ITU/93-4
12 March 1993
ORIGINAL: English

The World Telecommunication Standardization Conference concludes:
over 450 standards approved and a new programme of work up to 1996 
adopted

The World Telecommunication Standardization Conference concluded its
work on Friday, 12 March 1993. The meeting, which took place in Helsinki
(Finland) had started on 1 March. 459 delegates from 68 countries and 8
international organizations(1) participated. The Conference was chaired
by Seppo J. Halme, Professor at the Helsinki University of Technology, 
assisted by five vice-chairmen: Messrs J.J. Silva (Brazil), Wang Zhanning 
(China), Y.A. Tolmachev (Russia), S. Mbaye (Senegal) and E.S. Barbely 
(United States). 

One of the underlying tasks of the Conference was to further streamline 
the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the ITU(2) so as to 
increase its competitivity in the global standardization arena. The 
process had been initiated at Melbourne, in 1988, at the last meeting of 
the legislative body governing standardization at the ITU (at the time 
called Plenary Assembly). The Melbourne meeting overhauled the structure, 
the organization, documentation, working methods in particular with the 
adoption of a method to approve standards as soon as they are considered 
sufficiently mature and stable to meet industry and market needs.

At Helsinki, the ITU went one step further. The Conference decided to set 
up an Advisory group whose role will be to review priorities and 
strategies for activities of the Telecommunication Standardization Sector, 
to review progress in the implementation of its work programme and to 
recommend measures to foster cooperation and coordination with other 
standards bodies and with other organizations having interests in 
telecommunication standardization. In light of changing requirements, 
the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group - TSAG (pronounced 
Tee Sag), will provide advice on appropriate changes to be made to the 
priority and allocation of work of the study groups to adapt the output to 
market, industry and users' requirements. It will also recommend the 
setting up of joint coordination groups (see below) when subjects under
study so warrant as well as improvements to the working methods of the 
Sector whenever considered necessary.

TSAG will also provide the possibility to open up ITU to the new forces 
which are shaping the world of telecommunications. The Conference 
appointed Mr B. Horton of Australia as the Chairman of TSAG and Mr 
J.M. Fanjul Caudevilla of Spain at its vice-chairman(3).

In addition, new mechanisms were created to ensure the coordination of 
work of broad issues when they span several groups of experts or when 
questions under study are also of interest to radiocommunication experts. 
These, called Joint Coordination Groups (for intrasectoral coordination) 
and Intersectoral Coordination Groups, are aimed at facilitating the 
coordinated development of standards in a comprehensive and timely manner 
while ensuring that the work does neither overlap nor leave gaps. The work 
itself will be carried out by the relevant study groups and will be 
subject to the normal approval processes. The role of JCG will also 
include coordination with external standards bodies such as ETSI, TTC or 
T1(4). 

The areas proposed to be the subject of JCG are: telecommunication 
management network (TMN), universal personal telecommunications (UPT), 
broadband ISDN, audiovisual/ multimedia services as well as quality of 
service and network performance. As three of these subjects are also 
core standardization areas considered by the Global Standards 
Collaboration Group of the Interregional Standardization Conference - a 
association of standards-setting bodies which includes ETSI, TTC, T1 and 
ITU - the synergy is expected to produce very positive results in these 
key areas. 

In addition, the Conference decided to step up plans for electronic 
document handling given the critical importance of EDH capabilities to the 
standards-making process. To this end, an EDH group will be set up under 
TSAG to review and study evolving EDH user needs and monitor the EDH 
development to meet those needs. The Conference recognized the need for a 
long-term convergence of EDH standardization tools and an implementation 
based on an agreed EDH model approved by WTSC. It acknowledged the fact 
that this will require interim arrangements to the desired basis of ODA 
and X.400 which in turn will require a migration plan to be developed. The 
need to satisfy user needs through user-friendly systems and interfaces 
was also stressed. 

