ITU lays ‘solid foundation for our digital future’ at WTSA-24

• The ITU recently held the World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly (WTSA-24) in New Delhi, India
• Eight new resolutions were adopted that target emerging areas for telecom standards developments 
• Host country India consolidates its position as a force to be reckoned with in the global telecom sector
• There was surprisingly little mention of quantum computing but…
• Remember the metaverse? You might not, but the ITU does

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s World Telecommunication Standardisation Assembly (WTSA-24), held in India’s capital New Delhi, ended on 24 October after 10 days of discussion and deliberation during which ITU members reached agreement on the priorities for new global standards for sustainable digital transformation and public infrastructure as well as for AI, metaverse, automated driving and emergency communications.

WTSA-24 began on 15 October when it was opened by India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi (the opening coincided with this year’s co-located India Mobile Congress event). The clarion call was for ITU members and delegates to reach consensus on plans to reinforce the organisation’s remit to mandate the international standardisation of ethical artificial intelligence (AI) as well as to continue to push for universal connectivity and digital inclusion so that “no country, no region and no community should be left behind in this digital era.”

The big, periodic ITU conferences, such as the quadrennial WTSA and WRC (World Radio Communication) are worthy (and wordy) events which, despite their sprawl, do have meaningful agendas that result in genuine debate and real decisions being made that have a direct impact on global telecommunications.

Back in the 1990s and into the early 2000s, the ITU, an agency of the United Nations, held a series of four-yearly World Telecom events in its home city of Geneva, Switzerland. Between 1991 and 2003, they became massive extravaganzas and bywords for the bloated excesses of the global telecom sector during the industry’s so-called “go-go” years, when money was no object and companies vied to create the biggest, most lavish and ostentatious, multi-storey exhibition stands and spend the most to promote their wares. Some of them were so opulent they easily outdid the description of the legendary Xanadu, where, as written by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree.”

Over those years, the ITU became a ringmaster, directing enormous, spectacular events and seemed to lose some of its traditional-focus core functions and responsibilities. However, the wheel slowly turned, money got too tight to mention and the ITU eventually stopped trying to be the world’s greatest showman and returned to its root responsibilities of promoting the shared global use of the radio spectrum, facilitating international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, assisting in developing and coordinating worldwide technical standards and working to improve telecom infrastructure in the developing world.

It also has notable responsibilities in other areas of broadband internet, optical communications (including optical fibre technologies), wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, satellite-based meteorology, TV broadcasting, amateur radio and, contentiously (as far as big tech companies such as Google are concerned), next-generation networks.

WTSA is particularly important because it is the governing conference for ITU’s standardisation planning, which is driven by the contributions and consensus decisions of the ITU’s membership, including 194 member states and more than 1,000 member companies, universities and international and regional organisations. 

This year it hosted 3,700 delegates from more than 160 countries and was the largest to date. It successfully reviewed and modified existing guidance and agreed eight new resolutions reinforcing the organisation’s standards development work to meet fast-evolving global needs. It also delineated a programme to ensure accelerated support for high-priority standards work. Additionally, all the resolutions passed at WTSA-24 emphasise support for developing countries.

Big focus on AI, little mention of quantum computing

The WTSA-24 conference set out the strategy, structure and working methods of ITU’s standardisation arm (ITU-T). It also appointed the new leadership teams of standardisation expert groups and established their mandates and scope of work for the next four years. Additionally, two expert groups were consolidated to create the new ITU-T Study Group 21 which, moving with the times, will focus on technologies for multimedia, content delivery, and cable TV.

Perhaps more importantly, WTSA-24 adopted eight new resolutions targeting emerging areas for standardisation in telecom. These are:

• responsible, safe, and inclusive AI, including collaboration via the AI for Good platform
• trusted, inclusive and interoperable metaverse applications
• sustainable digital transformation across multiple industries and technologies.
• technical requirements for digital public infrastructure
• communication technologies for vehicle-to-everything, intelligent transport systems, and automated driving
• caller-location information from mobile phones to support emergency communications
• preparing students and young professionals as the next generation of ITU standards experts
• continual improvement and evolution to meet new policy objectives and market demand.

Commenting on the new resolutions, Ritu Ranjan Mittar, the chairperson of WTSA-24 and a veteran behind the development of telecom networks, standards and policies in India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT), commented: “As we look ahead to the future, I am confident that the resolutions that we have developed will pave the way for groundbreaking innovations, sustainable growth and greater connectivity worldwide. It is said that the march of technology will always continue, and it is the collective responsibility of all of us that standards and standardisations keep pace with it.”

India proposed, and saw passed, two of the eight resolutions – those on AI and digital public infrastructure (DPI). The host country had particularly focused on DPI, which is is a catchall nomenclature for a collection of technologies that promote interoperability, openness and inclusion to deliver vital public and private services, including access to credit and marketing, all of which are of great relevance to India, now the world’s most populous country and number 5 in the world’s GDP (gross domestic product) rankings. 

India’s massive and rapidly growing economy is diverse and is fuelled by key sectors, including IT, mobile telecom services, agriculture and manufacturing. The country has a big and broad domestic market, a youthful and technologically adept labour force, and an expanding middle class.

In her closing remarks, ITU secretary-general Doreen Bogdan-Martin, said, “The outcomes of WTSA-24 remind us that humanity has one Earth, one human family and one shared digital future. Together with the global standards community, ITU is committed to ensuring that our digital future is technically strong, with innovation, inclusion and sustainability at its core.”

WTSA-24 is clearly regarded as a success by the ITU, but one of the most important areas of innovative technology developments, quantum computing, was barely mentioned. Hopefully, this will be high on the agenda for WTSA-28, because over the next few years some sorts of de facto global standards, probably multiple, national and even proprietorial, will emerge and the ITU will find itself, four years late to the party and struggling to catch up. 

On the other hand, it was interesting to see that the metaverse was a matter of considerable discussion. Maybe the agenda for WTSA-24 was set so long ago that the metaverse was still a hot subject. Unfortunately, it is no longer on the front burner of the technology hob, nor is it even slowly simmering on a tiny flame at the back of the range. Instead, it has been dumped outside in a shed together with bits and pieces of summer barbecue kit and the camping stove and forgotten about. For now at least. Perhaps it will be resurrected when the sun shines brightly again on Mark Zuckerberg and he can once more convince himself he made the right decision in changing the company name from Facebook. You never know.

– Martyn Warwick, Editor in Chief, TelecomTV