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Archive of ITU Activities and Projects in Europe

​​The ITU’s activities in Europe are centered around global activities and projects and Regional Initiatives designed to address specific priority areas of particular importance to the Europe region.
 
Formulated and revised at successive 4-yearly World Telecommunication Development Conferences, these regional initiatives mobilize creative partnerships to implement the range of small, medium and large scale projects outlined here. Regional initiatives guide ITU and countries themselves in developing and implementing specific projects to address priority needs in the area of telecommunications and information and communication technologies.
 
The ITU welcomes potential partners to contact and engage with us in developing and delivering these vital actions.
 

WTDC-10 Regional Initiatives for Europe region

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1. Accompany efforts to improve E-accessibility in Central and Eastern Europe
Objective: To provide assistance to Member States in order to offer e-accessibility (including Internet and information access) for blind people and people with visual impairment problems.
Expected results:
1. Creation of national and regional specialized libraries/databases in order to provide large scale access via Internet for blind people and people with visual impairment problems
2. Establishment of relevant facilities (hardware and software) and implementation of training for users and instructors
3. Promoting and fostering widespread adoption of access services via digital television.
 

 2. Facilitating the smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcasting
Expected results:
1. Overview of policy and regulatory frameworks for digital terrestrial broadcasting, including mobile television
2. Appropriate mechanisms for conversion from analogue to digital archives
3. Provision of assistance in the deployment of interactive multimedia services and applications
4. Sharing the experiences gained through the implementation of this initiative with broadcasters and service providers within and outside the region.
 
 
3. Share best practices in the implementation of e-applications, including e-health
Expected results:
1. Faster and easier storage of, transmission of and access to medical data and health-related information for healthcare providers and professionals, citizens/patients, academics, researchers, policy-makers and others
2. Capacity building and improved delivery of healthcare services, particularly in rural and remote areas
3. Reduction of operational and administrative costs in implementing healthcare services.
 
 
 
For partnership with ITU or more details please contact: eurregion@itu.int

WTDC-14 Regional Initiatives for Europe region

Objective: To foster regional cooperation, mainly supplemented by direct assistance to the administrations in the process of analogue TV switch-off, and management of the frequencies in the digital dividend bands, which are to be utilized bearing in mind the most effective use of radio spectrum.

EUR2 Development of broadband access and adoption of broadband
Objective: Due to significant differences in European countries, there is an urgent need to take steps and assist administrations in every aspect of the practical implementation and development of high-speed networks. This action may also comprise the establishment of local/regional broadband roll-out plans. The development of communication networks would be boosted by using the experience in infrastructure-sharing with energy sector (smart grids) and should aim to benefit from cross-sectoral synergies. The degree of progress in this field varies considerably between Member States in the region, and therefore sharing best practices and regulatory policies and providing assistance would help to use resources most effectively.

EUR3 Ensuring access to telecommunications/ICTs, in particular for persons with disabilities
Objective: To further promote e-accessibility in the ICT ecosystem, and provide the administrations with the most suitable solutions available. Both objectives may comprise assistance to national regulatory authorities and sharing of best practices in cooperation with relevant institutions.

EUR4 Building confidence and security in the use of telecommunications/ICTs
Objective: To build trust and confidence in the use of ICTs among children and young people in Europe.

EUR5 Entrepreneurship, innovation and youth
Objective: To foster the creation of an enabling environment and build capacities at the regional level, aimed at growth of entrepreneurship and increased innovation in the ICT ecosystem, while encouraging empowerment of young men and women and creating new opportunities for them in the ICT sector. Strengthened cooperation with diverse stakeholders, including academia and private sector will be necessary.
 
For more information on the newly developed Regional Initiative by the WTDC-14 in Dubai, UAE, for Europe region please click here
 
For partnership with ITU or more details please contact: eurregion@itu.int

DIRECT ASSISTANCE

Direct assistance to Albania: series of workshops are organized as a response to a request from Albania that was addressed to the ITU Regional Office for Europe

• National Meeting of Working Group on activities related to GE-06 Agreement, 18 June 2014:
On the opportunities of increasing the numbers of networks/layers without influencing the GE-06 plan
Optimization activity is a process that should be performed in parallel with DSO process
• National capacity-building workshop on information and communication technology indicators, 4-5 June 2014:
The objective of the workshop was to improve data availability and quality in Albania, thus filling in the gaps in the ICT data reported by Albania to ITU,
Providing support to the statistical needs of Albania for the monitoring of the national Digital Agenda for ICT
An additional focus of the workshop was to present the indicators and the methodology used for the calculation of the ICT Development Index (IDI) and the ICT Price Basket
• Emergency Telecommunications Survey for the Republic of Albania
This survey is focused on acquiring inputs from the Republic of Albania to understand better the current state of emergency telecommunications and early warning/alerting capability of the country.

