The 2016 World Telecommunications Standardisation Assembly (WTSA-16) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is taking place from 25 October to 3 November in Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia. As the highest body of the ITU Standardisation Sector (ITU-T), the WTSA takes place every four years. The Assembly will be preceded by the Global Standards Symposium on 24 October, in the same location.
At this important ITU meeting, key decisions will be made for the next period of activity (up to 2020), including on measures relating, in particular, to the reorganisation of the ITU-T’s structure and working methods and on measures to combat the misuse of numbering, spam and device counterfeiting. Approval will also be given to the ITU-T guidelines for the next four years. Future standards for OTT services, digital financial services, 5G networks, the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications and smart cities will also be discussed. The challenge for the near future, in the words of the ITU-T Director, Chaesub Lee, is to continue to develop standards of excellence and to maintain the ITU's leadership in an interconnected world.
The Portuguese delegation is provided by ANACOM, and will be at the forefront in defending the European Common proposals (ECP), given ANACOM’s current role in the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) leading the Committee for ITU Policy. The 14 ECP under discussion focus on issues which include those related to the principles governing reform of ITU-T and its strategic and structural review, especially reorganisation of the Sector study groups, and also include proposals to amend a number of current resolutions: Resolution 40 - "Regulatory aspects of the work of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector"; Resolution 60 - "Evolution of the identification/numbering system and its convergence with IP-based systems/networks"; Resolution 64 - "IP address allocation and facilitating the transition to and deployment of IPv6"; and Resolution 50 - on cybersecurity.
Further information:
- WTSA-16 http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/wtsa16/Pages/default.aspx
