Against this background, the Assembly decided to create a new study group for NGN. In addition to taking over the tasks foreseen for the former Study-Group 13, the new study group will deal with all questions relating to architecture and frameworks for NGN. The new study group will decide on the future of the Focus Group that had been established prior to WTSA-04. Focus groups are set up to augment the study group work programme by providing an alternative working environment for the quick development of specifications in their chosen areas.

The signalling requirements for NGN will be developed by the new study group in conjunction with Study Group 11 (signalling). Coordination of all NGN-related activities that will take place in other study groups will also be the responsibility of the new NGN study group. To this end, other study groups will develop detailed Recommendations based on the requirements expressed by the NGN study group. The new study group will be assisted in its work by a joint coordination mechanism set up to coordinate core NGN studies in the area of mobility, signalling, naming, numbering, addressing and routing.

The first meeting of the new study group is foreseen to take place from 7 to 17 December this year .

Some of the key decisions of this Assembly relate to the Internet work of ITU-T. The discussions found a positive outcome on the last day of the Assembly.

With spam having grown into one of the major plagues affecting the digital world, causing additional costs and loss of revenue to Internet service providers, telecoms operators and business users, measures to combat it have taken on an added sense of urgency. Technical measures are an important way to counter spam. With announcements made in recent months by industry and standards groups on improved technical measures to further counter spam, the Assembly decided to task ITU-T study groups to work with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and others to develop technical recommendations aimed at countering spam, including required definitions, that can have global applicability. The Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) will follow work carried out in this area for future guidance.

WTSA also adopted a resolution which calls for a report to be prepared on international initiatives undertaken for countering spam and on possible follow-up. The resolution also invites Member States to take steps within their national legal frameworks to ensure that appropriate and effective measures are taken to combat spam.

    ITU-T’s contribution to WSIS

The WSIS Declaration adopted by Heads of State in December 2003 recognizes that "the management of the Internet encompasses both technical and public policy issues and should involve all stakeholders and relevant intergovernmental and international organizations". It also underlines the fact that "international organizations have had and should continue to have an important role in the development of Internet-related standards and relevant policies". Following the Declaration, and with a view to helping shape the ITU contribution to WSIS and in particular the WSIS Working Group on Internet Governance, WTSA decided to create a group for the purpose of providing the first meeting of the ITU Council Working Group on WSIS to be held in 2005 with input on the technical aspects of the telecommunication networks used by the Internet.

    Naming, numbering, addressing, routing and identification resources

The rapidly increasing use of mobile networks and the proliferation of services beyond traditional voice telephony require a separation of user identity from terminal identity and from geographic location, while not compromising global interconnectivity. With the anticipated development of new networks — or next-generation networks — and their associated capabilities, it will be necessary to address new telecommunication services which will require unique numbering, naming and addressing capabilities. These capabilities have the potential to be significantly different from those applicable to currently deployed (legacy) networks, yet it is essential that they interwork fully with this legacy environment in order to maintain the reality of any user being able to identify and reach any other user on a global basis.

To this end, the work programme of Study Group 2, responsible for the operational aspects of service provision, networks and performance, will also examine naming, numbering, addressing and routing (NNAR) for NGN.

In addition, the Assembly revised a resolution on the allocation of international telecommunication numbering, naming, addressing and identification codes such as country codes, signalling area and network codes, data country codes, mobile country codes, etc. Based on the recognition that it is in the best interests of ITU members to build and maintain confidence in the use of telecom services, the text reaffirms the responsibility of ITU in this area and underlines the general principles governing the assignment, reassignment or reclamation of such international resources. It also requests study groups to provide advice and guidance on such issues, particularly in cases of complaints about misuses of an international numbering resource.

    ENUM

Considering the work carried out by ITU-T on electronic numbering (ENUM) and remaining unresolved issues, WTSA tasked Study Group 2 to examine how ITU could have administrative control over changes relating to international telecommunication resources including naming, numbering, addressing and routing used for ENUM.

Considering that there are still issues that need to be addressed relating to the delegation of country code top level domain (ccTLD) to entities designated by national authorities, a new resolution was adopted, instructing ITU-T Study Group 2 to work with governments and industry to review Member States’ ccTLD experiences.

Considering the need for an in-depth discussion of the political, economic and technical issues related to internationalized domain names (IDN) arising out of the interaction between national sovereignty and international coordination and harmonization, the Assembly tasked Study Group 17 to study IDN.

