Moderator: Tricia Paoletta, Partner, Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP. Panelists: Malcolm Johnson, Deputy Secretary-General, ITU; Robert Pepper, Head of Global Connectivity Policy and Planning, Facebook, USA; Gisa Fuatai Purcell, CEO/Regulator, Government of Samoa; Tomoo Yamauchi, Deputy Director-General for ICT R&D and Cybersecurity Policy, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan
Question 1—As the world enters its third year of the pandemic, the role of ITU in bringing the benefits of digital technologies to all has never been more important. In an unprecedented year that will see ITU hold three of its major conferences within a few months of each other, can you walk us through what is at stake and how 2022 will be a key year for ITU and for international digital cooperation?
• Thank you, Tricia, and thank you to the Pacific Telecommunications Council for having me here today. Aloha to everyone! I have had the pleasure of attending three PTCs and I wish I could have been there with you for this one but ITU is locked down – we are working from home (as is obligatory in Switzerland) and we are not travelling. Apologies for not wearing an aloha shirt – I am living at our chalet in the Swiss Alpes so unfortunately I don’t have one with me!
• Normally ITU has a four-year cycle of world conferences – one a year – however, due to the pandemic, the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) which was to be held in India in 2020 has been delayed twice and moved to Geneva, and the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) which was to be held last year has been delayed until this June. The ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, which is ITU’s highest policy-making body, is schedule for this September. So we have three world conferences this year instead of the usual one. It will be a challenge for our members, and for the secretariat, especially since we still have the COVID mitigation measures to deal with.
• The pandemic has illustrated as never before the importance of telecommunications and ICTs to the world – to allow business, society and the health sector to cope. Its importance to the delivery of the UN’s SDGs is now well recognized. It has also resulted in a surge in the use of the Internet. In ITU, which is preparing for the dismantling of one of our buildings to clear the site for the new headquarters building, it has been a great benefit as it has illustrated how effective we can be teleworking and without relying on paper. The fact that the networks have been able to cope with the huge increase in demand caused by the pandemic illustrates how resilient the networks are and congratulations are due to the regulators, network operators and platform providers.
• Before addressing the coming conferences, let me draw your attention to the Global Network Resiliency Platform on the ITU website which provides comprehensive information about what has worked, what has not and how to prepare for the future.
WTSA
• So turning the first conference this year, the WTSA scheduled for 1 to 9 March. The WTSA is the world conference for ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector. This was the subject of lengthy discussion at the recently concluded TSAG, the advisory group for the sector. There was agreement in the meeting that it should go ahead on the scheduled dates as a physical event – the first since the start of the pandemic. It will be preceded by the ITU Global Standards Symposium on 28 February 2022. Both events will have the option of online remote participation.
• Last week, ITU posted a communiqué with practical information about WTSA. It should be noted that it is currently an ITU rule that only delegates physically present in a meeting can participate in decision making. Naturally we do not expect the usual numbers to be present at this WTSA although we hope that given that many Member States have missions to the UN in Geneva this will help some.
• WTSA reviews the overall direction and structure of ITU Telecommunications Sector with the aim of ensuring it remains well positioned to meet emerging standardization demands. It also approves the mandates of ITU-T Study Groups and appoints the leadership teams of these groups.
• WTSA will consider the accelerating digital transformation underway across industry sectors and emphasize the importance of global participation in the development and implementation of relevant ITU standards. I am pleased to say that since I initiaited the Bridging the Standards gap initiative back in 2008 we now have wide participation of most countries in our standards work, and actually more delegates and leaders from developing countries than developed.
• As for the Global Standards Symposium, this was also established in 2008 to welcomes all ICT stakeholders, especially leaders of other standards bodies, to discuss their expectations for international standardization and how we can improve collaboration and avoid duplication of effort.
• Discussion will focus on ITU standardization’s support to environmental sustainability, smart cities and communities, road safety, digital health technologies for healthy aging and inclusive healthcare, and digital financial inclusion.
• As countries consider their post-COVID-19 recovery options, international standards will be vital for interoperability, reduce costs through economies of scale, and to create a more sustainable, more prosperous future.
• We see it as ITU’s responsibility to drive international collaboration for ICT standards development to bring about a fully connected world in which creates confidence and trust in ICTs.
WTDC
• Next will the WTDC scheduled for 6 to 15 June 2022 which will be hosted by the government of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa.
• This is the world conference for the ITU Development Sector, who prime focus is to bring affordable connectivity to all the world citizens
• ITU data show that the ability to connect remains profoundly unequal: of the 2.9 billion people who are still offline, an estimated 96% live in developing countries. Furthermore, people in urban areas are twice as likely to use the Internet than those in rural areas globally.
