
7
Mr Bernard Forson , Director-General of the National Communications Authority of Ghana.
The first speaker, Mr Philomene Molefe , Independent Communications Authority of South Africa
(ICASA), looked at “ Standards and regulatory issues related to electronic communications in the Republic of
South Africa
”. The presentation looked at security architecture, security standards working groups, a gap analysis of security standards and regulatory requirements. The major standards working groups in this area include ETSI TISPAN, ITU-T SG17, 3GPP, IETF and ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committees. Regulatory requirements include malicious call identification, anonymous call rejection, number portability, emergency services and lawful interception. He described the legislative framework in South Africa, which includes the
Electronic Communications Transaction Act of 2002 and the Electronic Communications Act of 2005. He concluded that security requirements are of strategic importance for public network operators.
Dr Tim Kelly , Head, Standardization Policy Division, ITU-T, outlined briefly ITU’s work on
“ Cybersecurity, Combatting Spam and Identity Management ”. Cybersecurity has been identified as an area of high priority by the ITU membership at the Antalya Plenipotentiary and there are a number of important initiatives, in addition to the regular work programme of ITU-T and ITU-D. ITU has been selected by the
WSIS as the coordinator for activities related to action line C5 on building confidence and security in the use of ICTs. In carrying out this mission, ITU has launched the Cybersecurity Gateway
( www.itu.int/cybersecurity/gateway ) as a portal for cybersecurity-related information for citizens, governments, businesses and international organizations. ITU has also joined other institutions in launching the Stop Spam Alliance (www.stopspamalliance.org) to raise awareness and to develop a framework for combatting spam. The Secretary-General has launched a “Global Cybersecurity Agenda”, including creating a high-level experts group, to create a global framework for international cooperation in cybersecurity. The presentation also covered the ITU-T security building blocks and the work programme of the ITU-D on providing assistance to developing countries in the area of cybersecurity.
Mr Pierre-André Probst (OFCOM) described briefly the work of the ITU’s Joint
Coordination Activity on Networked Aspects of Identification (JCA-NID). The most common implementation of NID is in Radio
Frequency Identification (RFID: see Figure
20) however there are also many other possible implementations and RFID tags may be part of a multimedia terminal as well as standalone. There are a wide range of possible
RFID applications, including in transport, security and logistics management, and many different standards development organizations are involved. RFID work was introduced to
ITU via a correspondence group under the
Figure 20: Networked Aspects of Identification
Source: Presentation by Pierre-Andre Probst
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ITU-T’s Technology Watch function. The Joint Coordination Activity was established in July 2006. The deliverables include a generic architecture model, high-level requirements, a standardization roadmap and a terms and definitions document. It is expected that RFID will create the platform for the so-called “Internet of Things”.
Mr Joseph Kwabena Amoako (Ghana Atomic Energy Commission) presented on “The electro magnetic radiation effect of mobile phones”. He showed that, with the boom in wireless communications, everyone is exposed to a complex mix of electromagnetic fields of different frequencies. This has lead to adverse public feeling, such as demonstrations outside the sites of new radio base stations and transmitters, and there are at least two court cases pending in Ghana. Typical power density levels measured in Ghana are around 0.0006 microwatts per square centimeter, but were 50 per cent higher around Ahwerease. The scientific measures measurements of the health effects are generally inconclusive, but there is growing body of literature to suggest that a small percentage of the population (around 5 per cent) may constitute an electromagnetic hypersensitive subpopulation (EHS). To date, there is no evidence of EHS in Ghana, but more research is needed.
