Executive summary of the SG13 meeting

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​SG13: Future networks and emerging network technologies​​​

Executive summary of the SG13 meeting​,
19 October 2026, fully virtual

The opening remarks were delivered by the TSB Director, Mr Seizo Onoe, at the opening SG13 plenary, who, in particular, said that SG13's work on future ICT technologies was recognized as important for supporting inclusive innovation and confidence in advanced networks. Further he extended the appreciation to SG13 for the initiative with the questionnaires for developing countries that helps to meet everyone's needs.

Deputy to the TSB Director, Mr Bilel Jamoussi, gave his remarks at the closing plenary of this SG13 meeting, summarizing the progress made, appreciating the commitment of SG13 delegates to the work as the standards SG13 develops are key to the evolution of the ICT industry, but also every other industry benefiting from new network capabilities.
for remote participation was used to support each session at this Study Group meeting resulting in sessions in total.

The fourth ITU-T Study Group 13 meeting in the 2025-2028 study period was convened fully virtually on 19 October 2026. This meeting was an extra one-day SG13 meeting called up by the Collective-letter 6/13 (of 17 July 2026) and its Corrigendum 1 (of 23 July 2026) and agreed at the June-July 2026 SG13 meeting.

The meeting attracted 103 delegates and considered 28 documents. It approved and followed the plenary agenda in TD227-R2/PLEN and was supported through the TSB MyMeetings platform by real-time webcast services and ITU machine captioning.

Main meeting results

Results on Recommendations, consented at the previous SG13 meeting
The meeting took note that all 23 new Recommendations consented by SG13 on 2 July 2026 had been approved through the AAP Last Call (TD231/PLEN).

Recommendation approved (Resolution 1 - TAP)

ITU-T Rec. No.	Q	Base text	Status	Title
Y.3839 (Y.QKDN-car-fr)	16/13	Report R29	New	Quantum key distribution networks - Framework of cryptographic application registration

Result of the Member State consultation on approving draft new Recommendation ITU-T Y.3839 is given in TD229/PLEN.  SG13 approved new Recommendation ITU-T Y.3839.
TSB circular 175 (dated 20 October 2026) announced the approval of this Recommendation.

Recommendations consented for Last Call (Recommendation A.8 - AAP)

Nine draft new Recommendations were consented for AAP Last Call.

ITU-T Rec. No.	Q	Base text	Status	Title
Y.2357 (Y.WALNC)	2/13	TD234-R1/PLEN	New	Functional requirements for the controller of wide area lossless network in next generation network evolution (NGNe) to support AI applications
Y.2356 (Y.NGNe-NCI-arch)	2/13	TD233-R2/PLEN	New	Functional architecture of NGN evolution for supporting network and cloud interworking
Y.2355 (Y.NGNe-IBN-arch)	2/13	TD232-R2/PLEN	New	Functional architecture of NGN evolution by adoption of intent-based network
Y.3337 (Y.qos-sre-rf)	6/13	TD244/PLEN	New	Requirements and framework for service rates estimation with packet metadata for stateless admission control
Y.3443 (Y.det-rdcs-fa)	6/13	TD245-R1/PLEN	New	Functional architecture for QoS assurance of deterministic communication for remote device control services over IMT-2020 and beyond
Y.3840 (Y.QKDN-QodrQ)	6/13	TD246/PLEN	New	Quantum key distribution networks - Quantitative objectives for delay-related QoS parameters
Y.3264 (Y.DLT.trust.IMT)	16/13	TD247/PLEN	New	Requirements for DLT-enabled trustworthy network management in IMT-2020 and beyond
Y.3095 (Y.DTN-NPNsp)	22/13	TD242/PLEN	New	Digital twin network - Functional requirements and architecture of service platform for public network integrated non-public networks​
Y.3233 (Y.FMSC-SE)	23/13	TD238/PLEN	New	Fixed, mobile and satellite convergence - Service enhancements for IMT-2020 networks and beyond

The AAP Last Call for the abovementioned nine draft new Recommendations starts on 1 November 2026.

Supplements agreed to (Recommendation A.13)

The meeting agreed two new Supplements and one revised Supplement for publication as presented.

