Global Standardization Activities

Results of ITU-T WTSA-04
Yukio Hiramatsu and Hideyuki Iwata†
Abstract
This article reports on WTSA-04, which was held October 5–12, 2004 in Florianópolis, Brazil. The
World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) is the highest level decision-making
assembly of ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector). Japan sent 41 delegates to the assembly from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
and from private companies and achieved a good level of success.

1. Overview of WTSA-04
ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union
Telecommunication Standardization Sector) holds its
World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) once every four years to decide the organization for studies over the next four years, improvements in working methods, and so on. The organization includes the structure of Study Groups, allocation of Questions to Study Groups, and election ofStudy Group Chairmen and Vice Chairmen. WTSA04 was held October 5–12, 2004 in Florianópolis,Brazil. The structure of the Assembly is shown inPlenaryFig. 1. Only one representative from Japan, Yoichi
Maeda of NTT, was elected as a committee leadership member for the assembly. He acted as Vice
Chairman of Committee 3. The major issues contained in the agenda included the structure of thestudy on NGN (next-generation network) that will
replace the existing telephone networks, enhancements of working methods, and issues related to theInternet. In particular, study group structure for thework on NGN did not reach consensus at the TSAG
(Telecommunication Standardization AdvisoryGroup) in July 2004 and was postponed until WSTA04.

Final decisions

Committee 1

Steering committee

Committee 2

Budget control

Committee 3

Working methods of ITU-TCommittee 4
Committee 5
Committee 6
Committee 7

Work program and organization of ITU-T(SG structure and Questions)
Telecommunication network infrastructure(SG reports (SGs 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, and SSG))
Telecommunication services and tariff issues(SG reports (SGs 2 and 3))
Editorial committee

Fig. 1. Structure of WTSA-04.
† NTT Department III (R&D Strategy Department)
Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8116 Japan
E-mail: h.iwata@hco.ntt.co.jp

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Global Standardization Activities

2. Study group structure and allocation ofQuestions
2.1 Study structure for NGN
NGN is considered to be the most important study
item for the next four-year study period (2005–2008).
Although the July 2004 TSAG discussed the studystructure for NGN in preparation for the draft proposals for WTSA-04, it failed to reach a conclusion[1]. At WTSA-04, there was a conflict of opinions
between Europe, which argued for the merger of SG
13 and SG 11 (which had been studying architectureand signaling, respectively), and Asia and the U.S.A.,
which argued for continued separation of the two SGs
and stronger coordination between related SGs. The
end result was a compromise coordinated by Japan,
which was finally approved unanimously.
• SG 13 was designated as the NGN-SG. In addition to NGN architecture and framework, it will
also study signaling requirements in cooperation
with SG 11.
• SG 13 will become the parent study group for theNGN Focus Group (NGN-FG) established before
WTSA-04 and will determine the future of NGN-FG.
• SG 13 will develop a release plan for NGN-related Recommendations.
• SG 13 will manage coordination across study
groups that are relevant to NGN, in particularwith SGs 2, 11, and 19 for NGN core aspects andSGs 11 and 19 for the fixed and mobile convergence aspects.
• SG 11, like other SGs, will develop detailed Recommendations including those related to protocols based on the requirements developed by SG
13. SG 11 will continue to study signaling
requirements and protocols.
• Within two years, TSAG will review the structureof relevant SGs and may decide upon furtherrestructuring.
With this decision, it was announced to the worldthat ITU-T would strongly promote the study of NGN
with SG 13 as the core study group on NGN.
2.2 Continuation of SG 2
There was also discussion about whether or not tokeep SG 2, which had been studying a numbering
plan and addressing and so on. In particular, NNAR
(naming, numbering, addressing and routing) is recognized as one of the important Questions for the next
study period. The U.S.A. argued that NNAR should
be studied in the NGN-SG because it is closely related to the study of NGN, whereas the Arab countries
argued that SG 2 should continue as a separate study
group because NNAR also covers the study of regulatory matters. In the end, the arguments of the Arabcountries were endorsed by the Assembly. Other SGs
were as adopted at the previous TSAG meeting. Thus,
the final SG structure is as shown in Table 1. It is not

Table 1. SG structure for the next study period (2005–2008).
SG2

Operational aspects of service provision, networks, and performance

SG3

Tariff and accounting principles including related telecommunication economic
and policy issues

SG4

Telecommunication management

SG5

Protection against electromagnetic environment effects

Note 1SG6

Outside plant and related indoor installations

Note 1

SG9Integrated broadband cable networks and television and sound transmission

Note 2

SG11

Signaling requirements and protocols

Note 3

SG12

Performance and quality of service

SG13

Next generation networks

SG15

Optical and other transport network infrastructures

SG16

Multimedia terminals, systems, and applications

SG17

Security, languages, and telecommunication software

SG19

Mobile telecommunication networks

TSAG

Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group

Note 3Note 3Note 1: As SG6 intends to expand its scope to indoor matters, SG5 and SG6 should be collocated wheneverpossible.
Note 2: Since future convergence between communications and broadcasting will make SG9 more relevant to otherSGs (such as SG12 and SG16), SG9 should be collocated with other relevant SGs whenever possible.
Note 3: Since SGs 11, 13, and 19 need to cooperate, they should be collocated whenever possible.

