International Telecommunication Union Accra, Ghana, 16-17 June 2009 AN AFRICAN VIEW ON THE OUTCOMES OF WTSA-08 Joshua Peprah Director, Regulatory Administration,

InternationalTelecommunicationUnion

Accra, Ghana, 16-17 June 2009

AN AFRICAN VIEW ON THE OUTCOMES OF WTSA-08

Joshua PeprahDirector,

Regulatory Administration, National Communications Authority

ITU FORUM ON IMPLEMENTATION OF DECISIONS OF WTSA-08 (Accra, Ghana, 16-17 June 2009)


Background

Prior to WTSA-08 the African group held a preparatory meeting in Accra aimed at coordinating African views on issues considered to be of importance to the region.

Hot issues such as

Study Group restructure, Bridging the Standardization Gap in developing countries

Accra, Ghana, 16-17 June 2009 2


Background (Cont.)

Ways of enhancing the relevance of Study Group activities for developing countries Possible creation of regional groups for different standardization topics the election of new SG and TSAG chairs and vice-chairs,Inclusion of new categories of members were discussed



African positions Vs the WTSA-08 outcomes

About twelve (12) African positions were submitted

Seven were adopted.



Item African common proposals

Add.1AFCP1

Resolution 72 - Measurement concerns related to human exposure to electromagnetic fields

Add.2AFCP2

Resolution 59:Enhancing participation of telecommunication operators from developing countries

Add.?AFCP3

Resolution 58 - Encourage the creation of national Computer Incident Response Teams, particularly for developing countries

Add.4AFCP4

ITU Type Approval of telecommunication equipment. Merged into Resolution 76 - Studies related to conformance and interoperability testing, assistance to developing countries, and a possible future ITU mark

Add.7AFCP7

Resolution 17 - Telecommunication standardization in relation to the interests of developing countries

Add.10AFCP10

Resolution 44 - Bridging the standardization gap between developing and developed countries

Add.12AFCP12

Resolution 54 - Creation of regional groups



African positions Vs the WTSA-08 outcomes

The African group also strongly supported the adoption of

Resolution 26 – Assistance to regional groups of study Group 3, Resolution 50 - CybersecurityResolution 70 - Telecommunications/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilitiesResolution 71 – Admission of academia, universities and their associated research establishments to participate in the work of ITU-T.



African views on WTSA-08 outcomes

The regional development forum on bridging the standardization gap has been successful and the African Group welcomes its continuality

WTSA-08 adopted the African proposal to reduce the number of study groups from 13 to 10 to enable effective participation.



African views on WTSA-08 Outcomes

Study Group Title

2 Operational aspects of service provision and telecommunications management

3 Tariff and accounting principles including related telecommunication economic and policy issues

5 Protection against electromagnetic environment effects

9 Television and sound transmission and integrated broadband cable networks

11 Signalling requirements, protocols and test specifications

12 Performance, QoS and QoE

13 Future networks including mobile and NGN

15 Optical transport networks and access network infrastructures

16 Multimedia coding, systems and applications

17 Security




WTSA-08 revised some existing resolutions, adopted new ones and suppressed others in support of developing countries.

It is worth noting resolutions 44, 54,59,71, 72,76 serve as catalyst for bridging the digital divide.




Resolutions 76 clearly sets the course for developing countries to ensuring that communications systems are certified to be conformed to ITU-T Recommendations and also present a higher probability of Interoperability.




Resolution 54 present opportunity for African region to create our own regional study groups.

Resolution 72 is aimed to assist developing countries in the measurement of EMF related Health related issues




Res. 59 encourages Developing Country’s Operators to fully participate in ITU-T activities.

The African group is now visibly represented in all ITU-T activities



Way forward

The African group should continue to work closely with the TSB and provide inputs into the ITU Mark program vis-à-vis the proposed study to establish regional type testing center in the region.

We need to continuously participate and contribute effectively in the ITU-T activities



Way forward

We should seek to create regional study groups that are of most importance and relevance to the region in accordance with res. 54

ATU should coordinate and look into the issue of the creation of a flagship group for African



THANK YOU!!!!!!!!MERCI!


Documents

International Telecommunication Union Accra, Ghana, 16-17 June 2009 AN AFRICAN VIEW ON THE OUTCOMES OF WTSA-08 Joshua Peprah Director, Regulatory Administration,