ITU-T Supplement No.	​Q	Base text	Status	Title
Supplement 115 to ITU-T Y.3800-series (Y.Sup.QN-arch)	16/13	TD248/PLEN	New	Technical considerations of quantum network architecture
Supplement 114 to ITU-T Y.3510 (Y.sup.cni)	17/13	TD241/PLEN	New	Cloud computing - Technical considerations of network infrastructure
Supplement 59 to ITU-T Y.3100-series	21/13	TD240/PLEN	Revised	IMT-2020 and beyond standardization roadmap

New work item establishment, Y.QKDN-OTN-fr “Framework for integration of quantum key distribution network and optical transport network"

Proposed in October-November 2025 SG13 meeting new work item Y.QKDN-OTN-fr “Framework for integration of quantum key distribution network and optical transport network" was awaiting the opinion of ITU-T SG15 in reply to the SG13 liaison statement. A positive communication on the matter at hand from SG15 was received in time for this meeting and is reproduced in TD306/GEN. The meeting reviewed the liaison statement from SG15 and, noting in particular the spirit of collaboration and the good references received, agreed to establish the new work item Y.QKDN-OTN-fr “Framework for integration of quantum key distribution network and optical transport network" in the work programme of Q16/13. TD632/WP4 served basis for this decision, it also has the A.1 justification form and the skeleton of the future Recommendation, that was briefly introduced by the SG13 chair. The work will progress in close collaboration with SG15, including the meeting of involved Questions from SG13 and SG15 to review the draft Recommendation when it comes to the mature state. To this end, the meeting reviewed and agreed the communication back to SG15 (TD249-R1/PLEN).

Future of QKDN studies
​At the previous SG13 meeting, the SG17 chair brought up the issue of QKDN work items and proposed that all SG13 QKDN work items be transferred to SG17. Members of the SG13 expressed a different opinion. After the meeting, the SG13 management team assessed the situation as a whole and from different perspectives and proposed that SG13 carefully examine the need for such transfer, anticipating doing a line-by-line review of its work items on QKDN. The management team noted the efforts and work undertaken in the joint Questions meeting (previously known as CQR – co-located quantum resistance study). The chair further reported that this decision of the SG13 management team had been brought to the attention of the SG17 chair whose feedback is currently awaited. Rapporteurs of the QKDN Questions and experts in this field expressed their preference to keep the current QKDN work in SG13.

In summary, each work item should be reviewed (in coordination with SG17 and SG11) to determine the appropriateness of its treatment in one or another Study Group. Transfer to SG17 can be agreed where, after this examination, the particular work item is considered to be more appropriately treated by SG17.

Trust work distribution
SG13 reviewed the liaison statement from SG17 to SG20 in TD305/GEN, which stated that SG17 did not endorse the demarcation of trust-related work proposed by SG20, considering trust to be a horizontal, end-to-end property across the ICT architecture that cannot be effectively partitioned according to application domains, protocol layers or architectural boundaries. The liaison statement further elaborated that SG13, SG17 and SG20 have complementary roles, and that the objective should be to establish a common trust foundation rather than to partition trust. The meeting noted the proposal by the SG17 chair to hold a meeting in December 2026 to discuss the trust foundation work with the three SGs involved.

The SG13 chair promised to continue working on resolution of the issue before next TSAG meeting.

Liaison statements
The meeting approved five outgoing liaison statements prepared by Questions 2/13, 16/13, and 23/13. They covered consent of Recommendations on NGNe, and fixed-mobile-satellite convergence, as well as establishment of the new work item Y.QKDN-OTN-fr.

Questionnaire on use cases of converged IMT-2020 and beyond networks, and broadcasting network technologies for developing countries

Q5/13 had developed several questionnaires, one of which was relevant to the work of ITU-R, namely, Questionnaire on use cases of converged IMT-2020 and beyond networks, and broadcasting network technologies for developing countries. To this end, after the previous SG13 meeting the SG13 management team prepared and agreed the liaison statement to ITU-R to raise their awareness of the questionnaire and provide an opportunity for any interested ITU-R delegate to respond to the questionnaire (TD315/GEN). To allow sufficient time for any such responses, the deadline for replies to the questionnaire was proposed to be deferred to 14 February 2027. The meeting agreed to extend the deadline as proposed.

​Future activities

Interim rapporteur group activities
Questions 1/13, 2/13, 5/13, 6/13, 16/13, 17/13, 19/13, 20/13, 21/13, 22/13 and 23/13 will each hold a Rapporteur Group meeting in November 2026 - January 2027 timeframe, as previously authorized by SG13 in June-July 2026.

SG13 workshop “At the crossroads of Standards and Research: AI/ML datasets for future networks" (26 October 2026, online event) current organization and programme was briefly introduced by the SG13 correspondence group for datasets applicable for AI/ML in networks (CG-datasets) co-convener, Mr Marco Carugi. 10 presentations were expected. The meeting took a good note of this upcoming event.

Next SG13 meeting
The next SG13 meeting will take place in Geneva, Switzerland, from 23 February to 4 March 2027. The meeting will again follow a shortened format to enhance overall efficiency.​​