As part of its commitment to extending access to telecommunications to as many of the world's people as possible, ITU maintains 11 Field Offices located throughout Africa, the Americas, the Arab States and Asia Pacific, whose purpose is to provide direct assistance to countries in need and to build strong relationships with government, operators, regulators and local organizations working to promote telecoms development.

The key highlights of ITU work in Africa illustrate policy advice activities to national authorities, whereas those in the Americas are representative of hands-on project management and organization of seminars and conferences in the region. ITU activities in the other regions represent a combination of both approaches.

Africa

Home to 33 of the 48 UN-designated Least Developed Countries, Africa lags far behind other continents in telecommunications development. ITU's regional presence is vital in helping African nations develop innovative financing strategies, implement new technologies and forge the partnerships which will be instrumental in creating a vigorous local telecommunications sector.

During 1999, ITU offices in Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia and Senegal worked with the Task Group of the Southern Africa Telecommunications Association to prepare a feasibility study for the creation of a leading edge SDH/ATM-based regional fibre optic network linking countries throughout southern Africa. This study, which falls under the auspices of the AFRITEL project, was complemented by similar work underway in West Africa, where ITU is partnering with sub-regional organization ECOWAS to develop the parameters for a new project which would provide fibre optic links between West African nations.

Under the RASCOM satellite project, which will see an African regional satellite launched in 2002, ITU provided policy advice relating to the tender for a Build Operate Transfer project, and continues to work with RASCOM management in assisting African nations to define their satellite communication needs and to plan the installation of some 500,000 earth station receivers, which will help bring communications to isolated rural areas.

In other activities, ITU contributed policy and regulatory expertise to a Regional Telecommunication Restructuring Programme in southern Africa, assisted the newly-formed Telecommunication Regulators Association of South Africa in the implementation of its programme, and provided advice to Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique and Rwanda on reform of their local telecoms sectors.

Americas

During 1999, ITU Field Offices in Barbados, Brazil, Chile and Honduras helped coordinate a number of exciting and important projects in the Americas region.

In Argentina, ITU took a key role in the establishment of 1,000 new Technological Community Telecentres, acting as project manager and providing services ranging from preparation of legal and commercial specifications, evaluation of bids and negotiation of contracts to installation management and staff training.

This US$40 million project, which forms part of the government's argentina@internet.todos programme, also includes 70 virtual classrooms which are already delivering invaluable Internet-based distance learning services to rural-dwelling children and adults around the country.

In addition, ITU provided spectrum management and frequency planning advice to authorities in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay, helped consolidate the role of national regulators in Brazil and Paraguay, and worked in Honduras to reform the operation of Hondutel and investigate the implementation of a Multipurpose Community Telecentre programme.

Arab States

The development of regional telecommunications capabilities were given a high priority in the Arab region during 1999, with work focusing on areas such as regulation, tariffing, network financing, training and private/public sector partnerships.

In Morocco, ITU played a key role in the preparation of the Television Interactive Project aimed at providing distance education through interactive TV services. Assistance was also provided to Libya in telecoms training, to Saudi Arabia on institution building and spectrum management, and to Tunisia on telecoms research and education.

In Palestine, ITU staff helped establish a transmission control unit in the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, as well as providing assistance with frequency management, broadcasting, traffic engineering and, and in cooperation with UNESCO, the building of a new news and information gathering system known as the WAFA News Agency.

In accordance with ITU's mandate, emphasis was placed on assisting the region's Least Developed Countries. ITU staff worked with Yemen on tariff reform, development of radio and TV broadcasting coverage, traffic re-engineering and spectrum management. In Somalia, work focused on training, numbering, tariffing, interconnection and regulatory matters.

Asia-Pacific

In Asia-Pacific, a new Centre of Excellence is being implemented in the form of a virtual network which will address the training needs of nations throughout the region.

At the same time, Multipurpose Community Telecentre and telemedicine projects are being planned or are under implementation in Bhutan, Vietnam, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. ITU is also providing expert advice to Bhutan in developing a Rural Telecommunication Master Plan.

In addition, ITU field staff are playing a key role in implementing a four-year, government-sponsored human resources development and management project in India. The project aims to enhance the skills of ground-level staff at the Department of Telecommunications, in preparation for the advent of a new competitive telecoms environment.

Finally, ITU is participating in a study on spectrum valuation and licensing for wireless technologies, with a view to developing guidelines for administrations looking to improve their spectrum management capabilities.

Europe and CIS

As part of its involvement in the reconstruction of the Telecommunication Sector of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ITU helped prepare the country's first Telecommunication Law under which a Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (TRA) for Bosnia and Herzegovina was established and is now fully operational. ITU, in cooperation with the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in Sarajevo and the TRA, also helped prepare the new Numbering Plan for Bosnia and Herzegovina.