United States-ASEAN ICT Cooperation Work Plan 2016-2020

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I. PREAMBLE

Recognizing the cooperation between the United States and the Association of Southeast Asian

Nations (ASEAN) Member States on information and communication technology (ICT) issues,

Recognizing that increased ICT connectivity, innovation and access are critical drivers for

economic and social development and that participation by all stakeholders is necessary to close

the digital divide,

Reaffirming the value and principles of multi-stakeholder cooperation in addressing ICT and

related issues,

Recognizing the U.S.-ASEAN TELSOM commitment to cooperate on telecommunications and

information technology issues, including cooperation to accelerate the deployment of e-

commerce,

Recognizing the commitment for more regular ICT engagement between the United States and

ASEAN following a special U.S.-ASEAN TELSOM dialogue in July 2015,

And recognizing the commitments made in the U.S.-ASEAN Connectivity through Trade and

Investment (ACTI) project,

The United States and ASEAN at the 1st U.S.-ASEAN TELSOM Dialogue stated their intention

to implement this five-year U.S.-ASEAN ICT Cooperation Work Plan, which is intended to align

with objectives of the ASEAN ICT Master Plan 2016-2020.

II. AREAS OF U.S.-ASEAN ICT COOPERATION

The United States recognizes ASEAN’s work towards implementing its ICT Master Plan 2010-

2015, and development of the ASEAN ICT Master Plan 2016-2020. This United States-ASEAN

ICT Cooperation Work Plan 2016-2020 focuses on e-commerce, bridging the digital divide,

emerging technologies, and capacity building, in order to accelerate the deployment of ICT

connectivity and utilization within ASEAN.

1. Bridging the Digital Divide

In addition to the ongoing ICT cooperation with ASEAN Member States bilaterally and through

multilateral fora, the United States proposes cooperative activities with ASEAN:

Global Connect. The United States proposes to work jointly with TELSOM and ASEAN

Member States to catalyze multi-stakeholder efforts to bring an additional 1.5 billion

people online through Global Connect, an initiative launched by the U.S. Department of

State.

Universal Service Obligation Funds. The United States proposes to work with TELSOM

on capacity building in ASEAN Member States to support the extension of universal

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service obligation funds to support broadband and ICTs – for example, designing,

prioritizing, and distributing funds – and to discuss policies and regulations that will

reduce the need for universal service obligation funds in the future.

National Broadband Plans. The United States proposes to work with TELSOM in

ASEAN Member States to support broadband Plan Design and Assessment (measuring

progress, mapping, speed measurement)

Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities. The United States proposes to share U.S.

approaches on the development of policies, regulations, and programs to improve

accessibility for persons with disabilities, including statutory and regulatory design, as

well as program execution.

2. Emerging Technologies

In addition to the ongoing ICT cooperation with ASEAN Member States bilaterally and through

multilateral fora, the United States proposes cooperative activities with ASEAN:

Dynamic Frequency Allocation. The United States proposes to work with TELSOM to

develop a regional approach to dynamic frequency allocation to support application of

emerging wireless technology for broadband service expansion. On September 7-8,

2015, the USAID ASEAN Connectivity through Trade and Investment Project (US-

ACTI), in collaboration with the Lao Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and the

ASEAN TELSOM, organized a workshop for over 30 government officials from around

ASEAN to explore options for expanding broadband access to underserved

communities. A significant part of the program focused on how the radio frequency

spectrum could be more effectively used to provide ICT services. The workshop

included a discussion of USAID-funded pilot projects in the use of TV white space for

broadband expansion in Indonesia and the Philippines. US-ACTI will collaborate with

ICT firms and the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance to support ASEAN with a series of

meetings to develop an agreement for a frequency utilization database for dynamic

frequency allocation throughout the region. In 2016, US-ACTI will prepare a study to

underpin a work program for this activity and organize up to three workshops to support

development of the agreement. The long-term objective is to organize pilot

implementations in border regions to test the sharing agreement, leading to the rolling

out of broader cooperation.

Spectrum Policy for the Mobile Era. The United States proposes to share U.S.

approaches on spectrum policy and regulation that will enable investment, innovation,

and deployment of wireless communications for all. This would include sharing best

practices and technical assistance on licensing and means of spectrum reallocation

(refarming, auctions, unlicensed uses, shared spectrum).

Electronic Labeling. The United States proposes an industry-regulator exchange on how

devices with an integrated display screen that are subject to certification or declaration

of conformance requirements can present the required label information electronically

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(e-label) in lieu of a physical label or nameplate. A series of workshops leading to

agreement on best practices in e-labeling could help regulators understand approaches

being taken in various markets to validate the conformance of rapidly changing

technologies using tools and techniques that are both user-friendly and cost effective for

regulators and consumers.

Policy Issues Related to Emerging Technologies. The United States proposes to discuss

policy issues related to emerging technologies and uses of technologies, and share the

U.S. experience and approaches to the emerging digital world. These discussions may

include the following topics:

o Promoting Increased ICT Connectivity. The United States proposes to share

emerging technology and policy developments which can assist in improving

ICT connectivity. This would include sharing best practices and technical

assistance on rural low cost technologies like TV white space (TVWS),

Femtocell, BGAN, WiMAX, and VSAT. This could also include other emerging

technologies or policy developments that would be of interest to the United

States and ASEAN.

o Smart Cities. The United States has launched a new “Smart Cities” Initiative to

help local communities in the United States tackle key challenges such as

reducing traffic congestion, fighting crime, fostering economic growth,

managing the effects of a changing climate, and improving the delivery of city

services. The United States proposes to share U.S. policy and R&D experiences

related to Smart Cities, and explore opportunities to collaborate with ASEAN

and ASEAN Member States.

