UK Delegation Report

UK Delegation Report:

1. Telecommunication Development Advisory Group (TDAG) (Geneva, 22-23 February 2001)

2. TDAG sub group on private sector issues (Geneva, 21 February 2001)

1. Summary

TDAG was chaired by Tony Zeitoon (Canadian International Development Agency) and the TDAG Private Sector meeting by Mrs Walda Roseman (CompassRose International Inc. (US)). Both meetings were well attended with good representation from developing and developed countries (60 administrations) and the private sector. The debates were generally useful and sometimes produced a lively exchange of information and ideas, although there was some time wasting by the usual suspects. The major discussion items were the agenda of the next World Telecommunication Development Conference (Istanbul, March 2002), ITU Reform specific to the D Sector, and possible ITU actions related to the "Digital Divide" and the G.8 Digital Opportunities Task-force. The UK objectives were met, principally to obtain information about the WTDC preparations and to support certain reforms in ITU-D. (The meeting also provided an opportunity for colleagues from DFID to have one-to-one meetings with the Director about UK development initiatives e.g. Imfondo.)

2. Report

1. UK Delegation

Terry Jeacock (Head) DTI Radiocommunications Agency (RA)

Sue Cotton UK Permanent Mission Geneva (FCO)

Keith Yeomans Department for International Development (DfID)

David Mellor Cable & Wireless

Donald Browne-Marke Marconi Communications Ltd.

2. ITU-D Reform

The Reform Group had requested the US to resubmit its proposals on ITU-D reform to TDAG for consideration and comment. This was the only document (TDAG-5/2) available. The US document was praised for stimulating the discussion but several countries including France, UK and Germany said that TDAG should see other proposals to get a balanced view. The Director said he would send a letter inviting comments by mid-March and a consolidated output of the replies would be produced. Switzerland caused a stir by objecting to reform being discussed outside the Reform Group! It was clarified that the US proposals did not require any structural changes to the ITU, therefore they could be dealt with as an internal Sector matter, for example in TDAG or at WTDC-02 if necessary. The UK took the opportunity to support the US proposals for greater involvement of regional telecommunications organisations, to evaluate the effectiveness of Study Groups compared to Focus Groups (noting the successful outcome of FG7) and to encourage private sector participation. In defense of the Study Groups, the Chairman of SG2 pointed out that at only CHF800k, they were good value for money. Lebanon unnecessarily stated that Study Groups create Focus Groups therefore no SGs no FGs, and took the opportunity, as usual, to promote the continued development of handbooks! The decision to establish a mechanism to collect proposals and comments and to place the subject on the agendas of the Regional Preparatory meetings will provide an opening for UK views to be fed into the ITU-D reform process.

3. Preparations for WTDC-02

Discussion was based on the Director’s proposal (TDAG-5/12(Rev.1)). WTDC-02 is proposed for 20-29 March 2002 in Istanbul, consultation with Member States has started. A preliminary draft agenda has been prepared. Consideration is being given to organising the Conference as thematic workshops or similar to the recent regional preparatory meetings. There was strong support for the regional preparatory meetings as a mechanism for developing conference material. A major session on the Digital Divide is planned including a possible short ministerial meeting. The proposal to reserve one or two days especially for Sector Members issues was generally welcomed, provided it was properly planned with clear objectives and idea of expected outputs and not a side show to the conference. The Director challenged Sector Members to come forward with proposals. The usual WTDC "Action Plan" will be developed, possibly for each of the development regions as well as the worldwide plan. However, there were several requests not to make any of these plans too detailed or inflexible. Some mechanism for evaluating the effectiveness of the WTDC-98 Action Plan (VAP) was also requested.

