You need Adobe Reader 7.0 or later in order to read PDF files on this site.
If Adobe Reader is not installed on your computer, click the button below and go to the download site.

Global Standardization Activities

Vol. 23, No. 6, pp. 32–36, June 2025. https://doi.org/10.53829/ntr202506gls

Report on World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24)

Hiroshi Yamamoto

Abstract

The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly 2024 (WTSA-24) was held in New Delhi, India from October 15 to 24, 2024. The WTSA is the most important assembly of the International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), headed by Seizo Onoe, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, and is held every four years. This article provides an overview of WTSA-24 and introduces the main discussion topics.

Keywords: ITU, World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA), Partner2Connect (P2C)

1. About World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly

The World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly (WTSA) is a general assembly of the International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) and held every four years. Figure 1 shows the structure of the ITU and the position of the WTSA within it. The ITU has a Plenipotentiary Conference (PP) at the top, which makes overall decisions and held every four years as well. At PP-22 from September 26 to October 14, 2022, Seizo Onoe, a former chief standardization strategy officer at NTT, who was nominated by Japan, was elected as Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) and scheduled to serve a four-year term from 2023. The PP has a Council under it, and there are four bureaus: the General Secretariat, ITU-R (Radiocommunication Bureau), ITU-T (TSB), and ITU-D (Telecommunication Development Bureau). The WTSA is the highest decision-making general assembly in ITU-T where resolutions that set rules for the subordinate Study Groups (SGs) and Telecommunication Standardization Advisory Group (TSAG) are proposed, revised, or abolished, and where the chairs and vice-chairs of each group are elected. Figure 2 shows the deliberation structure of WTSA-24. The WTSA has five committees (COMs) under the Plenary session (PL), which makes decisions as a general assembly. COM1 is responsible for meeting operations, COM2 for budget management, COM3 for working methods, COM4 for work planning and organization, and COM5 for editing. The two Working Groups (WGs) established under COM3 and COM4 each conduct detailed studies. Two people from Japan were elected to WTSA-24 management, the chair of COM3 and the vice-chair of COM4, and they played an active role. In addition to deliberating on resolutions that set ITU-T’s activity guidelines and working methods, the WTSA also reorganizes SGs and selects chairs and vice-chairs for SGs and the TSAG. Therefore, many of the WTSA’s discussions are related to policy issues and organizational management policies, and unlike SG meetings, they are characterized by the high participation of government officials. Since each deliberation includes technical content, participation from private companies also plays an important role. Another feature of the WTSA is that deliberations are based on proposals from six regions: Asia-Pacific region (APT: Asia-Pacific Telecommunity), European region (CEPT: European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations), Americas region (CITEL: Inter-American Telecommunication Commission), African region (ATU: African Telecommunications Union), Arab region (LAS: Council of Arab Ministers of Telecommunication and Information represented by the Secretariat-General of the League of Arab States), and Russian region (RCC: Regional Commonwealth in the field of Communications).

Fig. 1. ITU organizational structure.

Fig. 2. WTSA-24 management structure.

2. Main outputs of WTSA-24

The previous WTSA-20 was originally scheduled to be held in Hyderabad, India in 2020 but was postponed several times due to the global spread of COVID-19 since early 2020. It was finally held in March 2022 as a hybrid meeting, combining on-site and online meetings in Geneva, Switzerland.

WTSA-24 was held as usual on-site, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, India in October 2024. Figure 3 shows the exterior of Bharat Mandapam, the building in Pragati Maidan that served as the main venue. Figure 4 shows the WTSA-24 Plenary held in the main conference room of Bharat Mandapam. The plenary session brought together delegations from the 164 member states that participated in WTSA-24, and the session was led and conducted by ITU officials, including TSB Director Seizo Onoe, and the WTSA Presidium.

Fig. 3. WTSA-24 main venue.

Fig. 4. WTSA-24 Plenary.