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Global Standardization Activities

very different from that of the previous study period(2001–2004) except that the mobility-related SG has
become an ordinary SG, instead of an SSG (SpecialStudy Group), that was given high flexibility in termsof developing new working methods by itself, andthat some Questions have been moved or coordinatedamong SGs. Conversely, since it was recognized that
there were a number of Questions that affect morethan one SG, the Assembly recommended several collocated meetings (to be held at the same time and thesame location) for some SGs.
3. Working methods
3.1 Coordination among SGs
Study of NGN or security, which is of growing
importance for ITU-T, cannot be done by a single SG,
but requires project-oriented coordination among relevant SGs for a field of technology. Considering this,Japan and Australia had been proposing to TSAG theestablishment of project groups or coordinationgroups. This resulted in three contributions to thisWTSA as common proposals from APT (Asia Pacific Telecommunity). As the result of the discussions,the proposals were successfully adopted in the formof Resolution 45 entitled “Effective coordination ofstandardization work across study groups in ITU-T”
and also reflected in the revised Resolution 22 specifying authorization for TSAG to act between
WTSAs.
3.2 Vetos in Alternative Approval Process (AAP)
ITU-T has been seeking consensus in making various final decisions such as the approval of Recommendations. This differs from industrial forums andconsortiums and is occasionally regarded as being themain reason for slow decision-making in ITU-T. This
point was also discussed at WTSA-2000 where several countries supported the idea of sending Recommendations forward even when two or three countries
objected, but this was not approved. At WTSA-04,
similar proposals were submitted by APT, CEPT(European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations), and ATU (AfricanTelecommunications Union), which resulted in acompromise being reached at the final plenary session under the leadership of the Assembly’s Chairman. This contained the idea of a two-member-stateveto instead of the traditional one-member-state vetofor decisions made at the SG plenary in the Alternative Approval Process (AAP) for technical Recommendations. However, Syria and the U.S.A.
46

expressed their objection to this result after theAssembly by complaining that the decision process
was unfair and unclear and that they would try to raise
this issue again in future TSAG and ITU Councilmeetings.
3.3 Enhancement to appointment process ofChairmen and Vice Chairmen
Resolution 35 adopted at WTSA-2000 specified theappointment process for Chairman and Vice Chairmen of SGs and TSAG. In the past, there were cases
where persons with no ITU-T experience wereappointed just for honor and they stopped attending
ITU-T during the study period and did not provide theexpected services. To avoid such cases, CEPT submitted a contribution proposing an enhancement tothe resolution so that it could only elect the required
number of persons from among those having ITU-T
experience and able to actually perform ITU-T work.
This proposal was approved with some modifications
requested by Japan and other countries and reflectedin the revised Resolution 35.
3.4 Enhancement to SG working methods
Based on a proposal by TSAG held in July 2004
and the input contributions, the SG working methods
specified in WTSA Resolution 1 were discussed andenhanced as follows:• In the previous version of WTSA Resolution 1,
the sections describing the approval of a new
Question at WTSA came earlier than thosedescribing the approval of a new Question at SGmeetings. At WTSA-04, it was agreed to alter theorder of these sections to clearly show that a newQuestion can be approved at any SG meeting in atimely manner without waiting for the nextWTSA.
• The previous Resolution 1 specified that an SG
receiving an initial proposal for a new Question
should develop and finalize text for it, and then
the next SG meeting could formally approve theproposed new Question. This was changed to let
an SG receiving a proposal for a new Question
develop and approve it without waiting for thenext SG meeting.
These revisions were originally proposed by Japanat previous TSAG meetings and were finallyapproved at the July 2004 TSAG meeting.
3.5 Improvements to workshop activities
Based on proposals from APT and CITEL (InterAmerican Telecommunications Commission), theNTT Technical Review

Global Standardization Activities

Assembly adopted Resolution 53 to develop a coordination group at TSAG for more effective ways ofholding seminars and workshops.
4. Internet-related matters
In recent years, concern about the security of theInternet has been growing worldwide. For example,according to research conducted by ITU, 65% of email traffic is spam [2]. Also the number of the casesof criminal activity using the Internet is rapidly
increasing. The opinions that ITU-T should urgently
tackle these problems mainly came from the developing countries. At this WTSA, the contribution submitted by the Arab countries resulted in various Resolutions being adopted, as shown in Table 2. Moreover, relevant study items were included in the newQuestions for SG 2.
5. Election of Chairmen and Vice Chairmen
Based on the agreed-upon SG structure, the election of Chairmen and Vice Chairmen of SGs and theTSAG was conducted at the beginning of the delegation meeting and finally concluded as shown in Table

3. A record number of ten were elected from Japan,
exceeding the nine from the U.S.A. It was also thefirst time that two Chairmen were elected from NTT.
Korea and China also experienced significant gains
in the number of officers, with the result that China,
Japan, and Korea are providing officers in importantSGs such as those relevant to NGN and security,
heralding the Asian era expected in the near future.
6. SG reports
According to the ITU Constitution and Convention,
reports from SGs for the study period 2001–2004
were given. Each SG Chairman described the Recommendations approved during the study period, SG
activity topics, and Questions proposed for the newstudy period. The main trend was the activation ofstudies on (i) communications over the Internet such
as VoIP (voice over Internet protocol), (ii) broadband
access systems such as xDSL (digital subscriber line)
and optical fiber, and (iii) QoS (quality of service)and security. This trend is expected to continue for thecurrent study period in the study on NGN. Anothertrend was that many workshops were held to discuss
future directions of telecommunication standardization.

