Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Objectives

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• ​The ITU-T Focus Group on network aspects of IMT-2020 ('5G') has concluded its preliminary study into the wireline networking innovations required to achieve the ambitious performance targets of 5G systems. The group's output takes the form of five draft ITU international standards and four draft ITU technical reports to drive related work in ITU's standardization expert groups (ITU-T Study Groups). The Focus Group's final meeting in December 2016 hosted a "workshop and demo day" showcasing proofs of concept and demonstrations of the wireline technologies to enable future 5G systems.
  
• The ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Financial Services has concluded its work with the publication of 85 policy recommendations and 28 supporting thematic reports. The Focus Group brought together more than 60 organizations from over 30 countries to drive greater financial inclusion for the estimated 2 billion people still without access to a bank account.
  
• ITU-T has completed a set of highly anticipated broadband access technologies. G.fast was updated in 2016 to achieve up to 2 Gbit/s access speeds over traditional telephone wires. A new series of standards for 40-Gigabit-capable Fiber to the Home (NG-PON2) are the first to provide fiber-optic access speeds beyond 10 Gbit/s. ITU-T boasts another major recent achievement in the revision of a key ITU standard underlying the Optical Transport Network, concluding a three-year process to enable optical transport at rates higher than 100 Gbit/s.
  
• Now in its fourth edition, ITU H.265 'High Efficiency Video Coding' – the successor to the Primetime Emmy award-winning ITU H.264 'Advanced Video Coding' – offers double the compression power of H.264 to provide the platform for the next decade of innovation in video. ITU-T Study Group 16 and the ISO/IEC Moving Pictures Expert Group are inviting experts to submit evidence supporting the case for a future video coding standard beyond today's ITU H.265.
  
• The United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative was established, primarily to advocate for public policy to ensure that ICTs play a definitive role in smart cities. U4SSC is supported by 16 United Nations agencies and programmes and is open to the participation of all stakeholders interested in driving smart-city innovation. The collaboration driven by this initiative has led 51 cities to join the pilot project implementing ITU's Key Performance Indicators for Smart Sustainable Cities.
  
• Held in Hammamet, Tunisia, from 25 October to 3 November 2016, WTSA-16 produced 16 new resolutions, 31 revised resolutions and 5 new standards. The directives of WTSA-16 call for ITU to expand its study of the wireline networking innovations necessary to support 5G systems. ITU members also reaffirmed the importance of ITU standardization work for ultra-high-speed transport networks, future video technologies, IoT, and smart cities and communities. ​