1. ITU-T overview Global standards by consensus
ITU Workshop on “Quality of Service and Quality of Experience of Multimedia Services in Emerging Networks” (Istanbul, Turkey, 9-11 February 2015)
ITU-T overview Global standards by consensus
Hiroshi OTA
Advisor, ITU/TSB

2. ITU: UN Agency for ICTs

3. ITU : enabling communication since 1865

4. ITU150 in 2015
This year, the International Telecommunications Union will be 150 years old!
What happened in 1865? The first International Telegraph Convention was signed in Paris and the International Telegraph Union was established.
To celebrate this anniversary, several initiatives are organized all along the Theme for all celebrations in 2015 is “Telecommunications and ICTs: drivers of innovation”
How to participate in the celebrations?
Two examples:
ITU150 Awards - Calls for nominations Deadline: 15 March 2015
Calls for national celebrations in 2015 ITU membership is invited to share national activities organized for ITU150th Anniversary. (More information can be found here) Delegates at the first International Telegraph Conference (Paris, 1865)
Our story begins in 1865 in Paris. Delegations from 20 European countries met to sign an agreement on the international telegraph service. It was a remarkable conference, “a real Peace Congress”.
On 17 May 2015 ITU will be celebrating 150 years since the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention and the creation of the International Telegraph Union, ITU’s predecessor
For a century and a half, the Intentional Telecommunication Union has been at the centre of advances in communications - – from telegraphy through to the modern world of satellites, mobile phones and the Internet.
2015 is a commemoration year for all ITU Membership – including governments, private companies, and other stakeholders.
The theme chosen for this year is ICT, drivers of innovation. The celebrations of ITU150 will aim at
Bringing visibility to ITU’s mission and strategic goals;
Celebrating ITU’s contribution to build a connected society;
Looking into the future challenges of the ICT sector.
Here are two examples on how you can participate in the celebrations:
1 ITU150 Awards - Calls for nominations This year, the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD), celebrated on 17 May, marks the anniversary of the ITU 150 year. This date coincide with the signature of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865, which led to the creation of the International Telecommunication Union. An ITU150 Awards has been launched to recognize individuals past and present from government, ICT industry, academia, and civil society that have contributed to improving lives of world citizens through ICT innovations developed, promoted or implemented by ITU.   The Laureates will be recognized with the ITU150 Awards at a special event to be organized in Geneva on 17 May Deadline for submission of nominations: 15 March  All information is available at:
2 Calls for national celebrations in 2015 ITU membership is invited to share and notify to ITU, the national activities organized in occasion of ITU 150th Anniversary. ITU will give visibility to the activities and provide with content support. The form to submit such information is available here.
All additional information on ITU150 Anniversary can be found here.

5. ITU: a unique Membership
193 Member States and regulatory bodies
750+ companies
Business associations
International organizations
NGOs
88 Universities and
Research
Establishments

6. Leading Private Sector Members

7. ITU’S network of academia members
88 universities in 41 countries

8. Academia members Rights Access to all ITU Study Groups
Submit contributions
Leading positions: rapporteur or editor
Unlimited participation of delegates
Benefits
Working with Member States and regulatory bodies from all around the world
Meeting key players in the ICT industry
Partner with the most innovative research institutes and universities

9. ITU is international organization with an established global presence
ITU 5 Elected Officials
760 Staff from 80 Countries
6 UN Official Languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish
Headquarters in Geneva with Liaison Office in New York
Regional offices in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Brasilia, Cairo
Area offices in Bridgetown, Dakar, Harare, Jakarta, Moscow, Santiago, Tegucigalpa, Yaoundé

10. ITU’s 3 Sectors: Standards, Radiocommunications and Development
ITU-T Standardization
ITU-D Development
ITU-R Radiocommunication

11. ITU-T
The Study Groups of ITU-T assemble experts from around the world to develop international standards known as ITU-T Recommendations
Standards are critical to the interoperability of ICTs and whether we exchange voice, video or data messages
Standards reduce costs

12. ITU-D
To foster international cooperation and solidarity in the delivery of technical assistance and in the creation, development and improvement of telecommunication/ICT equipment and networks in developing countries
To facilitate and enhance telecommunication/ICT development by offering, organizing and coordinating technical cooperation and assistance activities

13. ITU-R
Plays a vital role in the global management of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits
Limited natural resources which are increasingly in demand from a large and growing number of services
Its mission is to ensure the rational, equitable, efficient and economical use of the radio-frequency spectrum by all radiocommunication services

14. Introduction of ITU-T

15. ITU-T’s strategic goals
To develop interoperable, non-discriminatory international standards (ITU-T Recommendations)
To assist in bridging the standardization gap between developed and developing countries
To extend and facilitate international cooperation among international, regional and national standardization bodies
Chaesub Lee
TSB Director