• With the pandemic throwing connectivity sharply into the spotlight, WTDC will seek to harness the unprecedented level of political will around digital access to forge a bold new development agenda that puts digital technologies at the very heart of every nation’s future growth and prosperity.
• For the very first time, the event will bring in the increasingly vital voice of youth through the inaugural Generation Connect Global Youth Summit, which will take place just ahead of the main conference—with outcomes feeding into WTDC debates and Resolutions.
• WTDC will also feature a brand-new partnership stream, called Partner2Connect, which will run in parallel with the conference sessions, bringing in new stakeholders and constituencies and facilitating more active participation from the private sector, academia and civil society.
• As the pandemic has been a major setback for sustainable development, WTDC offers an opportunity to re-energize the global development agenda and accelerate progress on the SDGs.
PP-22
• And finally, the Plenipotentiary Conference which will be hosted by Romania in Bucharest from 26 September to 14 October 2022.
• This conference elects ITU five elected officials: the Secretary-General, the Deputy Secretary-General and the three Directors, as well as the 48 members of the ITU Council and the 12 members of the parttime Radio Regulations Board. It will also adopt the strategic and financial plans setting out ITU’s four-year priorities, and the financial resources to accomplish them.
• This period will see ITU undertaking its biggest project to date, the CHF173 million project to construct a new headquarters building designed for flexible and paperless working. It will be a big challenge for ITU which will require a significant culture change and require careful management.
• The pandemic has resulted in many organizations placing more importance on ICTs, including within the UN system, which increases the risk of duplication of effort and threatens overlap with ITU’s core remit.
• Collaboration, coordination and cooperation between the public and private sectors at the national, regional and international level will be more important than ever before.
• Equally as important will be the need to introduce more vigorously the efficiency measures adopted at previous conferences, as well as the introduction of new ones.
• As I mentioned, there are four major conferences over the normal 4 year cycle. The fourth, and possible most significant, is the World Radiocommunication Conference. This amends the international treaty on the use of the radio spectrum and satellite orbits. The next WRC will take place between 20 November and 15 December 2023 and will be hosted by the U.A.E.
Question 2—You’re fresh off the heels of the World Telecom Policy Forum that was intended to define policies for mobilizing new and emerging technologies to tackle the challenges of COVID as well as accelerate sustainability generally. What can you share with us on the results of the WTPF?
• This was the sixth in the series of World Telecommunications policy Forums which began in 1996. The theme was “Policies for mobilizing new and emerging telecommunications/ICTs for sustainable development”. This included AI, IoT, 5G, Big Data, OTTs etc. The WTPF-21 focused on opportunities, challenges and policies to foster sustainable development.
• The result was a balanced text recognizing the complexities of the current digital ecosystem, including a set of 5 non-binding Opinions giving rise to an array of timely issues for governments, industry, and other key stakeholder groups to consider.
• These included: which technologies would be ‘key enablers’ for the global transition to the digital economy and how ITU’s membership could contribute, keeping in mind the current and future needs of both developing and developed countries, as well as all segments of the population.
• The five Opinions cover areas from inclusive connectivity and digital skills to using emerging technology for sustainable development, fostering an effective enabling environment, and how technology can support effective COVID-19 response and recovery.
• The event was held fully virtually for the first time with over 400 top global representatives from the public and private sectors affirming the need to align these rapidly evolving technologies with global priorities for sustainable development.
• They explored actions that can be taken to boost universal, affordable and secure connectivity. Key priorities included: facilitating innovative access to finance; ramping up digital skills; and building our economies and societies more inclusively.
• WTPF-21 also recognized new and potentially transformative initiatives like Giga, the joint ITU-UNICEF initiative to connect every school to the Internet, which has already mapped more than one million schools in over 40 countries.
• To conclude, as we know the ICT sector is among the fastest-moving sector and as such it needs agile and fast-moving regulatory responses harmonised across the world to encourage innovation and enable industry to invest.
• At present, we have a unique opportunity to rethink and reshape these policies and regulatory best practices to guide and stimulate post-pandemic growth.
• As the role of the regulator is evolving to be one of facilitator, the principles developed in ITU provide guidance in formulating future policy and responding to the challenges of a digital transformation process accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis.
• Thanks to COVID, the world recognises that new and emerging technologies and ICTs in general are essential to socio-economic sustainable development and ITU is in the business to collaborate with everyone to make sure we achieve this.