Finally, the chair of the session, Mr Bernard
Forson , presented some thoughts on
“Communication and regulation in the convergent environment”. He adopted the ITU definition of
Essential Requirements For Good Regulatory
Environments
 Clear and Consistent Public Policies convergence as the technological, market or legal/regulatory capability to integrate across


Enhanced Capacity of Regulators
Focus on Fair Competition previously separated technologies, markets or politically defined industries, IT,
Telecommunications, Broadcasting. He showed that the key drivers toward convergence include



Transparent and Clear Rules of Engagement
Level Playing Field


Interconnection
Essential Facilities Criteria
Speedy Dispute Resolution Mechanisms.
digitization, liberalization, economies of scale and scope, customer centricity and synergies in service provisioning. He cited the Malaysian
Communications and Multimedia Commission


Sustained Investor & Consumer Confidence
Execution of Public Interest Mandate To protect Consumers and
Enhance Their Life Styles and Productivity.
May 08 CONF_ACCRA Ghana
5
Source: Presentation by Mr Bernard Forson (NCA)
(MCMC) as a prime example of regulatory convergence and explained the possible advantages and challenges that convergence brings for regulators. He outlined the essential requirements for good regulatory environments (Figure 21) and ended with some musings on the need for regulators to be humble, to aim to serve, to be guided by economic history and to reduce the burden by being prepared to court and dance with the market while remaining vigilant at all times.
This session, looking at Next-Generation
Networks (NGN) was chaired by Ms
Ingrid Poni , Department of
Communications, Republic of South
Africa, on behalf of Ms Lyndall Shope-
Mafole, who is the designated chair of
WTSA-08.
The first presentation was given by Mr
Paul Inglesby , Standards Coordination and Innovation, Telkom South Africa, on
“
NGN deployment strategies and migration scenarios
”, drawing upon the experiences of his own company, which is
1 Gbit/s
100 Mbit/s
10 Mbit/s
1 Mbit/s
100 kbit/s
10 kbit/s
…
128 k
9,6 k
1990 1992
Fixed
Mobile
ISDN
1994 1996
All Roads Lead to the ITU
Accra, Ghana, 26-28 May 2008
384 k
1998
2G
2000
ADSL
2002
384 k
2004 2006
VDSL
50 M
3G
2008 2010
FTTH
> 100 M
Figure 22: A standards roadmap for NGN
Source: Presentation by Mr Paul Inglesby (Telkom)
NGMN
2012 … 2020
Asia Pacific
Eu ro pe
Mi dd le E as
Af rica t
ITU
NGN/IMS
Am eri ca s
International
Telecommunication
Union
10
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committed to developing a standards-compliant IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). For Telkom, the drivers include the need for a cost effective migration, coexistence with legacy systems, the need for network integration, a rich service and a rich service offering. This path should help Telkom achieve its aim of becoming a broadband multimedia centric company. He showed how there is a convergence on the ITUdefined NGN/IMS architecture in both the fixed line and mobile worlds (Figure 22). He also described briefly the work of the Fixed Mobile Convergence Alliance, arguing that convergence lies at the heart of future convergence.
Dr Shem Ochuodho , Chairman, Africa
Regional Computing Centre, Kenya, presented on “
The East African
Broadband Infrastructure network
Optical Fiber Network in EAC
Arua
Gulu
Moroto
(EAC-BIN): a platform for migration to
NGN
”. He showed that there are a large number of cable projects in Africa at the moment, notably EASsy and the
Fort Portal
Mbarara
Gisenyi
Kigali
Kibuye
Gitarama Kibungo
Cyangugu
Gikongoro
Butare
Muyinga
Bubanza
Bujumbura
Muramvya
Ruyigi
Gitega
Bururi
Makamba
Rutana
Bombo
Kampala
Jinja
Masaka
Bukoba
Mwanza
Mbale
Musoma
Shinyanga
Kakamega
Kisumu
Nakuru
Nyeri
Embu
Nairobi
Arusha Moshi
Wajir
Mombasa
NEPAD initiative, but that there is a lack of transit capacity between countries. The East African Broadband
Infrastructure network grew out of a request from the East African region to
ITU, and a subsequent analysis. This
East African Community Cities
National Capital
Provincial Capital
Kigoma
Sumbawanga
Tabora
Mbeya
Singida
Dodoma
Iringa
Morogoro
Tanga
Wete
Mkoani
Mkokotoni
Zanzibar Koani
Kibaha
Dar es Salaam
Lindi
Mtwara showed that, although there has been substantial growth in mobile networks,
Songea
0 85 170
Kilometers
340 much more needs to be done, especially in terms of facilitating broadband
Figure 23: Proposed master plan for EAC-BIN
Source: Presentation by Dr Shem Ochuodho (ARCC) access. It is forecast that traffic capacity needs for the countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda will grow from below 500 Mbit/s in 2005 to almost 2.6 Gbit/s by 2011. A master plan has been drawn up for a regional fibre optic network
(see Figure 23), on the basis of open access principles. However, it has proved difficult to find funding and attention is now turning to the possibility of using alternative infrastructures. Using microwave would reduce costs considerably and the network may ultimately be composed of a hybrid (provisionally costed at around
US$39-42 million.
