Study Groups (SG) 1 and 2 of the ITU Telecommunications Development Sector (ITU-D) met in Geneva on 4-6 September and 7-9 September, respectively.
At its meeting, SG1 discussed the nine questions it is examining during the current four-year study period which runs until 2010.
Question 6-2/1 - Regulatory impact of next generation networks (NGN) on interconnection (whose Rapporteur Group is chaired by India);
Question 7-2/1 - Regulatory policies in universal access to broadband services (chaired by the Democratic Republic of Congo);
Question 10-2/1 - Regulation of licensing and authorisation of converging services (chaired by Telecom Italia);
Question 12-2/1 - Tariff models and policies and methods to determine the cost of national telecommunication network services, including next generation networks - NGN (chaired by the Ivory Coast);
Question 18-1/1 - Application of telecommunications laws, rules and regulations by the national regulatory authorities (chaired by the USA);
Question 19-1/1 - Introduction of the telephony internet protocol in developing countries (chaired by Cisco, USA);
Question 20/1 - Access of persons with special needs to telecommunications services (chaired by Mexico);
Question 21/1 - Impact of telecommunications development on job creation (chaired by China);
Question 22/1 - Security of information and communication networks: best practices to develop a culture of cyber-security (chaired by the USA).
SG2, whose aim is to study the development and management of telecommunications services and networks and applications in the area of information and communication technologies (ICTs), discussed the ten questions identified for the current study period (2006-2010):
Question 9-2/2 - Identification of the topics being examined by the Study Groups of the Radiocommunications Sector (ITU-R) and the Telecommunications Standardisation Sector (ITU-T), which are of particular interest for developing countries (chaired by Syria);
Question 10-2/2 - Telecommunications in rural and remote areas (chaired by Japan);
Question 11-2/2 - Examination of digital terrestrial television and radio technologies and systems, including cost/benefit analysis, interoperability of digital terrestrial systems with existing analogue networks and methods to switch from analogue terrestrial systems to digital techniques (chaired by Russia);
Question 14-2/2 - Telecommunications and e-health (chaired by Ukraine);
Question 17-2/2 - Progress of activities in e-services/world applications (no chair ? the respective annual report will be produced under Programme 3 of ITU-D);
Question 18-1/2 - Implementation of the IMT-2000 system and information exchange systems beyond IMT-2000 in developing countries (chaired by Mexico);
Question 19-1/2 - Strategy for the switch from existing networks to next generation networks in developing countries (chaired by Alcatel, France);
Question 20-2/2 - Examination of access technologies for broadband telecommunications (chaired by Qualcomm, USA);
Question 22-2/2 - Use of ICTs to manage disasters and active and passive sensory systems based in space applicable to forecasting, detecting and mitigating natural disasters (chaired by the USA);
Resolution 9 (Rev. Doha, 2006) ? Participation of countries, especially developing countries, in spectrum management (chaired by France).
For each Question the respective liaison statements were analysed vis-à-vis the ITU Radiocommunications and Standardisation Sectors, the work plan for the 2006-2010 study period was approved and ?active collaborators? and mechanisms to co-ordinate with Sector-relevant programmes were identified. The date of each group?s next meeting was also scheduled. Lastly, the plenary sessions of the two Groups approved the final reports submitted to the delegates by the heads of the Rapporteur Groups for each Question.
The Questions currently under study by both SGs were revised and approved at the last World Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC-06), held in March 2006 in Doha, Qatar.
