The following is the full opening address as relayed by senior members of the ITU. Mention of 4G is highlighted in bold for those who don't wish to read the whole address.

ASIA : It is really a great honour and pleasure for me to welcome you to this “Chief Technical Officers (CTO) meeting”. Earlier this year when I started to plan this meeting, I was not sure whether or not it would happen. Now, I am very pleased to welcome you all here. Such a gathering is a remarkable event, bearing in mind the very painful transition period that the ICT industry currently finds itself in and the fact, that at the end of a year, you all have a lot of urgent issues to be handled at home.

So, in this context, I am appreciative that all of you have taken time out from very busy schedules to be here, along with others who are still on their way to join us later today. I understand perfectly that some of you are not able to take part in all of our discussions. Regardless, I would like to express my thanks to you all.

Attending this meeting are CTOs or senior leaders responsible for their company’s strategic development of technology, service, and/or marketing. The companies present here cover fixed and/or mobile services, telecom and/or IP services, or combination of those services. Also present are senior leaders of some Administrations. We have observers from ITU partner organizations, ITU-T Study Group Chairs and senior staff from TSB, BR and other ITU departments. We have a very good geographic coverage incorporating all regions of the world. As this is the first time that most of us have met, I will invite each of you to introduce yourselves later on.

ITU’s Strategic Plan states, “the solution to strengthening the Union (ITU) lies in treating the Sector Members more as partners in appropriate work of the Union”. I see it as vital for the Union to gain the confidence and support of Industry Members. To achieve this goal, contact and mutual understanding between ITU and industry members at different levels are necessary. In recent years, I organized two “Informal consultation meetings” with industry members, known as “ Martigny meetings”, which initiated better communication between ITU-T and industry. It seemed a logical next step to convene this meeting of CTOs. I believe that the opinions and views held by CTOs will provide an important contribution and will influence the future development of the ICT industry and of society as a whole. The output of this meeting will have great value as input into the WSIS process that we will see unfolding here in Geneva in two days.

In order to make the best use of our time, I would like to limit discussions to strategic issues that will affect global ICT development, not necessarily directly related to the ITU role. Merely, by enjoying your presence here, ITU will benefit. However, during the preparation of this meeting, I have noted a lot of interest in ITU standardization. So, please allow me to say a few words on the actual situation of ITU standardization work. Today, ITU can approve its Recommendations with AAP (Alternative Approval Process) in less than two months after the text is identified as mature for approval. ITU promotes electronic discussions, e-meetings, and many other new measures to facilitate this progress.

The industry enjoys a lot of power and is supported by governments in the development of technical, operational and tariff standards within ITU. ITU has made a tremendous effort to strengthen its cooperation with international and regional organizations such as ISO, IEC, IETF, IEEE, and ETSI in recent years. More recently, ITU has also looked to strengthen its cooperation with fora/consortia. In this respect, I am very pleased to report that in July 2003 I organized a successful “Informal Forum Summit” with the presence of more than 50 leaders from 36 fora/SDOs active in the ICT market. In my opinion, the new ITU environment is the best, or, as some friends have said, one of the best environments where industry can work together for global interest. Surely, there are always things to be further improved. ITU will continue to make efforts to meet market expectations.

I am very pleased with the increasing awareness of the importance of international standards. ITU approved at its last Plenipotentiary Conference in 2002, for the first time in its history, Resolution 123, on bridging the standardization gap between the developing and developed countries. A reference to international standards is made in both drafts of the “Declaration of Principles” and “Action Plan” of the World Summit of Information Society (WSIS). There have also been several important developments in the regions, including the establishment of China Communication Standardization Association (CCSA) inaugurated in December 2002, the new form of PCC.I of CITEL, changed its title to “Telecommunication Standardization” in 2002, and the newly established “Telecom Forum” in Malaysia in 2003 which will take care of telecom standards in Malaysia. Recently, I received a request from Africa Telecom Union, asking the ITU to support its initiative to set up an Africa Multimedia Standardization Forum. Indeed, we are pleased with the increasing participation of experts from developing countries in ITU-T meetings held in Geneva. In 2001, around 24% of the total number of delegates who attended ITU-T meetings were from developing countries. The figure increased to 32% in 2002. I would like to share with you some other stories. The Minister of Kenya asked me in September 2003 why ITU does not standardize the interfaces between different telecom equipment sharing the same functions; could we do something to help them?

The Under-Secretary of Cambodia asked me in November the question: can ITU provide a globally accepted technology for 3G, but not trouble them with many systems for their choice.

The Minister of Brunei in 2002 told me that a company proposed the installation of a 4G system in his country. The Minister asked the company if there was an ITU standard for 4G. The company said no, but further advised him that the 4G system proposed would become a de-facto international standard later on.

The Minister rejected the proposal, for the simple reason that he does not feel comfortable with a telecom system that does not conform to an ITU standard. These and many more issues are set to challenge worldwide leaders and experts. They are often the same problems that trouble ITU and other SDOs. For example, NGN is a hot topic but so far there is no definition commonly agreed by the world community. 4G might be another example.

In the July issue of a magazine, perhaps, “TIME”, whilst travelling to the USA in July, there was an article on 4G. The article described Wi-Fi as 4G, which might not be easily accepted by those who are working on 3G-4G development.

In short, there is a need to have guidance, or direction, from competent organs, where appropriate. Our meeting, I hope, will provide such direction.

It is true that companies are often competitors in the market. CTOs are key people in the companies. However, nobody can do everything, we all occupy unique positions in the global market. It is therefore equally true that we all have to work together to enable global communication. While we might compete against each other on the actions of implementation in today’s market, we can also agree with each other on the visions of technical development for tomorrow, thus avoiding competition for the very limited resources. I would dare to guess that you agree with my opinion, which is why you all accepted my invitation to join this meeting. If this is the case, I would be very pleased if we could have some consensus statement on the future from this meeting.

Dear friends, I see many high quality inputs very well prepared by our participants. I would like to emphasize the main goal of this meeting, which is to provide a technical view on the future. I am fully aware of the fact that we can not build our future based on technology only. However, I do not believe that it is appropriate for this meeting to discuss the social or political issues relating to our future. I would prefer to leave these issues, particularly those politically weighted issues to other competent forums, such as WSIS. We should concentrate on the issues where we have core competence. I will discuss with you the agenda and the way to run our meeting later on.

Now, I would like to give the floor to Mr. Utsumi, Secretary-General of ITU. Mr. Utsumi has supported this meeting since the very beginning when I discussed my initiative with him. He has just delivered his opening remarks at the ITU Symposium for regulators in CICG. He kindly comes to our meeting before he takes another urgent engagement for WSIS.
Please welcome Mr. Utsumi for his remarks and guidance.

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