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Global Standardization Activities

Vol. 21, No. 9, pp. 58–61, Sept. 2023. https://doi.org/10.53829/ntr202309gls

A Report on ASTAP and WTSA-24 Regional Preparatory Meeting

Hiroshi Yamamoto and Jiro Nagao

Abstract

The 35th ASTAP (Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) Standardization Program) Forum was held at the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Bangkok, Thailand from April 17 to 20, 2023, and on the following day, the 1st meeting of the APT Preparatory Group for WTSA-24 (World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2024) was held. We report on the status of each conference and the main results of each.

Keywords: APT, ASTAP, WTSA-24

1. ASTAP overview

The Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT), an international organization promoting the development of information and communication technology (ICT) in the Asia-Pacific region, was established in 1979 and has 38 member countries [1].

The APT Standardization Program (ASTAP), which promotes standardization activities in the APT, was established in 1998 [2]. The main objectives are (1) to contribute to international standardization by building a cooperative and collaborative system for standardization within the APT region, (2) nurture standardization activists within the APT region and support the development of ICT skills among members within the region, especially those from developing countries, and (3) co-propose as a regional standardization organization to international standardization organizations such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). It is important to use ASTAP as a platform to build camaraderie in the APT region and contribute to developing countries, and as a strategic platform for Japan for international collaboration in standardization activities.

The 35th ASTAP Forum (ASTAP-35) was held at the Royal Orchid Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Bangkok, Thailand from April 17 to 20, 2023, with a total of 179 participants, which includes 123 on-site participants, 27 sponsoring members, and 7 participants from other international organizations in 24 APT member countries.

1.1 ASTAP’s new management team

At the ASTAP-35, Dr. Hyoung Jun Kim (Electronic & Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)) of the Republic of Korea was appointed as the ASTAP chair, and Mr. Xiaoyu You (China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT)) of China and Dr. Hideyuki Iwata (Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC)) of Japan were appointed as vice chairs for the second term. Among the executives of the Working Groups (WGs) and Expert Groups (EGs) under the WGs, the replacement regarding Japan of Mr. Noriyuki Araki (NTT) with Dr. Hideo Imanaka (National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT)) as the chair of EG DRMRS (Disaster Risk Management and Relief System) and the replacement of Ms. Miho Naganuma (NEC) with Mr. Hiroshi Takechi (NEC) as the chair of EG IS (Security) were approved. Table 1 shows the new management team.

Table 1. ASTAP management team. (the chairs/vice chairs elected from Japan are indicated in bold)

1.2 Industry Workshop

On the first day of the ASTAP-35, an Industry Workshop was held under the theme “AI (artificial intelligence), Metaverse, Open Source.” From Japan, Mr. Leon Wong from Rakuten Mobile, Dr. Hideo Imanaka from NICT, and Dr. Masahisa Kawashima from NTT spoke at the AI session, Metaverse session, and Open Source session, respectively. Table 2 lists the workshop topics.

Table 2. Industry Workshop topics. (the speakers from Japan are underlined)

1.3 Outcome document

At the plenary meeting, final approval was given to 17 deliverables that had been discussed by the EGs and subsequently agreed by the WGs.

2. APT WTSA-24 Preparatory Group

Following the ASTAP-35, the 1st meeting of the APT Preparatory Group for World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2024 (WTSA-24) was held on April 21, 2023, with a total of 127 participants, including 86 from 19 national administrations, 12 supporting members, and 18 from 3 international organizations.

The APT WTSA-24 Preparatory Group is positioned as the preparatory meeting for WTSA-24 (to be held in New Delhi, India, in October 2024) among the APT member states (38 countries), and the 1st meeting discussed management systems. From Japan, Dr. Hideyuki Iwata of the TTC was appointed as vice chair, Mr. Hiroshi Yamamoto of NTT (one of authors) as the chair of WG1 (ITU-T Working Methods), Ms. Miho Naganuma of NEC as vice chair of WG2 (ITU-T Work Organization), and Ms. Eriko Hondo of KDDI as vice chair of WG3 (Regulatory/Policy and Standardization Related Issues). Table 3 shows the management team of the APT WTSA-24 Preparatory Group.

Table 3. APT WTSA-24 Preparatory Group management team. (the chairs/vice chairs elected from Japan are indicated in bold)

3. Future plans

In preparation for WTSA-24, the APT is planning a total of 5 regional preparatory meetings, with the second preparatory meeting scheduled to be held online in late January 2024.

References

[1]	APT, https://www.apt.int/
[2]	ASTAP, https://www.apt.int/APTASTAP

Hiroshi Yamamoto: Director, Standardization Office, Research and Development Planning Department, NTT Corporation.
He received a B.S. and M.S. in information and computer science from Waseda University, Tokyo, in 1999 and 2001. In 2001, he joined NTT Service Integration Laboratories, where he was engaged in the performance evaluation of Internet protocol (IP) networks, web applications, and video delivery. In 2006, he joined NTT Communications, where he engaged in the development of voice-over-IP systems. In 2010, he joined NTT Network Technology Laboratories, where he engaged in research and development of a quality-of-experience control video-delivery mechanism. In 2015, he was assigned as the primary USA liaison based in Washington, D.C. and was engaged in enhancing collaborations with US academia and industry. In 2020, he was assigned as a senior research engineer, supervisor at NTT Network Technology Labs and engaged in the research and development of future network architecture. He is currently the head of standardization office and oversees NTT Group’s standardization activities.

Jiro Nagao: Senior Manager, Standardization Office, Research and Development Planning Department, NTT Corporation.
He received a Ph.D. in information science from Nagoya University, Aichi, in 2007 and joined NTT the same year. From 2007 to 2011, he was engaged in research and development of image processing and content distribution technology. From 2012 to 2017, he worked for NTT Communications, serving as the technical leader of commercial video streaming services. From 2017 to 2021, he was engaged in research and development of immersive media and presentation technology at NTT Service Evolution Laboratories. Since 2019, he has contributed to the international standardization efforts on immersive live experience (ILE) of ITU-T Study Group 16. He served as an editor of ITU-T H.430.4 (ex H.ILE-MMT) and H.430.5 (ex H.ILE-PE) from 2019 to 2020. He received the ITU Association of Japan Encouragement Award in 2021. He is currently an associate rapporteur of ITU-T Study Group 16 Question 8 (Immersive Live Experience, since 2022) and the leader of ILE Sub Working Group of the Telecommunication Technology Committee (since 2020). He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE), and the Japanese Society of Medical Imaging Technology (JAMIT).

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