- 1 -
TSAG – R 2 – E
/ INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNIONTELECOMMUNICATION
STANDARDIZATION SECTOR
STUDY PERIOD 2017-2020 / TSAG – R 2 – E
APRIL 2018
Original: English
Question(s):
TELECOMMUNICATION STANDARDIZATION ADVISORY GROUP
REPORT 2
Source: / Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group
Title: / Report of the second TSAG meeting held in Geneva, 26 February – 2 March 2018
Purpose: / Information
Contact: / Bruce Gracie
TSAG Chairman / Tel:+1 613 592-3180
E-mail:
Keywords: / TSAG; report
Abstract: / The report of the second meeting of the ITU-T Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (Geneva, 26 February – 2 March 2018) in the 2017-2020 study period. /
NOTE– All documents submitted and discussed or noted at this TSAG meeting are referenced in the agenda TD125-R1 and TD125-R3. This report contains the conclusions and actions decided at this TSAG meeting.[1]
Table of Contents
1Opening of the meeting, TSAG Chairman
2Opening remarks by the Deputy Secretary-General
3Opening remarks by the TSB Director
4TSAG Chairman's comments and observations
5Approval of the agenda, document allocation and time management plan
6Report by the TSB Director
7Organization of the work of TSAG for the 2017-2020 study period
8Focus Groups
9International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs)
10Status of implementation of Resolution 187 (Busan, 2014)
11ITU Inter-Sector Coordination Team (ISCT) on issues on mutual interest
12Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human factors (JCA-AHF)
13Communication plan
14Languages
15Standards for a data-driven society
16Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
17Kaleidoscope
18ITU Telecom (Durban, South Africa, 10-13 September 2018)
19New ITU meeting registration system
20Bridging the Standardization Gap
21Results of TSAG Rapporteur Groups
21.1TSAG Rapporteur Group on Standardization Strategy (RG-StdsStrat)
21.2TSAG Rapporteur Group on Work Programme (RG-WP)
21.3TSAG Rapporteur Group on Working Methods (RG-WM)
21.4TSAG Rapporteur Group on Strengthening Cooperation (RG-SC)
21.5TSAG Rapporteur Group on Strategic and Operational Plan (RG-SOP)
21.6TSAG Rapporteur Group on Review of WTSA Resolutions (RG-ResReview)
22ITU-T meeting schedule including date of next TSAG meeting(s)
23Nomination of liaison representatives
24Any other business
25Consideration of draft meeting Report
26Closure of meeting
Annex A Summary of results of the TSAG Rapporteur Groups
Annex B Terms of reference for the new Rapporteur Group on the review of WTSA Resolutions (RG-ResReview)
Annex C Terms of reference for TSAG Rapporteur Group on standardization strategy (RG-StdsStrat)
1Opening of the meeting, TSAG Chairman
The TSAG Chairman, Mr Bruce Gracie (Ericsson Canada), welcomed the TSAG participants to the second meeting of the Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) for the 2017-2020 study period, which was held at the ITU premises in Geneva, 26 February – 2 March 2018.
1.1Real-time captioning, interpretation in six languages, remote participation, and webcasting were provided at this TSAG meeting including its six Rapporteur Group meetings.
1.2Mr Gracie welcomed the elected officials, Mr Malcolm Johnson (Deputy Secretary General), Mr Chaesub Lee (TSB Director) and Mr BrahimaSanou (BDT Director). .
1.3The following TSAG Vice-Chairmen attended the meeting: Ms Rim Belhassine-Cherif (Tunisia), Ms Weiling Xu (China, P.R.), Mr Reiner Liebler (Germany), Mr Victor Manuel Martinez Vanegas (Mexico), Mr Vladimir Minkin(Russian Federation), and Mr MatanoNdaro(Kenya).Ms Monique Morrow (United States) and Mr Omar Tayseer Al-Odat (Jordan) were not able to attend.
2Opening remarks by the Deputy Secretary-General
The ITU Deputy Secretary-General presented his opening remarks(in TD168).
3Opening remarks by the TSB Director
The TSB Director welcomed all delegates to this secondmeeting of TSAG in this 2017-2020 study period (see TD169).
4TSAG Chairman's comments and observations
4.1The TSAG Chairman highlighted that TSAG is now meeting roughly every nine months, with the third TSAG meeting planned in December 2018. The current TSAG meeting was organized such that documents were presented only once, either in Plenary or in one of the Rapporteur Groups, of which five had already been activated. He reminded the meeting to take into account the forthcoming ITU Council and ITU Council Working Group sessions in April 2018, and the Plenipotentiary Conference in October 2018. Mr Gracie announced a special session on TD255 and TD154, both addressing copyright issues, which would take place during the lunch break on Monday, 26 February 2018.