2.1 SG restructuring

In response to a proposal from Japan regarding the integration of SGs at the TSAG meeting held in January 2024, the ITU-T agreed to the integration of SGs (SG9 + SG16) for the first time in 16 years, and SG21 was established. Originally, SG9 was titled “Broadband cable and TV” and SG16 was titled “Multimedia.” The new SG21 is titled “Multimedia, content delivery & cable TV” and will be the SG that will study multimedia technologies for existing and future networks, including Internet-Protocol-based and cable-based ones.

2.2 SG management appointments

The appointment of chairs and vice-chairs of each group (TSAG, SGs) had been stipulated in WTSA Resolution 35 (before WTSA-20), but in 2018, new Resolution 208 (Appointment and maximum term of office for chairmen and vice-chairmen of sector advisory groups, study groups and other groups) was approved at ITU PP-18, and the abolition of WTSA Resolution 35 was approved in the previous WTSA-20. PP Resolution 208 includes provisions such as limiting the number of vice-chairs of each SG to three from each region, taking into account regional balance. In WTSA-24, the chairs and vice-chairs for the next study period (2025–2028) were also appointed on the basis of PP Resolution 208. Table 1 lists the appointments. An asterisk (*) in the table indicates a second term, and the people elected from Japan are shown in red. One chair and seven vice-chairs were elected from Japan, one being from NTT.

Table 1. Appointed chairs and vice-chairs.

2.3 New resolutions

Eight new resolutions were approved at WTSA-24: digital public infrastructure (COM4/DPI), metaverse (COM4/MV), sustainable digital transformation (COM4/SDT), facilitating next-generation expert engagement (COM3/APT-NG), vehicular communication (COM4/VC), strategic planning (COM3/SP), artificial intelligence (COM4/AI), and location information provision for emergency communications (COM4/CLI-C). The new resolution on AI (COM4/AI) was proposed by Arab countries at the previous WTSA-20 and a draft was being prepared, but it was shelved after Western countries and Japan suggested postponing the drafting. With the increasing importance of AI in society, the resolution was approved at this WTSA-24.

3. Side events

In stark contrast to the previous WTSA during the COVID-19 pandemic, WTSA-24 attracted many participants and held various events at the same time. For example, the Network of Women for WTSA-24 held on October 17th, shown in Fig. 5, featured an award ceremony for women active in ITU-T, a panel session, and promotion of diversity in ITU-T with ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin (Ms. Bogdan is the first female Secretary-General since the ITU was founded in 1865).

Fig. 5. Network of Women for WTSA-24.

The Partner2Connect (P2C) session at WTSA-24 held on October 23rd was also a very successful event. P2C promotes global support activities by registering (pledges) information on activities by companies and organizations to support the development of information and communication technology in developing countries in a database and publishing it from ITU. The NTT Group has invested in datacenters in India and registered this activity as a P2C pledge. Figure 6 shows a photo of the P2C session. ITU Secretary-General Bogdan gave the opening address, followed by a panel discussion with representatives from companies and organizations implementing pledges. NTT was also invited as a panelist, and Hiroshi Yamamoto, head of the Standardization Office, author of this article, took the stage.

Fig. 6. P2C session at WTSA-24.

4. Closing

Under the direction of TSB Director Seizo Onoe, WTSA-24 successfully concluded with the launch of a new SG, SG21, and the successful completion of numerous topics, including various concurrently held events. NTT will continue to work on future telecommunications and information and communications technology activities in accordance with the policy of the resolutions approved this time and will continue to promote research and development of IOWN (Innovative Optical and Wireless Network) and international standardization toward a sustainable society, as discussed in the P2C session.

Hiroshi Yamamoto: Director, Standardization Office, Research and Development Planning Department, Research and Development Market Strategy Division, 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 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 the NTT Group’s standardization activities. He served as the chair of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) Preparatory Group for WTSA-24 Working Group 1 (Working Methods).

↑ TOP