Direct assistance to Montenegro: Establishment of the national IXP: Towards National Internet Exchange Point: Building enabling environment for effective IXP in Montenegro, 1 October 2014, Budva, Montenegro

  • This is a part of a joint initiative by Ministry, Regulator, ITU and ISOC leading towards the establishment of the IXP in Montenegro.
  • The objective of this activity is to built enabling environment for establishment of the national IXP.
  • ITU aims at exchange of experiences of different IXPs, reviewing business and technical model for the national IXPs and building national community capacity.
  • The first phase of the project focuses on enabling environment. Establishment of the IXP is scheduled for 2015.

Direct Assistance on ICT infrastructure development

  • In 2012, ITU EUR coordinated a direct assistance to Albania to advise on the type of monitoring system to implement in order to best support the regulatory authority’s mandate related to frequency planning, frequency engineering, licensing and enforcement
  • In September 2013, ITU EUR, in collaboration with the Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks of Greece, organized a three-day intensive seminar on ITU Procedures and Digital Terrestrial Television held in Athens, Greece
  • Also in 2013, ITU EUR coordinated a direct assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina in assessing current practices in spectrum management and determining possible options for effective and efficient use of spectrum in the future

Direct Assistance on Cyber security & ICT applications

  • In partnership with IMPACT, five European countries, namely Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and FYR Macedonia, benefitted from the readiness assessment in view of establishing a National Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT)
  • Following up on the assessment study, a national CIRT was established in Montenegro
  • Cross-regional seminar on Current Methods for Combating Cybercrime in Europe, Asia-Pacific and the CIS Region was organized in Odessa, Ukraine
  • Upcoming regional European broadband conference that ITU EUR plans to hold in February 2014 in Greece on the kind invitation of the Greek Ministry of Infrastructure, Transport and Networks
  • Child Online Protection: ITU EUR in cooperation with the Area Office for CIS conducted several workshops on related topical issues for Europe and the CIS Region
  • In April 2011, a regional seminar on Child Online Protection was held in Odessa, Ukraine
  • Assistance on IPv6 deployment: BDT organized an event in close collaboration with the Swiss IPv6 Council on 10 September 2013, in order to discuss, exchange views and experiences on Public Policy for Neutrality and IPv6 Implications, on IPv6 transition, Security, Treats and Mitigations including IPv6 Implementation solutions

Direct Assistance on Enabling Policy and Regulatory environment

  • In 2012, ITU EUR accompanied Albania in the endeavor of setting up the national broadband plan.
  • A policy paper prepared by ITU was officially handed over to the Albanian Administration on the occasion of the ICT Forum on Broadband held in Tirana in September 2012
  • ITU is currently planning to provide assistance with regard to the measurement of the broadband ecosystem.

ONGOING AND FUTURE ACTIVITIES

Regional Regulatory Conference "Towards Mobile Broadband Ubiquity in Europe" to be held on 29-30 September in Budva, Montenegro, is a part of series of events and the twelfth edition of the Regional Conference "Regulatory Activity in Electronic Communications Sector", this year focusing on mobile broadband ubiquity, within the framework of the Festival of ICT Achievements – INFOFEST 2014. Conference will be organized by the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services of Montenegro (EKIP) and Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). More information available on Europe Coordination website: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regional-Presence/Europe/Pages/Towards-Mobile-Broadband-Ubiquity.aspx 

Central European Cybersecurity Public-Private Dialogue Platform, 2-3 October 2014, Sibiu, Romania, built with in collaboration and with a fellowship of the ITU, the 2014 edition is a very special event, with the attendance of Foreign and Romanian renowned key speakers, both from the Public and the Private sector, doubled by the presence of some of the most prominent specialists from Romania's neighboring countries (BG, MD, SRB, HU, HR). The draft agenda and further details are available at http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regional-Presence/Europe/Pages/Central-European-Cybersecurity-Public-Private-Dialogue-Platform.aspx

ITU Interactive Terrestrial Transmission Map now contains data for 35 European network operators, in 13 European countries, with 1,725 links and 1,075 nodesWe value your feedback and contributions. Please log in using your ITU TIES username and password, to submit comments, feedback and to validate the information shown in the map through the Validation Framework. Important links for your review and comments:
• Project homepage
http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Technology/Pages/InteractiveTransmissionMaps.aspx  
• ITU Interactive Terrestrial Transmission Map
https://www.itu.int/itu-d/tnd-map-public/  
• ITU TIES Interactive Terrestrial Transmission Map
https://www.itu.int/itu-d/tnd-map/  
• ITU TIES Validation Framework
https://www.itu.int/itu-d/tnd-map/validation/

The Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) is a multi-stakeholder initiative to measure the commitment of countries to cybersecurity in line with the five pillars of the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA): Legal Measures, Technical Measures, Organizational Measures, Capacity Building and Cooperation. It is enshrined in  Resolution 130 (Rev. Busan 2014). The second edition GCI 2016 saw the creation of a multi-stakeholder initiative (13 partners) with open consultations and combined surveys (supporting ITU-D Study Group 2 Question 3) administered through a detailed online questionnaire. Click here  for more information. 