4.2The SG20 Chairman informed the meeting about the planned SG20 meeting in China (P.R.) in December 2018, which overlaps with aplanned TSAG meeting, and asked whether an alternative date could be found for TSAG.
5Approval of the agenda, document allocation and time management plan
5.1The TSAG Chairman presented the draft agenda, document allocation and work plan (TD125-R1). TD125-R1 was adopted, with being C35 moved to agenda item 10.2. TSAG accepted the time management plan in TD124-R1, and the overview of the agendas and reports in TD123.
5.2TD125-R3 contains the agendafor the closing TSAG plenary on 2 March 2018, which was adopted.
5.3Due to a sudden family emergency, Mr Gracie was not able to participate for the last three days of the meeting.TSAG Vice-Chairman, Mr Vladimir Minkin(Russian Federation), kindly agreed to perform as acting chairman for the remainder of the meeting and chaired the closing plenary on 2 March 2018.
6Report by the TSB Director
6.1The TSB Director presented the activity report (TD138, slideset in Addendum 1)highlighting the key results achieved in ITU-T standardization from April 2017 to January 2018. TSAG noted the TSB Director’s report.
6.2TSB presented the updated WTSA-16 Action Plan (TD139-R1),which is a monitoring and reporting tool to keep track of the implementation of WTSA-16 Resolutions and Opinion. The updates covered the period from April 2017 to February 2018. TSAG took note of the document.
7Organization of the work of TSAG for the 2017-2020 study period
7.1Mr Minkin, TSAG Vice Chairman, based on the May2017 TSAG decision to establish of a new Rapporteur Group on the review of WTSA Resolutions (RG-ResReview),proposed in TD143the RG-ResReviewterms of reference. Some administrations, while supporting the principle, noted the rather limited results that similar exercises has in the past across the three Sectors and the Plenipotentiary conference. It was suggested to consider streamlining Plenipotentiary Resolutions with respect of Sector Resolutions for the time frame after PP-18 and the subsequent four years. A coordinated action by the Member States would be needed across the three Sectors for this initiative to have a chance to be effective.
It was agreedto send a liaison statement to RAG and TDAG on the creation of the RG-ResReviewand on the work expected to be done by this group.The TSB Directorwas invited to include this information in his report to the next ITU Council meeting for preparation of the PP-18 Conference.
G3ict expressed caution on any further watering-down of Resolution 175 (Rev. Busan 2014) and of Resolution 70 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016), and proposed that those Resolutions should rather be extended.
Other Member States observed an increasing duplication of Resolutions acrossthe Sectors, and called for a contribution-driven approach and teamspirit towards streamlining WTSA Resolutions.
TSAG adopted the proposal in TD143 and created the new Rapporteur Group on the review of WTSA Resolutions (RG-ResReview).
7.2TSAG appointed Mr Vladimir Minkin(Russian Federation) as Rapporteur for the RG-ResReview.
8Focus Groups
8.1TSAG took note of the progress report (in TD145) presented remotely by Mr David Watrin, Chairman of ITU-TFocus Group on Application of Distributed Ledger Technology (FG-DLT).
8.2TSAG took note of the progress report (in TD146) presented by Mr Ahmed Said, Vice Chairman of ITU-T Focus Group on Digital Currency including Digital Fiat Currency (FG-DFC).
8.3TSAG took note of the established new Focus Group by SG13, the ITU-T Focus Group on Machine Learning for Future Networks including 5G (FG-ML5G). TSAG also took note of report from the first FG-ML5G meeting (in TD216and TD247), which waspresented by the ITU-T SG13 Chairman, Mr Leo Lehmann (Switzerland).
8.4TSAG took note of the report of the first meeting of the ITU-T Focus Group on Data Processing and Management to support IoT and Smart Cities & Communities (FG-DPM)(in TD191),presented by the Chairman of ITU-T SG20, Mr Nasser Saleh Al Marzouqi (UAE).
8.5TSAG took note of the reply liaison statement (in TD207) received from SG12 on the transfer of outputs from the Focus Group on Digital Financial Services(FG DFS) to the various ITU-T Study Groups.
9International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs)
9.1TSAG took note of the liaison statement in TD190thatthe TSAG management team sent in August 2017 to all ITU-T study groupsrequesting information specifically on the implementation of the existing (2012) ITRs.
The TSB Director explained the background ofa request he received in January 2018 from the ITU Council Expert Group on ITR (EG-ITR), andin turn his request to the chairmen of Study Groups 2, 3, 12, and 17 to provide an update on relevant affected Recommendations. The collected information was providedto the TSAG meeting (in TD265-R1).
9.2TSAG took note of the reply liaison statement in TD197 from SG2, presented by Mr Phil Rushton, Chairman of SG2.