Considering that the type and number of cyberincidents, including attacks from worm, viruses, malicious intrusions and thrill-seekers are on the increase and in light of the potential vulnerability resulting from the convergence of legacy networks with IP networks, cybersecurity was high on the agenda of this Assembly.

In addition to a workshop on cybersecurity organized on the eve of WTSA (see here) on the outcome of the workshop), the Assembly adopted a Resolution on the subject. The Resolution tasks ITU-T to evaluate its Recommendations, especially in the area of signalling and communications protocols, in order to ensure their robustness, thus preventing potential exploitation by malicious parties to interfere destructively with their deployment in the global ICT infrastructure. It also asks that ITU-T continue to raise awareness of the need to defend information and communications systems against the threat of cyber attack and, continue to promote cooperation among appropriate entities in order to enhance exchange of technical information in the field of information and communication network security.

The Assembly set up a new group to oversee the workshop programme of ITU-T. The seminar and workshop coordination committee (SCC) will see its exact mandate firmed-up in the next meeting of the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG).

As well as acting as an overseer of the organization of seminars and workshops, the group will act as a ‘technology watch’ to monitor the market for topic areas for workshops that may be fed back into the work programme of ITU-T. SCC will also seek to encourage developing countries to more actively participate in the definition and organization of these events.

The issue of call-back and other similar practices has been on the ITU agenda for some time. At WTSA 2004, an amendment to the existing resolution on call-back was approved. Accordingly, Study Group 3 (tariffs) is requested to study the economic effect of call-back and other similar calling practices in developing countries and how it impacts on their ability to develop their telecommunication networks and services. The study will also evaluate the effectiveness of the suggested guidelines for consultation on call-back. Study Group 3 is also requested to examine other aspects and forms of alternative calling procedure including refiling.

Another measure taken by WTSA 2004 to improve the level of developing country participation in standardization activities is the creation of regional groups. Under this scheme already used in Study Group 3, chairmen of regional groups act as a liaison with countries of their region to inform them about the work of the study group and how it affects them. Regional groups also serve as a forum where needs of countries of the region are discussed and agreed for input to the work of the study group. The use of regional groups not only facilitates the adoption of common positions but also proves particularly useful for countries unable to participate in study group meetings.

Other measures adopted by the Assembly, pending approval by the ITU’s governing body (ITU Council), include the free access of ITU Handbooks, guidelines and other publications related to the implementation of ITU-T Recommendations, particularly those on planning, operation and maintenance of networks. ITU members already have free access to all ITU-T Recommendations. A campaign is also requested to be launched to promote standardization activities in Africa.

There was considerable discussion on whether the current way to approve technical recommendations that have no policy or regulatory impact needed revision. Currently, a recommendation can be approved by a study group if it is not opposed. A number of proposals were tabled to address this issue. The proponents for change argued that this effective veto right was introducing a degree of uncertainty to the development of technical recommendations. They proposed that a minimum number of member states be required to oppose. Those in favour of the status quo argued that the current approval process had demonstrated its merits, having reduced significantly time-to-market delivery of standards. In the course of the discussions, other proposals were put forward. After much discussion, the Chairman tabled a compromise proposal that the Assembly approved. Accordingly, the new approval process for recommendations that do not have a policy or regulatory impact (i.e. those approved under the accelerated approval process) will require that more than one Member State object to the adoption of a Recommendation for it to be considered opposed. At the same time, the Assembly tasked the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) which reviews the output of WTSAs on an ongoing basis and which has authority to act in between assemblies, to review the matter if required.

WTSA also approved a change in the ITU-T working methods dealing with the appointment and term of office for chairman and vice-chairmen of ITU-T study groups and of TSAG. The change approved by the Assembly introduces a geographical dimension to the appointment process by giving preference to candidates from members having the lowest number of designated study group chairmen when two candidates for the same position have the same competence.

A total of 165 questions have been allocated to the 13 Study Groups with the following general areas of responsibility:

Building on the success of WTSA 2000's proposals to increase efficiency in the production of ITU standards (ITU-T Recommendations), WTSA-04 delegates agreed to the consolidation of the areas of work to be covered by study groups. As a result, an increased scope of study will be achieved with a reduction of some 15% in the number of Questions.

The new study group structure will start with the first series of meetings next month.

WTSA 2004 included, for the first time, a gender perspective in the work of the ITU-T with the adoption of a resolution on gender mainstreaming. The resolution encourages ITU-T members to contribute to meeting gender-equality objectives through the participation of women in both standardization activities and leadership positions.

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