ITU has in addition worked on establishing a Portal on the status of the transition to digital terrestrial television broadcasting, given the dynamically changing status of DTT deployment, administrations are invited to check the data and make necessary update. ITU Focal Points are Jaroslaw Ponder, Coordinator for Europe, and Istvan Bozsoki, Head of SBD Division
www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Spectrum-Broadcasting/Pages/DSO/Summary.aspx .

Development of an online course for TV broadcasters in Europe on audio description (AD) for blind and visually impaired consumers of audio visual media is also under planning and the launch planned for February 2015. Using the ITU Academy platform, the online course would include a rich variety of resources to best demonstrate how AD is produced and broadcast:

  • How to create AD files and broadcast in the post-production phase
  • How to use existing AD files in other languages for translation into local languages
  • Covering both human and text-to-speech created AD
  • Demonstrating the most cost effective way to produce AD files during the production phase

In addition, there is a development of an online course for policy guidelines and legal and regulatory framework which launch is planned for September 2015. Based upon the Model ICT Accessibility Policy Report produced by BDT (planned for publication by ITU and G3ict end of 2014), designed to help policy makers and regulators develop their own accessibility policies and regulations, the online course (using ITU Academy platform) would include a stand-alone sections on policies for:

  • Mobile accessibility
  • Audio visual media accessibility
  • Web accessibility
  • Public procurement

RECENT ACTIVITIES

Regional Forum was held for CIS and Europe on Shared Use of Infrastructure as a Tool to Promote Development of Broadband Networks on 20-22 May 2014 in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. Forum’s objective was to share practical experience in in the field of shared use of infrastructure to promote development of broadband networks. The draft law was developed with the support of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Office of Electronic Communications of Poland which provided advisory assistance through the twinning project. http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regional-Presence/Europe/Pages/Regional-Forum-for-CIS-and-Europe-on-Shared-Use-of-Infrastructure.aspx

Fostering Innovation and Partnerships in Human Capacity Building: Enhanced Engagement of Academia in the International Telecommunication Union and ITU Academy event (28– 29 April 2013, Prague, Czech Republic), organized by the Telecommunication Development Bureau  to engage the Academia as well as the private and public sectors in the work of the ITU Academy. http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regional-Presence/Europe/Pages/Enhanced-Engagement-of-Academia-in-the-International-Telecommunication-Union-.aspx

ITU EUR organized together with the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services (EKIP) of Montenegro, the Regional Conference on Protection of the Interests of the Electronic Communication Users, in October 2013 in Budva, Montenegro http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regional-Presence/Europe/Pages/Events/2013/Forum-on-Consumer-Protection0719-4836.aspx

In accordance with Resolution 126 of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2010, “Assistance and support to Serbia for rebuilding its destroyed public broadcasting system”, and Resolution 33 (Rev. Doha, WTDC 06), BDT experts assessed the assistance and support needs of Serbia in 2011. BDT has assisted Serbia by providing ETV with a field survey vehicle in 2012 (a car equipped with an antenna mast and monitoring receiver, television receiver and set-top box, and a global positioning system), and other important equipment was delivered in 2013 and 2014. http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Regional-Presence/Europe/Pages/Broadcasting-Infrastructure-in-the-Republic-of-Serbia.aspx

PREVIOUS ACTIVITIES

As part of the Broadband Reports series, 9 country case studies have been developed in close collaboration with the Broadband Commission for digital development including 3 European countries, namely Albania, Romania and FYR Macedonia

in 2011 ITU EUR developed a broadband case study on Poland for a webinar to European administrations on Effective Solutions for Broadband Universalization

In September 2012, ITU EUR, in collaboration with the Minister for Innovation and Information and Communication Technologies of Albania, organized the Regional Forum for Europe on Broadband: A Pillar of Social and Economic Development which was held in Tirana, Albania

in 2012, ITU EUR organized the Experts Group Meeting for Europe on the Increasing Role of Public Private Partnerships in the ICT Ecosystem - 25 Years of Telecom/ICT Sector Reform in Europe and Beyond, held at ITU Headquarters

Capacity building and digital inclusion
CoE activities.

  • Since 2011, ITU EUR facilitated training opportunities for more than 500 professionals
  • In 2011, the Polish National Institute of Telecommunications hosted a face-to-face event on Advanced Internet Technologies for Europe in Warsaw, Poland
  • A distance learning course developed in collaboration with Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (CMU) focused on Next Generation Mobile and Wireless Networks
  • In 2012, INA Academy hosted a face-to-face event on the Digital Dividend: Challenges and Consumer Interests in Athens, Greece
  • CMU facilitated distance learning courses on Mobile Broadband: LTE/LTE-Advanced, WiMAX and WLAN and Future Internet In 2013,
  • CMU provided a series of distance learning courses focused on Broadband and Next Generation Networks, 4G Mobile and Future Internet.

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