o Data Privacy. The United States proposes discussions on the privacy and data

protection issues raised by emerging technologies – including mobile

technologies and interconnected devices (i.e., the Internet of Things) – and the

steps the United States has taken to address such issues.

o Open Government Data. The United States is committed to responsibly

unleashing data from the vaults of government to fuel the innovation that grows

the economy while also advancing government efficiency and accountability. On

May 9, 2013, President Obama signed an executive order, making open and

machine-readable data the new default for government information, taking

historic steps to make government-held data more accessible to the public and to

entrepreneurs while appropriately safeguarding sensitive information and

rigorously protecting privacy. To build on this landmark effort to open up data

across government, the United States has also launched several open data

initiatives aimed at scaling up open data efforts across the health, energy,

education, finance, public safety, and global development sectors. The United

States proposes to share its approaches and experiences on these open data

initiatives with ASEAN.

o Cloud Computing. The United States adopted a Federal Cloud Computing

strategy in 2011 to help U.S. government agencies modify their IT portfolios to

fully take advantage of the benefits of cloud computing in order to maximize

capacity utilization, improve IT flexibility and responsiveness, and minimize

cost. The U.S. Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or

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FedRAMP, is a U.S. government-wide program that provides a standardized

approach to security assessment, authorization, and continuous monitoring for

cloud products and services. This approach uses a “do once, use many times”

framework that saves an estimated 30-40% of government costs, as well as both

time and staff required to conduct redundant agency security assessments. The

United States proposes to share its approaches and experiences on cloud

computing initiatives with ASEAN.

3. E-Commerce

In addition to the ongoing ICT cooperation with Member States bilaterally and through

multilateral fora, the United States proposes cooperative activities with ASEAN:

Policies to Promote e-commerce. The United States, through the US-ACTI project,

organized a workshop on e-commerce in that was held back-to-back with the TELSOM

Retreat in September 2015. This workshop included representatives of the ASEAN

SME Working Group and examined the challenges that ASEAN faces in promoting e-

commerce. The United States proposes to continue these efforts to support e-commerce

in ASEAN, and could work with regional and international business organizations to

develop a comprehensive e-commerce agenda. The US-ACTI program could support

any sectoral body that seeks assistance or support efforts to coordinate across sectoral

bodies. Regular reports would be provided to TELSOM.

Bolstering SMEs and Stimulating Entrepreneurship through e-commerce: The United

States, working through US-ACTI and in collaboration with the US-ASEAN Business

Alliance for Competitive SMEs, has offered a number of workshops for SMEs in

ASEAN that included sessions on utilizing e-commerce. US-ACTI and the Business

Alliance will include sessions on effectively using e-commerce in future SME

workshops.

4. Capacity Building

In addition to the ongoing ICT cooperation with Member States bilaterally and through

multilateral fora, the United States proposes cooperative activities with ASEAN:

Broadband Communications for Emergency Services. Effective use of radio frequencies

to support emergency response is critical. Having an agreement within ASEAN to

support emergency use would help all AMS prepare to support each other. The United

States has allocated a portion of the 700 MHz band for public service uses, including

disaster response. The United States proposes for US-ACTI to develop a paper that

outlines global good practices in frequency allocation for disaster response and outline

possible options for consideration by ASEAN. US-ACTI, in combination with another

U.S.-ASEAN support program (PROGRESS) will hold one workshop to review the study

and share regional best practices and seek agreement on further potential activities to

develop a regional approach to collaboration for broadband use in disaster response. This

activity would be led through the ASEAN Telecommunication Regulators' Council

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(ATRC), but developed in cooperation with the ASEAN Committee on Disaster

Management.

Emergency Alerting. The United States proposes to discuss U.S. approaches to policies

and regulations for emergency calling services, including SMS; emergency alerting

systems; and communications outage reporting and response.

Network Security and Incident Response. The United States proposes for US-ACTI to

organize a workshop with TELSOM and the ASEAN Network Security Action Council

on Cyber Incident Emergency Response and Information Security. The workshop will

explore a range of network security issues to identify which ones are of particular interest

to ASEAN today and thus could form the basis for further potential activities in

subsequent years. As a basis for the workshop, US-ACTI will prepare a summary paper

that highlights potential issues for discussion.

Policy and regulatory capacity and cooperation. Building on ASEAN’s guidance on

good regulatory practices under the ASEAN Consultative Committee on Standards and

Quality (ACCSQ), the U.S. proposes to discuss U.S. regulatory approaches relevant to

ICTs. Discussion may include:

o Rulemaking (open, transparent)

o Licensing (broadcast, mobile, satellite, etc.)

o Self-regulation and light touch regulation

o Technology neutrality

o Enabling competition

o Responding to consumer complaints, and consumer protection

o Enforcement

III. ICT COOPERATION THROUGH REGIONAL AND GLOBAL FORA

The United States and ASEAN can also very productively cooperate by leveraging the activities

of multilateral fora that address ICT issues of mutual interest. To avoid redundancy, in instances

where robust vehicles for international ICT cooperation already exist, the United States and

ASEAN should seek to cooperate with them on specific activities. For example, the APEC TEL

Working Group, the APEC Ad Hoc Steering Group on the Internet Economy, the International

Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the International Electrotechnical Commission, are all

examples of fora through which the United States and ASEAN can leverage fruitful ICT

cooperation. The United States and ASEAN could also consider co-organizing a workshop or

session for next year’s Internet Governance Forum on a topic of mutual interest.