Mr Modou Sall , SONATEL, Senegal, presented a “Scenario and migration strategy for NGN development in Senegal”. The context for this is set by the fact that some of the current network equipment is reaching the end of its useful life. Furthermore, the maintenance of separate networks is consuming a lot of management resources, especially for interconnection. There has also been a relatively weak take-up of high-speed services. SONATEL must also prepare for a more competitive environment. SONATEL had launched ADSL broadband in 2003 but take up is fewer than 40’000 subscribers. In the mobile world, GPRS and EDGE were launched in 2005 and 2006 respectively and 3G is planned by the end of 2008. A number of different scenarios had been considered for the transition to NGN. At the level of tariffs, it is planned to abolish tariff zones in favour of geographically-independent pricing. Key recommendations from the presentation include developing a high-bandwidth backbone, interconnecting national networks, developing reasonably-priced multiple play offerings, adapting the regulatory environment and establishing an infrastructure-sharing regime.
Mr Noureddine Zaouali , Chief Engineer and Director of Technical Affairs, CERT, Tunisia, delivered a presentation on “
Tunisian experiences in migration towards NGN
”. Tunisia’s plan is based on a two-phase
“soft” transition to NGN, taking into account today’s existing legacy networks, but with no further investment in circuit-switched networks. The project began in 2002 with a migration of the voice network to
ATM and now around 5 per cent of traffic travels over an NGN. In 2004, the project continued with a backbone IP network and transitioning international traffic to VoIP for routes with France Telecom and
Telecom Italia. In 2005, the focus shifted to putting national voice traffic onto VoIP. A national NGN was deployed in 2007 and traffic is slowly being shifted from the legacy circuit-switched network.
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An additional presentation, by Mr David Mettle
, CTO of Ghana Telecom, on “NGN Migration: Scenario and Strategy”, was not delivered but is available on the website.
The second day finished with a Dinner Reception.
