Enhancing Pacific Connectivity - ITU Initiatives

1. Pacific ---Connecting the Unconnected---ITU initiatives“ENHANCING PACIFIC CONNECTIVITY”November 5, 2008 Ashish Narayan, Advisor, ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

2. Agenda • ITU “Vision and Strategy” • ITU Development Programs and Pacific • ITU Pacific Activities and Projects • Proposals and Partnership

3. ITU Vision & Strategic Plan 2008 -2011 Vision: By connecting the world and fulfilling everyone’s fundamental right to communicate, we strive to make the world a better and safer place. ITU Initiatives • Maintain and extend international, regional, sub-regional cooperation • Assist in bridging the digital divide and promote global connectivity through implementation of WSIS goals and objectives • Widen the Union's membership – especially from the industry • Develop tools to safeguard networks • Continue to improve efficiency and effectiveness • Disseminate information and know-how of ICT • Promote the development of an enabling environment Emergency Communication Connect the World ITU Initiatives Global Cybersecurity Agenda Capacity Building Enabling Environment Climate Change

4. ITU Development Programs and Pacific World Telecommunication Development Conference 2006 - Doha Delivery Mechanisms Six Major Development Programs Program 1: Regulatory reform Program 2:Technologies and telecom/ICT network development - Infrastructure Program 3: E-strategies and ICT applications Program 4: Economics & finance Program 5: Human Resource Development Program 6: Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and Emergency Telecommunications Seminars & Workshops Direct Country Assistances Through PPP Human Capacity Building Trainings / Fellowships Special Initiatives Gender; Children and Youth; Indigenous peoples and communities; Persons with disabilities; Communities living in Remote/Underserved areas Deployment of Infrastructure Regional Initiatives One of the five Asia Pacific Regional Initiatives focuses on the Pacific

5. Pacific Connectivity Delivery of secure, reliable and affordable ICT Services to all requires International Connectivity National Connectivity Affordability together with the following enablers Policy Legislation Capacity Building Content Cybersecurity Emergency Communication Regulation

6. National and International Connectivity • International Connectivity • Submarine Cable vis-à-vis Satellite • Creating the right enablers to finance affordable connectivity • International connectivity needs to be aligned with national connectivity • Most of the recent telecommunications growth in the Pacific Island countries has been experienced on narrowband networks • For Broadband services, existing networks (fixed and mobile) would need to be upgraded for smooth migration to the Next Generation Networks (NGN) • On fixed side, most of the broadband is provided using DSL, Cable TV or Fibre To The Home (FTTH) • Appropriate policies and regulation are necessary • to drive the demand (which would reduce the cost) through promoting ICT content and services • to encourage network penetration in remote areas through network roll out. A number of regulatory enablers including licensing, spectrum, Universal Service policies are necessary for the purpose • to enable community access to ICT services using various means including Multipurpose Community Telecentres

7. Mobile Technology Trend Present Status in Pacific

8. ITU Pacific Activities [2007] Policy-Regulation • APT/ITU/PITA Joint Regulatory Forum, Fiji (2006) Workshops • APT/ITU/PITA workshop on “Principles of Cyber Legislation”, NZ • Kiribati (Licensing, Internet Exchange) • Papua New Guinea (Numbering, Interconnection) • Marshall Islands (e-Governance) Direct Assistances • Rural/outer island Communication Development in Tonga, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Nauru • Multi-purpose Community Telecentres establishment in Solomon Islands, Samoa Concentrated Assistance to SIDS Spectrum, Regulation, Human Resources, Disaster Communication etc. Capacity Building ITU works closely with partners such as PITA, PIFS, APT, SPC, The World Bank, UNESCAP for effective delivery

9. ITU Pacific Activities [2008] Policy-Regulation • Regional Workshop on Cybersecurity Workshops • ITU/APT/PITA Regional Forum on Next Generation Telecommunications in the Pacific • Kiribati (Cost Modeling) • Papua New Guinea (Numbering, Interconnection) • Samoa (Spectrum Management) • Vanuatu (Spectrum Management) Direct Assistances Concentrated Assistance to SIDS • Rural/outer island Communication Development in Tonga, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Nauru Capacity Building • NGN, Human Resources, CoE Courses ITU works closely with partners such as PITA, PIFS, APT, SPC, The World Bank, UNESCAP for effective delivery

10. ITU Asia-Pacific Regional Capacity Building Spectrum Management (Iran) Policy & Regulation (Pakistan) Business Management (Thailand) Technology Awareness (Rep. of Korea) Rural ICT Development (Malaysia) A number of Pacific Island Countries use the Asia Pacific CoE network for their training needs. The trainings are now being further extended to the Pacific in partnership with PITA.ITU EC Project on capacity building to start soon.

11. ITU Key Partnership Projects in the Pacific Government of Australia • Policy & Regulatory Assistance in Asia and the Pacific (2008/09) • ICT Policy & Regulatory Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region and addressing the unique ICT needs of the Pacific Island Countries (2007/08) • Telecommunication/ICT Governance in the Asia-Pacific Region (2006/08) • Effective Use of Telecommunications/ICT in Disaster Management • Assistance for the Establishment of Sector Governance in Telecommunications in East Timor European Commission • Capacity Building and ICT Policy, Regulatory and Legislative Frameworks Support for Pacific Island States Andorra • Rural/outer island communication development in Tonga, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea and Nauru

12. Pacific ICT Minister’s FORUM ITU“PACIFIC ICT MINISTER’S FORUM on Connecting the Unconnected” from 17 -20 Feb 2009 will be hosted by the Kingdom of Tonga and in joint organization with partners. The Forum aims to lay down the action plans that would “connect the unconnected and all the Islands in the Pacific with affordable, ubiquitous, reliable and secure access by 2015” through: • Technology enabler: including optical fibre networks, satellite communications, wireless broadband technologies, adaptive mobile communications, and NGN; • Policy & regulation enabler: facilitating international and domestic connectivity and enabling market environment; • Human capacity building: ensuring human capacity to maintain, operate, and develop networks, services and content.

13. Proposals for Partnerships ITU invites partners to work together towards this common goal for “Connecting the Unconnected in the Pacific” on collaborative and constructive manners in the following areas. • Project investments for Pacific Connectivity i.e. domestic and international connectivity through various technology options • Human capacity building for policy makers, telecom regulators, operators, and users • ICT service, application, and content development • Safeguarding networks and people through effective Cybersecurity and emergency communications initiatives including climate change adaptation

14. Thank You