9.3Russian Federation presented C39"Application of ITRs provisions in the work of ITU-T SG2"that reports numbering resource misuse in communications networks, submitted to the ITU (SG2) and posted on the web-site actual cases of ITRs applicability by SG2. The contribution submits proposals which take note of the relationship between ITU-T SG2 activity and ITRs application (of relevant articles), as well as proposals on promoting the use of these articles.
TSAG concluded by recognizing the importance of numbering misuse;and invited the Russian Federation to provide their contribution to the EG-ITRs and to the ITU Council, as well as to ITU-T SG2; and invited contributions on that subject matter to ITU-T SG2.
9.4TSAG took note of the other liaison responses to the TSAG LS in TD190that were received from SG3 (in TD233), SG5 (in TD224), SG9 (in TD249), SG11 (in TD218and TD196), SG13 (in TD217), SG17 (in TD194), and SG20 (in TD198).
10Status of implementation of Resolution 187 (Busan, 2014)
10.1Argentina presented C42"Participation of SMEs in ITU-T Study Groups" which proposes within ITU-T, to foster the participation of SMEs in its Study Groups, in accordance with the decision adopted by ITU Council 2017 to carry out a pilot project for the participation of SMEs in ITU-T and ITU-D Study Groups.
10.2Several members reported positive experiences on and supported the participation of SMEs in the works of ITU-T study groups.
10.3TSAGnoted that ITU-T SG5, SG16 and SG20 already agreed to take part of the SME trial.
After discussions, it was concludedthat it is not for TSAG to decide which ITU-T study groups participate in the SME pilot trial, but that it is up to each study group to make such a decision.
The meeting agreed that for the implementation of Resolution 187(Busan, 2014), and future participation of SMEs in the work of ITU, more information and data is needed. This issue and itsfinancial implications will be dealt with by the ITU Council and the Plenipotentiary Conference;
The TSAG meeting requested the TSB Director identify ways on how to make SMEs aware of the SME trial and to inform themon how to participate in study group meetings (such as through a Circular letter to Member States and/or to SMEs, or information onthe ITU-T web page).
11ITU Inter-Sector Coordination Team (ISCT) on issues on mutual interest
11.1The ISCT Chairman, Mr Fabio Bigi (Italy), gave a verbal report of the ISCT activities in 2017 and made reference to document no.8 of the ITU ISCT. ISCT documents are available at:
11.2Later during the meeting, BDT provided written reports (see TD270 and TD271), which were discussed in the RG-SC session.
11.3TSAGisinterested in receiving future reports from the ISCT, and encouraged the ISCT to look into relevant General Secretariat activities. TSAG recognized this as an additional opportunity for the Plenipotentiary Conference to streamline Resolutions (see also §7.1).
12Joint Coordination Activity on Accessibility and Human factors (JCA-AHF)
12.1The JCA-AHF Chairman, Ms Andrea Saks (USA), presented the progress report of JCA-AHFin TD158.She reported on duplication of work and the challenges of experts to work together. She advocated the ITU Accessibility Fund and encouraged members to make voluntary contributions to it.TSAG noted the report and encouraged its members to contribute to the fund.
13Communication plan
13.1ArgentinapresentedC43"ITU-T to implement a Communication Plan",which proposes the implementation of an internal and external Communication Plan for ITU-T that should include all the different and available media means.
13.2TSB presented TD260 which gives an overview of the TSB Communications Services and outlined the TSB communications strategy.
13.3TSAG invited those ones interested to contact Mr Fred Werner, from TSB Communications Services.
14Languages
14.1Central African Republic presented C26"The effective use of the six official languages of the Union on an equal footing in the work of ITU-T", which suggests that it is vital to remind the chairmen of the study groups of the importance of interpretation during the plenary sessions and working groups of the ITU-T study groups. This is important to avoid language barriers from further accentuating the standardization gap between developed and developing countries, especially in French speaking countries. The Contribution states that interpretation is essential to enable all delegates, particularly those from developing countries, to be fully informed of ITU-T standardization decisions taken at ITU-T meetings, and to participate effectively in these decisions.
14.2The TSB Director announced plans for TSB, within budgetary constraints, to provide translation of BSG training material into the six official languages. TSB is also continuing to investigate advances and explore usage of automatic translation tools.
14.3TSAG recognized the importance of languages and was aware that the Council working group on languages is handling matters related to the use ofthe six official languages in the Union, yet ITU Sectors are also constrained by budgetary limitations.
14.4TSAG advised the TSB Director to provide to ITU Councilan analysis of the situation when providing interpretation in the six official languages at ITU-T working party and plenary meetings and its budgetary limitations.
14.5Voluntary contributionsto the BSG fund may help mitigate the financial constraints when providing interpretation in the six official languages.
