- 1 -

International Symposium on Telecommunications

IST2010

4 December 2010
Tehran, Iran

Houlin Zhao

Deputy Secretary-General,
International Telecommunication Union

Distinguished participants,
Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very happy to be with you today at the International Symposium on Telecommunications. I am very pleased to see such a high level of interest in this symposium.

Great progress has been made, as is revealed by new data released by ITU in honour of World Statistics Day on the 20th of October: 20.10.2010.

As we go into 2011, there are more than five billion. Even in rural areas of developing countries, we are now seeing household mobile penetration rates of over 50%.The data shows that the number of Internet users worldwide doubled in the past five years, and will surpass the two billion mark by the end of this year. By the end of 2010, 71% of the population in developed countries will be online, compared to 21% of the population in developing countries. In developed countries, 65% of people have access to the Internet at home, whereas this is the case for only 13.5% of people in developing countries – which means that Internet access in schools, at work and in public locations in these countries is critical.

Let me say a few words about ITU. ITU has three main roles:

-We manage vital shared ICT resources – such as the international phone numbering system, the global allocation of radio frequency spectrum and satellite orbital resources, and develop international standards (ITU-T/ITU-R Recommendations) to facilitate the interworking of telecommunication services at a global level, which are the main tasks of ITU Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and ITU Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R).

-And we facilitate ICT development globally, particularly in the developing world, through the ITU Telecommunication Development Sector (ITU-D).

ITU has been busy with three major events in 2010, including:

-World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-10)

-Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-10), and

-Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR).

The fifth World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-10) met from 24May until 4June in Hyderabad, India. The WTDC-10 adopted “the Hyderabad Action Plan” which consists of a comprehensive package that will promote the equitable and sustainable development of telecommunication and ICT networks and services worldwide over the next four year cycle.The five Programmes identified are:

  1. Information and communication infrastructure and technology development
  2. Cybersecurity, ICT applications and IP-based network-related issues
  3. Enabling environment
  4. Capacity-building and digital inclusion
  5. Least developed countries, countries in special need, emergency telecommunications and adaptation to climate change

In October, we held the ITU’s most important event, the Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-10), in Guadalajara, Mexico, 422October2010. The Plenipotentiary Conference decides on the future role of our organization, and thereby determine our ability to influence and affect the development of ICTs worldwide.

Let me give you a very brief update of some of the key achievements of the Conference:

-Many important resolutions were agreed, including: Accessibility; ICTs and climate change; Measures to help prevent the illicit use and abuse of telecommunication networks; e-Health, Conformance and interoperability; Emergency communications and humanitarian assistance; Electronic meetings; ITU Telecom Events; and many more.

-Member States also opened up the way for the participation of academia in the Union’s work, and made it easier for Sector Members from developing countries to participate.

-They also agreed to give free online access to all ITU Recommendations to members of the public – as well as to ITU members of course.

-I was also particularly pleased to see last minute compromises being brokered on a number of key Resolutions on Internet issues, from IPV6 to Internet governance. This strengthens and underlines our commitment to work with the Internet community in extending the benefits of the Internet to all global citizens.

I would therefore like to take this opportunity, on behalf of Dr Hamadoun Touré, ITU’s Secretary-General, as well as all the other ITU Elected Officials, to express our appreciation to the Government or Iran for its continuous support of ITU.

In November 2010, ITU held its annual event, the Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR), in Dakar, Senegal, 10-12 November 2010, which defined a set of Best Practice Guidelines that will help stimulate the roll-out of the next wave of information and communication (ICT) networks, particularly in the area of broadband access.

The guidelines underscore the importance of a clear and transparent regulatory process and call on regulators to embrace forward-looking regimes that are subject to regular review, to ensure that any regulatory barriers to competition and innovation which may have emerged are removed.

This year’s GSR also saw the launch of a special 10th anniversary edition of the Telecommunications Regulation Handbook, which helps regulators to develop national strategies to foster the growth of their digital economies.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Today, ICT networks connect the world and many of the world’s people together – without paying much attention to international borders or even international law. Cybercriminals exploit the loopholes.Hardly a day goes by without new cybersecurity issues hitting the headlines.

Given the scale of the threat – and the phenomenal harm that can be caused by even a single cyber attack – we cannot rely on ad hoc solutions or hope to survive only by strengthening our defences after attacks have occurred. We must work together to ensure a coordinated response.

Following the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society, held in 2003 and 2005,ITU launched the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) in 2007. Since then, we have made a great deal of progress in the three years; this initiative has attracted the support and recognition of leaders and cybersecurity experts around the world.

Within the framework of the GCA, we have also launched the Child Online Protection (COP) initiative, with President Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica as its patron in 2008.ITU recently announced the new phase of the COP initiative, which will help governments establish the necessary administrative and legal frameworks, and harmonize these internationally, so that criminals who target children online have far fewer places to hide.

Distinguished delegates,

To conclude my remarks, I would like to express my sincere thanks for the invitation extended to me to participate in this symposium. And I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate the ICT achievements of Iran.I noted that in the statistics “Measuring the Information Society 2010” published by ITU,early 2010, among 150countries listed, Iran’s position has been advanced in all tables compared with its ranks of 2007 and for some years the fixed phone price is the lowest among 160countries. I would encourage Iran to continue playing a very active role in ITU’s work, especially WSIS Forum in May2011, and ITU Telecom World 2011 in October 2011.

I wish you a successful conference.

Thank you.