Highlights: 8 – 12 November 2021

8 – 12 November 2021

Capacity development: Asia and the Pacific

ITU co-organized, with IoT Academy Iran, an online training on Internet of Things, under the auspices of the CoE programme in Asia and the Pacific. Participants learnt and discussed concepts, trends and capabilities of IoT in the context of Industry 4.0.

Digital inclusion: Arab States

Several Arab women delegates convened to launch the NoW4WTDC in the Arab Region and elect its Chair, Vice-Chairs, and Secretariat. The meeting was attended by representatives from 11 countries in the Arab region. ToR of the NoW4WTDC- ARB was presented to attendees, following which the floor was opened for nominations for the posts of Chair, Vice-Chairs, and Secretariat. The following delegates were nominated for the Chair and Vice-Chairs of NoW4WTDC-ARB: • Ms. Noha Gaafar, NTRA – Egypt as Chair • Ms. Carole Hage, TRA – Lebanon as Vice Chair • Ms. Ava Nadir, CMC – Iraq as Vice Chair • Ms. Zeina Bouharb, Ogero – Lebanon as Vice Chair The meeting concluded with the official launch of the NoW4WTDC in the Arab States region and the announcement of the Fireside Discussion event to be held on 1 December under the title “Let’s hear from ITU Staff in the Regions: How can we serve you”.

Environment: Americas

The ITU Environment Team continues to deliver hands-on support to countries in developing national policy and/or regulation for the sound management of electronic waste (e-waste). As part of the consultative process, linked to the drafting of the E-waste Regulation in the Dominican Republic, a two-day consultation workshop was organized (10-11 November 2021) in Santo Domingo, by ITU in collaboration with the Dominican Institute of Telecommunications (INDOTEL) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARENA). The event aimed at engaging with local businesses from the private sector, together with industry associations, involved in the importing, manufacturing and/or commercializing of EEE in the Dominican market (e.g. Claro, Trace, IMCADOM, AIRD, Mercasid), as well as recycling companies (e.g. RESICLA, MIRSA, ROCETAV), NGOs (PRONATURA, ECORED) and universities. In particular, the highlights were the discussion of results from the two breakout sessions where participants, divided into five groups, were assigned a specific topic linked to main sections of the e-waste regulation to be reviewed, such as ERP and producers’ responsibility, awareness raising, e-waste management infrastructure and possible financing mechanisms. The valuable feedback received during the event will contribute to help ITU and the Dominican Government to finalize the draft e-waste regulation.

Network and digital infrastructure: Americas

SBA Communications and ITU are discussing future collaboration to facilitate infrastructure deployment by increasing awareness in governments at the local and national levels about best practices to accelerate deployments and the convenience of infrastructure sharing.

Giga: Global

The new Giga report, “Meaningful school connectivity: An assessment of sustainable business models”, launched last week explores sustainable funding models to provide school connectivity. BCG and Giga conducted over 40 expert interviews and leveraged a variety of secondary sources. The report includes key learnings from 7 country case studies in Brazil, Honduras, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, touching on the following topics: Country & School Overview; Connectivity Status & Developments; and Service Provider Landscape. The report also recommends 6 ways to tackle low school connectivity in a sustainable manner: Optimise funding models locally; Combine funding models to minimise funding gaps; Combine electricity provision with connectivity; Focus on affordability; Let NGOs empower communities; Consider reforms to enable sustainability. Web Page.

Other: Africa

Official ceremony at the MINISTRY IF FOREIGN AFFAIRS of Cameroon in Yaoundé for the signing of the MoU between the 2 ministers of POST AND ICT OF CHAD and CAMEROON, related to The Interconnection of electronic Communication’s networks (optic fiber, microwaves etc.) held on Friday 12 November

Other: Africa

Experts meeting and high level Ministerial segment with the signing ceremony of Roaming agreements between regulators of Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) countries in the presence of the Chair of CEMAC and Minister of Post and Telecommunications of Cameroon held in Douala from 8 and 9 November

Click here to read highlights from 1 – 5 November 2021.