14.6TSAG took note of the liaison statement from SG9 in TD250 on the terms and definitions database, which was addressed for action by the SCV andCCV.
15Standards for a data-driven society
15.1Invited expert Mr Ken Krechmerremotely presented TD153, his keynote speech and paper ("The Entrepreneur and Standards") delivered at the ITU Kaleidoscope 2017 academic conference (K-2017), "Challenges for a data-driven society", which provides food for thought concerning standardization in the 21st century.
15.2TSAG took note of the presentation and invited delegates to study the material in TD153.
16Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
16.1TSB presented TD241"Statistics on ITU-T Recommendations and patent declarations",and TSAG took note of it.
16.2Outcome of special session on copyright (Monday 26 February 2018)
TSAGwas informed on the outcomes of a special session on copyrights, which was chaired by the TSAG Chairman Mr Bruce Gracie on Monday, 26 February 2018 from 1300-1400 hours and was attended by some 50 delegates. The ITU Legal Advisory Unit (LAU) participated in this session. That special session discussed a liaison statement received from SG15 in TD255 on ITU copyright authorization practices, and TD154wherein ITU LAU provides clarifications on the implementation of Resolution 66 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010) "Documents and publications of the Union". The special session recognized the long-standing practice of facilitating widest possible dissemination of ITU documents and reached two conclusions:
1)If the membership believes that Resolution 66 (Rev. Guadalajara, 2010) "Documents and publications of the Union" should be modified, the membership is invited to submit contributions to the next Plenipotentiary Conference.
2)TSB, LAU, and SG15 will see with TSDSI that the ITU’s non-normative status of the material incorporated from SG15 will be reflected in the standard published by TSDSI.
TSAG took note of that report and of the two conclusions.
16.3One Member State raised a possible trademark problem in Rec. ITU-T Y.4500.1 concerning the usage ofthe term "oneM2M" which may be a trademark. TSB agreed to consult with ITU LAU and the SG20 Chairman on this issue to ensure the current ITU-T guidelines on the use of trademarks in ITU-T Recommendations are respected.
17Kaleidoscope
17.1TSB presented TD240-R1"Evaluation of Kaleidoscope 2017 papers with respect to relevance in ITU activities", which provides an overview of the ITU Kaleidoscope academic conference 2017 (K-2017) that was held in Nanjing, China, from 27-29 November 2017. The Annex to this document presents accepted papers, invited papers and keynote speeches selected by the K-2017 steering and technical programme committees, and identifies links to related activities in ITU-T and other ITU sectors.TSAG noted the document with appreciation.
18ITU Telecom (Durban, South Africa,10-13 September 2018)
18.1TSB presented TD273 highlighting the Smart ABC (Artificial Intelligence, Banking and digital finance, smart Cities) programme. TSAG took note of the presentation.
19New ITU meeting registration system
19.1TSB presented TD267, which provides an introduction to the new ITU customer relationship management (CRM) system that will start being used for registration for ITU-T meetings in the 1st quarter of 2018. Delegates self-register for a meeting using their ITU (TIES or Guest) accounts and the member-designated focal point for registration approves the request. Alternate focal points can be designated. The new system provides a streamlined process for the request of interpretation, visa support letters as well as fellowships. TSB Circular TSB Circular 68 was sent to ITU-T members on 16 January 2018 and specifies certain actions required from ITU-T members.
19.2Some members asked whether the CRM system could support more than one focal point, and TSB confirmed that such is possible with the new system. TSAG recommended to register early, as well as to use of generic, non-personalized accounts for member focal points.
19.3TSAGnoted the document and welcomed a report atthe next TSAG meeting on the use and improvements of the new CRM-based registration system.
20Bridging the Standardization Gap
20.1Three contributions (C25, C30, and C33) were submitted to this meeting addressing bridging the standardization gap(BSG) activities. C25(University of Nigeria) on the implementation of Resolution 44 (Rev. Hammamet, 2016) could not be presented remotely due to connectiondifficulties and its presentation wasdeferred to the next TSAG meeting.
20.2India presented C33"The importance of ITU-T Regional Groups in Bridging the Standardization Gap".
20.3The delegate from Zambia remotely presented C30 (contributedby Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Zimbabwe, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Burkina Faso, Sudan, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome e Principe, and Zambia) on "The importance of ITU-T Regional Groups in Bridging the Standardization Gap".
20.4India supported C30; Egypt, Saudi Arabia,and AICTO supported C30 and C33.
20.5Several members acknowledged that regional groups provide opportunities for members of the region to send contributionsthat take into consideration the needs of the regionsto the parent study group, and thus, regional groups play an important role in bridging the standardization gap and in closing the digital divide. While regulatory and policy aspects may have need for regional variation,a unique opportunity of ITU-T is to create international standards but to avoid regional fragmentation of the technical standards.