Wireless Future - Telenor

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with other SDOs (Standards Development
Organisations) should be avoided and provision
should be made for referencing outputs of SDOs
in its output documents.
Although many participants agreed that there
was a need to adopt a flexible approach tailored
to rapidly respond to market requirements, no
agreement could be reached whether this necessitated
a new set of working methods different
from those of a regular SG.
A number of important non-European players
supported the establishment of a separate Study
Group for IMT-2000 and could not endorse the
European contribution. The compromise reached
was to set up a new Special Study Group on
IMT-2000 and beyond (SSG). The primary
responsibility of this special SG is the overall
network aspects of IMT-2000 and beyond,
including wireless Internet, convergence of
mobile and fixed networks, mobility management,
mobile multimedia functions, interworking
and interoperability. The SSG will be tasked
with enhancing network interoperability among
existing IMT-2000 systems specified by ITU-T
and external standards development organisations
(SDOs), Partnership Projects (PPs), IETF
and relevant external forums and to provide a
migration path regarding network aspects and
mobility from existing IMT-2000 systems
towards systems beyond IMT-2000. Care must
be taken to avoid duplication of work being performed
in the ITU-R, in other SDOs, in PPs
(such as the Third Generation Partnership Project
– 3GPP) and the IETF.
The special SG on IMT-2000 and beyond (SSG)
is special in the sense that the SSG will be
allowed to apply the provisional working procedures
set out in Recommendation A.9 approved
by WTSA. The Special Study Group is encouraged
to work electronically to the maximum
extent possible. The Special Study Group is not
bound by the rules governing the regular Study
Groups concerning the frequency of physical
meetings. Physical meetings may be announced
electronically with a minimum of one month’s
notice and contributions may be input up to
five working days before the meetings.
The Special SG on IMT-2000 and beyond is
authorised to develop and approve Recommendations
in the same manner as other Study
Groups. The Special SG may also consider other
deliverables of a status below that of an ITU
Recommendation such as normative technical
specifications or interim Recommendations. Proposals
for such output should be submitted to the
Telecommunication Standardization Advisory
Group (TSAG) for consideration and approval.
The provisions for such deliverables must, how-
ever, be incorporated in the A-series Recommendations
(containing ITU-T working procedures)
and approved by TSAG following the traditional
approval procedure including consultation of
Member States.
3 Appointment of SG
Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen
The candidates for chairmen and the vice-chairmen
of the Study Groups are discussed at the
meetings of heads of delegations of Member
States (where Sector Members are not authorised
to take part) and are finally appointed by the
WTSA. Following a request from Europe to the
TSB Director (Telecommunication Standardization
Bureau, the secretariat of ITU-T), a list of
all the candidates with their CVs and affiliation
was available to the ITU members before the
WTSA. It is the first time that the membership
as a whole had access to information about the
candidates and the number of candidates to the
various posts prior to the WTSA and this transparency
was much appreciated by Telenor and
other participants.
Although there is an evident need for ITU-T to
have competent chairmen and vice-chairmen, the
geographical balance and national interests are
often given more weight when a candidate is
chosen. For the new special SG on IMT 2000,
there was a list of 11 candidates for the vicechairmanship.
Unfortunately, WTSA was unable
to select a limited number – instead all 11 candidates
were appointed as vice-chairmen!
In Study Group 2, there were two competing candidates
for the chairmanship both coming from
European members – UK and France. As no
agreement on one candidate could be reached, it
was decided to share the chairmanship and vicechairmanship
by splitting the functions in periods
of two years each. Such a solution has never
before been practised in the ITU-T. It is disappointing
that it was impossible to decide on one
chairman, for example by using a vote. This is
certainly a weakness of the present system.
The WTSA also designated the chairman (Mr.
G. Fishman, Lucent Techn., USA) and vicechairmen
of the Telecommunication Standardization
Advisory Group (TSAG) and agreed to
limit the terms of office of all SG chairmen and
vice-chairmen including those of TSAG to eight
years (two SG periods).
4 Role of Telecommunication
Standardization Advisory
Group (TSAG)
A number of members of the ITU-T sector had
raised their concern about the four-year cycle of
the WTSA and questioned the sector’s ability to
reach decisions responding to market needs. It
Telektronikk 1.2001