Panel session: ITU for Africa
Day three commenced with a panel session, chaired jointly by Mr Jean-Jacques Massima-Landji , African
Telecommunications Union (ATU) and Ms Chali Tumelo (ITU/BDT). The co-chairs invited each of the chairs of the panel sessions to provide a brief review of their session and to highlight the relevance for the overall theme of bridging the standardization gap. The floor was then opened to speakers and finally to all delegates. Some of the issues raised and proposals made include the following: a) The need for Africa to emulate the success demonstrated by other countries, such as China and the
Republic of Korea; b) The value of having dedicated focal points in each study group for identifying and coordinating issues of relevance for developing countries; c) The need to establish national focal points for ITU affairs in developing countries. This is particularly necessary in countries where national operators have reduced their participation and other bodies (e.g. national regulator) have become more active. d) A proposal will be put forward in Johannesburg from the Commonwealth Telecommunications
Organization (CTO) to establish modalities for more effective participation in ITU by academics and researchers. This may involve a proposal from WTSA to Council for reduced prices for participation. e) South Africa provided its own experiences of involving academia in ITU work. This was done by bundling together different study questions and addressing them to specific research centres with a request that they be used to guide student theses and other work. A student from South Africa was selected to present at the Kaleidoscope conference on Innovation in NGNs earlier in the month. f) The National Communications Authority of Ghana announced its intention to fund a chair at the
University of Ghana on ICTs, with support from national companies. Similarly, to respond to health concerns, NCA has contracted with the Atomic Institute to conduct studies of the health impact of mobile phones. g) Several speakers highlighted the need for political commitment as an essential resource for ITU participation in addition to financial resources and human capacity building. In particular, commitment also implies continuity so that the same people attend successive meetings of the same
Study Group or Focus Group. Continuity is seen as being of particular importance in making participation effective. h) Several speakers spoke of the need to establish regional groups. But this also requires commitment and a regular flow of contributions to sustain their viability. i) Several speakers spoke about the need for the regional to priorities on certain activities of high interest. As an example, the work of African countries on Network Externalities provides an example of effective participation. Other possible priority areas include Climate change, IPv6 and accessibility.
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The session concluded with an agreement to continue to discuss these issues at the WTSA-08 preparatory meeting which would begin immediately after the regional forum.
WRAP-UP SESSION: Future initiatives, next steps and conclusions
The short concluding session was chaired by Mr Jude Arthur , Chairman of the Board of the National
Communications Authority (NCA), Ghana.
Mr John Visser , CTO Office, International Standards, Nortel Networks (Canada) gave a brief review of the outcomes of each of the preceding sessions with a sequence of slides, one per session. The summary presentation, as well as all of the other presentations given during this event, is available on the ITU-T website at: http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/wtsa-08/prepmeet/africa/programme.html
. The key overall messages from the Forum are summarized in Figure 24. He noted that this event, the preparations for WTSA-08, presents an ideal opportunity to address the problem of the standardization gap and message can be summarized very simply: Get involved!
Key Overall Messages (1/2)
This event is one of a series of regional events on
“ Bridging the ICT Standardization and
Development Gaps ”
Increase interaction between Africa and ITU-T and -D!
Knowledge is key to moving forward; technology is a means and not an end
Affordable ICT positively impacts economic development
ICT Standards are critical
Africa clearly recognizes trends towards greater connectivity, greater use of communications enabled applications, need for ubiquitous broadband access
Taking steps to make it happen
International
Telecommunication
Union
Accra, Ghana, 26-28 May 2008
3
Africa looks to ITU-T as a global focal point for
ICT standards, bringing together the many aspects that are being worked in various SDOs, fora and consortia
Africa should take a larger role in ITU standards
Participation is essential to influence in standards development
Priorities may be set top down but work is driven from bottom up through participation and contributions
WTSA-2008: opportunity to influence ITU-T work program and associated Study Group structure to address needs
GET INVOLVED!
International
Telecommunication
Union
Accra, Ghana, 26-28 May 2008
4
Figure 24: Key messages emerging from the ITU Regional Development Forum
Source: Presentation from Mr John Visser (Nortel)
Mr Malcolm Johnson , Director ITU-T made the closing presentation and the vote of thanks to the host country, the speakers and moderators and all delegates. He said the fact that we had more than 200 delegates to this meeting, following just 6 months after the previous Forum in Kigali, which attracted 160 participants, shows the latent interest and ambition of African countries to participate in our standardization activities.
Nevertheless, the real work still remained to be done in the WTSA-08 regional preparatory meeting after the break. A number of issues have been identified including: accessibility; e-health; climate change;
Internships; the confusing standardization scenario; the need for ITU to address service delivery; difficulties of radiation measurements; and the concern that a small number of countries can block progress. In conclusion, he said that the discussions over the last two days have provided an excellent platform to develop these positions in plenty of time for Johannesburg in October 2008.
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