Also, the WTSC launched officially ITUDOC - ITU's electronic document 
exchange service which not only includes administrative and general 
information documents but also the full texts of ITU telecommunication 
standards approved since 1988. ITUDOC users therefore have now immediate 
access to the latest versions of all recent standards. As information is 
increasingly becoming a perishable commodity, ITUDOC will increase the 
value of ITU standard-related documents to the users' community at large. 
The availability of all ITU telecommunication standards on CD-ROM was also 
announced at the conference. Addressing the meeting, Dr Tarjanne said 
"today, the announcement of an entirely new electronic publication 
provides a perfect illustration of the policy of change which this 
Conference has attempted to strengthen, demonstrating how we are trying to 
bring state-of-the-art technology into our publication activities." "In 
addition to the traditional printed form which will remain an important 
form of publication for a long time to come and fast delivery via the 
on-line ITUDOC service", he said "we are now bringing the Recommendations 
to your desktop on a compact disc. In the competitive world of 
publications, we are obliged to engage in proper product specification and 
product pricing, develop new channels of distribution and undertake 
product promotion efforts." he added.

Finally, the mechanism adopted at Melbourne which resulted in significant 
improvement in the timeliness of standards (average it went down from 4 
years to 18 months), was essentially reaffirmed although some additional 
safeguards were introduced to take account of the concerns expressed by 
developing countries(5). For example, if a country considers itself to be 
adversely affected by a Recommendation approved under the accelerated 
approval procedure, it can refer the case to the Director of the 
Telecommunication Standardization Bureau who brings the case before the 
relevant Study Group for prompt attention. 

These measures should further help the ITU to respond to the dynamic and 
on-going forces which characterize the standardization environment by 
producing standards faster and more efficiently, by making them available 
rapidly, by strengthening concerted action with other global and regional 
standardization organizations, by continually monitoring market, industry 
and users' needs and adjusting the work of the Telecommunication 
Standardization Sector to meet them and more generally by providing 
strategic direction to the work of the ITU. The question of broader 
participation (including participation in the decision-making process) 
in the standardization work of the ITU with reassessed rights and 
obligations is a matter which will be taken up by the next Plenipotentiary 
Conference on the basis of recommendations put forward by the ITU Council.

The Conference approved the programme of work of the fifteen study groups 
which will be meeting throughout the next three years. Study groups are 
groups of experts whose role is to prepare standards for telecommunication 
systems, networks and services as well as the operation, performance and 
maintenance of equipment. Their work also cover tariffs principles and 
accounting methods for international telecommunications. The work 
programme for the 1993-1996 period comprises 289 questions covering nearly 
every aspects of telecommunications and include such a diversity of 
subjects as new ISDN services, directory services for telematic services, 
tariffs principles for global virtual network services or for intelligent 
networks, customer network management service, colour faxes, Programming 
Communication Interfaces, telematics on ISDN, long term intelligent 
network architecture and intelligent network capability sets, signalling 
requirements for FPLMTS, telecommunications for the physically impaired, 
integrated video services, broadband connectionless data service on 
broadband ISDN, optical systems, SDH and ATM equipment, to name but a few.

The Conference also addressed the transfer of questions from the 
Radiocommunication Sector to the Telecommunication Standardization Sector 
to consolidate the standard-settings activity. A number of issues are to 
be included in the work programme of the Telecommunication Standardization
Sector as quickly as practicable. Items which the Radiocommunication 
Sector has identified as appropriate for transfer to the Telecommunication 
Standardization Sector but which are also relevant to the 
Radiocommunication Sector will be open for participation of interested 
radio specialists of the Radiocommunication Sector without added financial 
obligations. 

Essentially, the WTSC identified coordinating study groups for each item. 
All questions as currently formulated in the Radiocommunication Sector 
together with those elements identified for transfer will be passed to the 
chairman of each coordinating study group.  The role of the Coordinating 
study groups is to coordinate the claims of other Study Groups on elements 
of the work to be transferred. 

