The Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D) is charged with fulfilling one of ITU’s most important mandates: extending the power of telecommunications to poor, under-served communities throughout the developing world. In fulfilling its mission, ITU-D covers five major areas: telecommunication sector reform, technologies, management, financing and human resources.

Through its two Study Groups, its direct involvement in development programmes, its many national and regional workshops, seminars, conferences and training sessions, and its increasingly vital role as a facilitator of partnerships between governments, operators and equipment manufacturers, ITU-D works to bring voice telephony, online information and electronic commerce networks within reach of the billions of people who still lack access to even the most basic communications services.

Leading Sector Reform

Since the early 1990s, more than 150 countries have introduced new telecommunication legislation or modified their existing regulations in response to the rapid technological developments which are reshaping the world of electronic communications. To assist nations in drawing up suitable regulatory and legal frameworks or in streng-thening their recently-established regulatory bodies, the Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) – ITU-D’s executive arm – convened dozens of workshops and seminars on legal and regulatory issues throughout Africa, the Americas, the Arab States, Asia and the CIS countries. In the area of costs and tariffs, the Bureau developed case studies that served to identify guidelines for the development of cost models. It also worked actively towards a transition mechanism on cost-based accounting rates and organized regional seminars on tariff rebalancing. In addition, it organized the Second World Telecommunication Indicators Meeting where regulators and statistical officials from 55 countries exchanged knowledge on methodologies for improving analysis of the sector.

At the same time, the Bureau continued its tradition of publishing world-class in-depth analytical reports on the state of the infocommunications industry around the world. Five major publications were released over the course of the year: Trends in Telecommunication Reform, 1999; the World Telecommunication Development Report 1999; the Yearbook of Statistics; Challenges to the Network; and Direction of Traffic.

Technical Development Initiatives

Through the Electronic Commerce for Developing Countries (EC-DC) initiative, BDT is helping extend the power of emerging electronic commerce networks to local merchants in the developing world. The initiative, which received praise for its innovation at the Global Bangemann Projects Challenge in Sweden, has already attracted in-kind contributions from industry partners totalling more than US$2 million. A trust fund was established to manage future contributions, which will be used to help developing countries build e-commerce infrastructure. At the same time, partnership agreements were signed with the Geneva-based World Trade Centre, World Internet Secure Key (WISeKey) and the Maldonado Foundation in Venezuela.

In other initiatives, the BDT convened a number of regional events aimed at keeping local administrations and network operators abreast of technical developments which could help them improve access to telecommunications services. Workshops and seminars held during 1999 covered a diverse range of technologies, from digital sound and television broadcasting and GMPCS satellite services to new telemedicine systems which are helping extend health care to outlying regions in countries like India, Mozambique and the CIS.

The BDT was also instrumental in prompting African ministers to make use of telecommunications for the environmental monitoring and protection of the Sahel zone.

Rural Development and Universal Access

ITU has played a key role in the development of programmes to install hundreds of multipurpose community telecentres, which bring shared telephone, fax and other facilities like the Internet to people living in remote areas. Through its hands-on experience in countries such as Morocco and Argentina, along with the establishment of a dedicated Focus Group, BDT created a Web site which now serves as a free, centralized resource providing information on new approaches to rural communications development.

Human Resources Development

BDT seeks to assist developing countries with their training needs though a wide range of initiatives. One of the most important of these is the establishment of four new Centres of Excellence in Africa, the Americas and Asia Pacific. These Centres will play a vital role in training public officials in policy and regulatory issues, while at the same time serving as a resource for telecommunications companies and service providers throughout the three regions.

In 1999, a Board of Directors was set up for the Americas Centre in Buenos Aires, and a Steering Committee was established for the planned Asia Pacific Centre. With the assistance of the Governing Council of the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute (AFRALTI) for the East African Centre in Nairobi, and the Conseil d’Administration de l’Ecole supérieure multinationale des télécommunications (ESMT) for the West African Centre in Dakar, all four Centres now have a strong regional representation which will help guide their future development. To assist the two African Centres develop a new training programme on universal service and rural access, a major partnership agreement was signed with Nortel Networks, Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and three Canadian wireless companies.

All four Centres delivered their first pilot courses during the year, in partnership with leading vendors and operators including Cable & Wireless, Cisco Systems, Nortel Networks and Swisscom.

In other training initiatives, the BDT continued to develop a specialized tele-education programme under the auspices of its Global Telecom University/Global Telecom Training Institute project. Courses in frequency management, wireless telephony, marketing and trainer training were implemented, and the project was reorganized with the aim of concluding administrative agreements with regional partners in the year 2000.

As part of its knowledge transfer policy, the BDT also undertook a range of ad-hoc activities, which included convening the Second World Telemedicine Symposium in Argentina and the Interregional Human Resources Development meeting in the UK, as well as the implementation of a number of regional workshops, the publication of the Human Resource Development Quarterly, and the establishment of nine training agreements with external partners.

Projects Funded with Surplus Funds from ITU TELECOM events

ITU’s TELECOM exhibitions and forums have grown over the last 20 years to become the world’s largest specialized telecommunications events. The shows are run on a not-for-profit basis, with any surplus income that may be generated by world and regional events used to fund a number of development projects around the world under the Special ITU TELECOM Development Programme.

During 1999, CHF 2 million was allocated as seed funding to four new telecommunication Centres of Excellence. A further CHF4 million was allocated to the PANAFTEL project, which seeks to build local and regional telecommunications manufacturing capability in Africa.

CHF1.5 million was used to provide assistance to countries in special need, which included providing a Mobile Station for Monitoring Frequency Spectrum to the Telecommunication Regulatory Agency of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the establishment of standby emergency telecommunications services in the hurricane-prone Caribbean and South Pacific.

Finally, CHF4 million was devoted to pilot projects in the areas of tele-education, telemedicine, electronic commerce and community telecentre access in countries including Benin, Bhutan, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Kenya, Mali, Malta, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Venezuela and Vietnam.