EDITORIAL

HEADLINES OF THIS ISSUE

September has been a busy month with preparations for Connect Africa Summit well underway and the 2007 session of Council bringing many of our colleagues from Regional Offices and our Members to Geneva. In the mean time the varied activities and meetings of the BDT continue, some of which are highlighted here, as well as events that are to take place later this year.

Partnership, Promotion & Membership / BDT

Connect Africa Summit  --  Connect Africa will be launched at a Summit of leaders (Kigali, Rwanda - 29-30 October 2007). The aim is to bring together partners to help implement a number of ICT projects of significant, catalysing impact on the development of ICT infrastructure in Africa. In doing so, partners will build on the progress of countries which have established an attractive ICT policy and regulatory environment to accommodate the private sector investment required for sustainable network build-out. These projects will in turn trigger a cycle of further investment and development. 

The 2007 session of the Council  took place at ITU Headquarters in Geneva from Tuesday 4 September 2007 to Friday 14 September. ITU Sector Members can act as observers to the ITU Council sessions. Out of the ten candidacies received from our Sector, and the number of observers being limited to three per Sector, the following companies were nominated in full respect of the criteria: the balance of geographical representation, the importance of ITU-D membership contribution, the nature of activities of Sector Members, amongst others. They were:  CompassRose International - USA (www.compassroseintl.com) Saudi Telecom - Saudi Arabia (www.stc.com.sa) Smart Communications - Philippines (www.smart.com.ph)

The 8th edition of Trends in Telecommunication Reform, the Road to Next-Generation Networks (NGN) was released on 4th September 2007! This edition examines the regulatory challenges and opportunities of Next-Generation Networks (NGN) and enables regulators and policy makers to better understand the transformations sweeping the sector. The report includes an ICT market and regulatory overview; an NGN overview; an analysis of NGN technology; a look at fixed-mobile convergence; interconnection and access in an NGN environment; international Internet interconnection; universal access and NGN; Quality of Service (QoS), consumer protection and cybersecurity in an NGN environment; the Enabling Environment for NGN; and a conclusion and a look ahead.  

G-REX facelift
In September 2007, when users log on to G-REX, they will find a new, more user-friendly platform with new functionalities and improved navigation. The Global Regulators’ Exchange (G-REX) is It's password-protected website for national regulatory authorities and policy makers. Its most popular feature is the Regulators’ Hotline – virtual forum where users exchange questions and provide feedback. A new multiple-keyword search tool will enable users to make targeted queries to the existing resources and get highly-relevant results.  If you are not yet registered for G-REX

Mark your calendar! The 8th Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR 08) organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and the National Telecommunications Commission of Thailand, will take place in Pattaya, Thailand, 12-14 March 2008. The GSR is an annual event bringing together heads of national regulatory authorities from both developed and developing countries and has earned a reputation as the global venue for regulators to share their views and experiences as part of the worldwide community of regulators

The Market Information and Statistics Unit (STAT) recently published the new edition of the Yearbook of Statistics. This 33rd edition includes time-series data from 1996 to 2005, for some 180 economies. Data are presented in country tables, allowing readers to view the evolution of telecommunication/ICT services in each country. Statistical data have been collected directly from countries, through questionnaires sent to telecommunication ministries, regulatory authorities and operators. The ITU statistical yearbook provides the most authoritative source of data about the evolution of the public telecommunications sector available

Cybersecurity -- An ITU National Cybersecurity/CIIP Readiness Self-Assessment Toolkit is under development, intended to assist national governments to examine their existing national policies, procedures, norms, institutions, and relationships in light of changes in the ICT environment, the requirements of critical information infrastructure protection and the need to enhance cybersecurity. The toolkit examines issues at political and management levels and should be considered in the context of the output report which is being developed in ITU-D Study Group Question 22/1 

ITU Botnet Mitigation Toolkit for Developing Countries -- ITU is currently working with experts on developing a practical Botnet Mitigation Toolkit to help developing countries in particular to deal with the growing problem of botnets, and how to take down recruited and hijacked computers that play a serious role in the expansion of botnets worldwide. The Botnet Mitigation Toolkit is a multi-stakeholder, multi-pronged approach to track botnets and mitigate their impact, with a particular emphasis on the problems specific to emerging internet economies. The first print of the Toolkit will be made available to ITU Membership in December 2007  

Emergency Communications -- Peru Earthquake: ITU deploys satellite terminals in affected areas. Following the devastating earthquake that struck Southern Peru on 15 August 2007, ITU deployed 50 satellite terminals to help restore vital communications links, critical for coordinating rescue and relief operations.

Caribbean Seminar on Issues in Telecommunication economics and financing -- As part of the ITU ongoing activities in the Caribbean sub-region, this seminar was organized in collaboration with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), The Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organizations (CANTO) and the Organisation of Caribbean Utility Regulators (OOCUR). This seminar took place from 10 - 13 September 2007 and was held in Antigua and Barbuda at the kind invitation of the Government of Antigua and Barbuda 

Broadband Wireless Access -- A Regional Seminar on Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) for European and CIS Countries will take place in Moscow, 26 - 29 November 2007, organized jointly by BDT and Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications of Russia.

A Seminar was held at ITU, Geneva, on 17 September 2007 to share best practices to improve ICT access and services for persons with disabilities. This Seminar brought together a number of stakeholders, including policy makers, regulators, representatives of hardware and software industries involved in the development of ICT equipment and services for people with disabilities, service providers and user groups. Participants to this event included people with disabilities, who shared their experiences and emphasized the need to involve them as users in formulating policies and designing assistive technologies.  

ITU and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) signed a memorandum of understanding to support the development of innovative ICT based services in post offices. This will involve cooperation on improvement of ICT services in post offices, training of postal staff in use of ICTs, development of projects to support postal and ICT services provided by small/micro enterprises and development of initiatives to secure global e-commerce.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between ITU and the Directorate-General for Energy and Telecoms, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Netherlands to support a project, in which the Czech Republic is also a partner, to provide pc and internet training for young people in Uganda.

ITU, the Commonwealth Business Council and ICO Global Communications (Holdings) Limited signed an agreement to cooperate in disaster preparedness and response through satellite telecommunications and global information systems. This will include coordination of disaster relieve activities, organization of joint events to promote disaster preparedness , and promotion of each other’s activities related to disaster relief.

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