Table 2. Internet-related resolutions.
Resolution 47

Country code top-level domain names

Resolution 48

Internationalized domain names

Resolution 49

ENUM*

Resolution 50

Cybersecurity

Resolution 51

Combating spam

Resolution 52

Countering spam by technical means* ENUM is a protocol that is the result of work of the Internet
Engineering Task Force’s Telephone Number Mapping working
group.

Table 3. Japanese Chairmen and Vice Chairmen elected
at the WTSA-04.
SG3

VC

Seiichi Tsugawa (KDDI)

SG4

VC

Nobuo Fujii (NTT)

SG9VC

Shuichi Matsumoto (KDDI)

SG11C

Yukio Hiramatsu (NTT)

SG13VC

Naotaka Morita (NTT)

SG15

C

Yoichi Maeda (NTT)

SG16

VC

Yushi Naito (Mitsubishi Electric)

SG17

VC

Yu Watanabe (KDDI)

SG19

VC

Motoshi Tamura (NTT DoCoMo)

TSAG

VC

Haruo Okamura (SCAT)

SCAT: Support Center for Advanced Telecommunications
Technology Research, Foundation

Vol. 3 No. 4 Apr. 2005

7. Promotion of participation from developingcountries
Resolution 44 aiming to bridge “the standardizationgap” between developed and developing countries
was adopted based on numerous proposals fromdeveloping countries. Moreover, as an actual actionin this direction, Resolution 54 was adopted based oncontributions from Senegal and other developing
countries to consider the possible introduction of“regional groups” similar to those of SG 3 for SGs
identifying Questions relevant to NGN and security.
8. Financial matters
Although the principal role of the financial committee was to examine and report to the plenary on theaccounts for expenditure incurred throughout theduration of the Assembly, this WTSA additionallydiscussed “result-based budgeting” proposed by
Arab countries, ATU, and the U.S.A. This is an ideafor budgeting various ITU-T activities according to
the level of achievement for each activity by defining
a clear and measurable index and objective for eachactivity. As the result, Resolution 42 regarding result47

Global Standardization Activities

based budgeting was adopted. In addition, some proposed revisions to ITU-T-related sections in ITU’s
strategic plan adopted at the 2002 Plenipotentiary
meeting were developed so that the achievements ofthe planned activities could be clearly measured.
9. Continued participation in ITU-T
In recent years, the numbers of participants andcontributions to ITU-T have been steadily falling due
to the rise in activities of outside forums and consortiums and the serious downturn experienced by the ITindustry. However, in the 2005–2008 study period,
studies on the transition from existing networks to theNGN are expected to be active, so ITU-T should bereinvigorated. NTT and Japan should put high priority on and play positive roles in standardization atITU-T in coordination with China and Korea.
References
[1]
[2]

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Y. Hiramatsu, “Activities of ITU-T TSAG,” NTT Technical Review,Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 43-47, 2005.
ITU WSIS Thematic meeting on countering spam, http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/spam/meeting7-9.04/agenda.html, July 7-9, 2004.

Yukio Hiramatsu
Former Senior Manager, NTT IntellectualProperty Center.
He received the B.E. and M.E. degrees from
Yokohama National University, Yokohama,
Kanagawa in 1976 and 1978, respectively. He
joined the Musashino Electrical Communications Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Public Corporation (now NTT), in 1978and has been engaged in the development andstandardization of signaling and data communications systems including ISDN packet, framerelay, and ATM. He is currently a professor ofGraduate School of Intellectual Property at
Osaka Institute of Technology. He is a memberof IEEE, the Institute of Electronics, Information
and Communication Engineers (IEICE) of Japan,
and the Information Processing Society of Japan.
In 1995 and 2004, the ITU Association of Japangave him an award for his contribution to standardization work in ITU-T.

Hideyuki Iwata
Senior Manager, NTT Department III (R&DStrategy Department).
He received the B.E. and M.E. degrees in electronic engineering from Yamagata University,
Yamagata in 1989 and 1991, respectively. He
joined NTT in 1991. From 1993 to 2000, he wasengaged in research on high-density and aerial
optical fiber cable in NTT Access Network Service Systems Laboratories. Since 2000, he has
been responsible for Standardization Strategy
Planning for NTT R&D. He has been a delegateof IEC SC86A (optical fiber and cable) since1998 and of ITU-T TSAG since 2003. He is amember of IEICE. In 2004, the IEC Activities
Promotion Committee of Japan gave him anaward for his contribution to standardization
work in IEC (International ElectrotechnicalCommission).

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