Chairmen of coordinating study groups will examine with the relevant Study 
Groups of the Radiocommunication Sector as appropriate how to integrate 
the issues in their work programme and will propose questions to address 
the issues. They will also identify which Study Groups of the 
Telecommunication Standardization Sector or of the Radiocommunication 
Sector will be charged with the study of these questions and will then 
advise the Director of the TSB accordingly. The Director of the TSB will 
then submit the results of the exercise to the June meeting of TSAG. A 
joint meeting of the TSAG meeting and the Ad Hoc Group for the 
Radiocommunication Sector to take place in June 1993 will decide the 
formal integration of the questions into the work programme through 
established approval procedure or other means as recommended by TSAG. The 
deletion of the items from the work programme of the Radio sector will be 
made by the next Radiocommunication Assembly next November.

In his closing address, ITU Secretary-General Pekka Tarjanne stated that 
the action taken at this conference was additional steps in the on-going 
ITU reform process, which should contribute to maintaining the pre-eminent 
role of the Union in the area of standardization. He added: "The only way 
to succeed is to look forward. The results of this conference, in my mind, 
offer a good platform, together with the results of the additional 
Plenipotentiary Conference, for future action." "The Nice Plenipotentiary 
Conference of 1989", he continued, "led to a major change for the 
Development Sector; the Geneva Additional Plenipotentiary Conference led 
to major changes in the Radiocommunication Sector. The Telecommunication 
Standardization Sector has taken small steps forward in Melbourne in 1988, 
in Nice in 1989, in Geneva in 1992 and in Helsinki in 1993". "However 
these steps do not suffice" Dr Tarjanne stressed. "In order to be able to 
live up the our challenges", he said, "much more is needed. I am thus 
looking forward to a lot more work, many more changes both in Kyoto in 
1994 and at the next WTSC in 1996 or 1997."

Prof. Halme, chairman of the conference, giving an overview of the main 
achievements of the conference indicated that the adoption of over 450 
standards where the largest number belonged to the Q-series, reflected 
the growing emphasis in networks and distributed intelligence. He also 
said that one of the crucial tasks of the WTSC 93 was to set up the 
Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group which will be a very 
important body in the future of the Telecommunication Standardization 
Sector. The designation of the experts who will lead the work of the study 
groups for the next few years was also high on the agenda. "After long 
discussions we were able to find acceptable compromises which will guide 
our future work," the Chairman said.

The Minister of Transport and Communications, Mr Ole Norrback, hailed the 
work accomplished by the Conference and called it "a long step forward in 
standardizing new networks and applications". "The development of 
broadband integrated services digital networks will bring new 
possibilities to working places and homes" he said. The opportunities for 
new kinds of telematics and broadcasting will expand enormously and the 
further development of intelligent networks techniques will alleviate the 
problems which we have encountered in Finland while re-doing the numbering 
plan," the Minister added. Mr Norrback recalled that wars and disturbances 
in certain parts of the world was rendering telecommunications useless and 
tended to destroy the results achieved with patient work. "Let us all hope 
that we can develop and construct the global network in peace and people 
are given the freedom to exchange information and thought with their 
fellow human in all countries," he concluded. 

Footnotes

(1)	European Telecommunication Standards Institute (ETSI), European 
Telecommunications Satellite Organization (EUTELSAT), International 
Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Maritime Satellite 
Organization (INMARSAT), International Telecommunications Satellite 
Organization (INTELSAT), International Telecommunication Users Group 
(INTUG), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and 
Universal Postal Union (UPU).

(2)	The ITU is an intergovernmental organization, within which the 
public and private sectors cooperate for the development of 
telecommunications and the harmonization of national telecommunication 
policies. The ITU adopts international regulations and treaties governing 
all terrestrial and space uses of the frequency spectrum as well as the 
use of the geostationary-satellite orbit, within which countries adopt 
their national legislation; it develops standards to ensure the 
interconnection of telecommunication systems on a worldwide scale 
regardless of the type of technology used; it also fosters the development 
of telecommunications in developing countries.

(3)	For the list of chairman of study groups, see annex

(4)	These are regional standards-setting bodies for Europe, Japan and 
North America.

(5)	See press release ITU/93-1 of 23 February 1993