4. Digital Divide

Pierre Gagné (BDT Chief Policies, Strategies and Financing) gave a presentation (TDAG-5/13) on the Digital Divide Initiatives, including the G.8 Digital Opportunities Task Force (dot Force), UN ICT Advisory Group and the UNDP Digital Opportunities Initiative. The ITU strategy is to participate in and contribute to each initiative, consult with the ITU membership at TDAG, WTDC Regional Preparatory Meetings and ITU Council (June). The BDT intends the ITU to take a leading role. It was noted that the Valetta Action Plan (from WTDC98) mirrors the G.8 objectives in the Okinawa Charter.

The presentation generated a lot of debate, ranging from enthusiastic support for the ITU strategy, to scepticism that it was just jumping on the bandwagon. Key speakers included the African Telecommunication Union (warning that other G.8 initiatives had not delivered what had been promised). The EU followed giving a detailed insight into the G.8 process (G.9 with EU!) and emphasizing the ability of the G.8 initiative to move fast and to provide pressure at the highest levels. He asked the ITU to identify typical problems and issues, not to produce Resolutions or Declarations etc. which didn’t help much! The UK mentioned the continuity offered by the Commonwealth IT group which involved 54 member states and that a lot of attention was being given to how to bridge the digital divide. The Director gave an up-beat summary of the debate, spoilt a little by Somalia asking that the initiative not be politicized and hoping that the choice of "dot Force" as a name for the G.8 initiative was intended to demonstrate urgent action rather than pressurising developing countries to accept things they didn’t want.

5. Private Sector issues

The meeting of the TDAG Subgroup dealing with private sector issues provided the opportunity for a pre-run of some of the issues for discussion in TDAG that followed. A summary report was presented to TDAG (TDAG-5/17). There were reports from each of the heads of the five regional offices. The sub-group also considered Digital Divide issues There were reports on several BDT initiatives: Africa Telecom Youth Forum, World Telecommunication Policy Forum, Partnership Round Table for LDCs, Development Symposium for Regulators, Internet training centre initiatives and the database on telecommunication operators in developing countries.

The meeting concluded with three presentations from Sector Members, two of these seemed to be little more than an advertising opportunity, especially Lucent’s presentation promoting CDMA 450 as a technology for IMT2000 in developing countries.

For the next meeting of the Subgroup, it was proposed to extend its duration to one and a half days to allow greater discussion of WTDC-02 issues. A list of proposals for future activities included: a report on GMPCS as an example of cooperation between BDT, private sector and developing countries; regional meetings of the subgroup to be organised by the Regional Offices; the subgroup should develop recommendations for action by the BDT.

6. Other matters

The Group on Structure and Working Methods (GSWM) reported on its work, offering two draft new Resolutions (Admission of Associates into ITU-D and Electronic Document Handling), a draft revision to Resolution 5 (Enhanced participation by developing countries) and a first draft of a revision of WTDC-98 Resolution 4 (Procedures to be applied by Study Groups). There were a few minor comments to the Resolutions which will be dealt with by the GSWM. The revision of Resolution 4 included a revision of the standard procedure for approval (SAP) of recommendations, this is based on the ITU-R procedure with improvements suggested by the BR (K Hughes) who had participated in the group. The Chairman of ITU-D SG2 proposed had proposed a small clarification to the existing procedure to avoid a particular problem which had caused a year’s delay in approving a recommendation. He also insisted that the GSWM produce an Alternative Approval Procedure (AAP) to be the same as the other sectors. The meeting got very confused over the various proposals. Eventually TDAG agreed a small amendment to the existing procedure to allow rapporteurs groups to initiate the approval procedure rather than having to wait for the annual Study Group meeting, Syria will send a draft AAP to GSWM for consideration and the revised Resolution 4 (including the revised SAP) will be sent to WTDC-02. The Final Report of ITU-D Focus Group 7 "New Technologies for Rural Applications" was distributed to all participants. There was considerable praise for the report and the success of the Focus Group concept and the Task Force established to assist the Director to implement the recommendations (pilot projects etc.).

7. Key documents

All of the documents considered during the meetings are available on the ITU-D web site. If necessary, DTI/RA can make available electronic copies. Some of the key documents considered:

Terry Jeacock DTI/RA 28.02.01