16. Bridging the Standardization Gap (BSG)
BSG is one of the three strategic goals of ITU-T
The gap is defined as the disparities in the ability of developing countries, relative to developed ones, to access, implement, contribute to and influence international ICT standards, specifically ITU‐T Recommendations.
Bridging the standardization gap: PP Res 123, WTSA Res 44 and WTDC Res 47
Details will be provided in the following presentation

17. ITU-T collaborates with standards organizations to avoid overlap
40+ formal
partnerships

18. ITU-T work areas

19. ITU-T Study Groups SG2 Operational aspects
SG3 Economic and policy issues
SG5 Environment and climate change
SG9 Broadband cable and TV
SG11 Protocols and test specifications
SG12 Performance, QoS and QoE
SG13 Future networks & clould
SG15 Transport, access and home
SG16 Multimedia
SG17 Security

20. Some hot topics from each Study Group

21. Numbering Resources SG2 ITU-T Recommendation E.164
“International public telecommunication numbering plan”
Current Issues:
Misuse/misappropriation of numbers (WTSA Resolution 61)
CPND, CLI and OI (WTSA Res. 65)
character input methods for various ICT devices
New application of E.212
Telecom Finance
Telecommunication Management
Telecommunications for disaster relief/early warning, network resilience and recovery
Turkey +90

22. SG2
Human Factors, usability and accessibility for persons with disabilities
Human Factors and ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities
Question 4/2 “Human Factors related issues for the improvement of the quality of life through international telecommunications”
Usability for all, persons who may or may not have disability.
Joint Coordination Activity for Accessibility and Human Factors: raises awareness and contributes to better collaboration and cooperation among Study Groups

23. ITU’s most famous accessibility standard
SG2
ITU’s most famous accessibility standard
ITU-T E.161 (2001): “Bump” on key “5”
“To assist blind and visually impaired people… and others to facilitate dialing under low light conditions”

24. Tariff and Accounting SG3 Current Issues:
International Internet connectivity (IIC)
International Mobile Roaming
Alternative Calling Procedures
Dispute Resolution
Economics of Transition to IPv6
Photo by Steve Schroeder, CC BY-NC 2.0

25. ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change
SG5
ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change
Electromagnetic compatibility and electromagnetic effects
ICTs and climate change (including, inter alia, e-waste, energy efficiency, climate change adaptation and mitigation)

26. 67 53 E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream
SG5
E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream 67
million metric tons of electrical and electronic equipment put in the market 53
million metric tons e-waste disposed of worldwide
For every 1 million cell phones that are recycled, 16 tons of copper, 350 kilos of silver, 34 kilos of gold and 15 kilos of palladium can be recovered.
Source: United Nations University and United States Environmental Protection Agency

27. One adapter size fits all
SG5
One adapter size fits all
Saves 82,000 tons of e-waste per year
Saves at least 13.6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually

28. Recycling Rare Metals in ICT Products
SG5
Recycling Rare Metals in ICT Products
20 Rare Metals in a mobile phone
1 ton gold ore  5 grams
1 ton of used mobile phones  400 grams

29. Best Practices for Green Data Centres
SG5
Best Practices for Green Data Centres
Best practices related to optimum design and construction;
Efficient use and management of data centres, taking into account both power and cooling equipment.
For example, applying best practices to cooling could reduce the energy consumption of a typical data centre by more than 50%.

30. SG5
Common set of methodologies for the environmental impact assessment of ICT
Without, it will be impossible to provide meaningful comparisons
Helps to establish the business case to go green
Developed in cooperation with UNFCCC Secretariat, EC and over 40 other organizations etc..
4 Recommendations published - available on the ITU-T website:
L.1400 Overview and general principles
L.1410 Environmental impact of ICT goods, networks and services
L.1420 Environmental impact of ICT in organizations
L.1430 Environmental impact of ICT projects
2 Recommendations under preparation:
L.1440 Environmental impact of ICT in cities (consent in 2014)
L.1450 Environmental impact of ICT in countries (consent expected in 2015)

31. Television and integrated broadband cable networks
SG9
Television and integrated broadband cable networks
Telecommunication systems for broadcasting of television and sound programs (e.g., IPTV)
Use of CATV networks to provide interactive video services, telephone and data services, including Internet access (e.g. cable modems, set top boxes, APIs)
Quality assessment of video and multimedia over cable networks (IRG AVQA launched in December 2013, jointly managed by SG9, SG12 and ITU-R SG6)
Transmission of Large Screen Digital Imagery (LSDI and new services such as 3DTV and Ultra High Definition TV)
Conditional Access (e.g. protection of subscription services etc.)
Smart Cable Television (FG on Smart Cable TV successfully concluded in December 2013)

32. Signalling requirements, protocols and Test specifications
SG11
Signalling requirements, protocols and Test specifications
Lead Study Group on:
signalling and protocols
machine-to-machine (M2M) signalling and protocol
test specifications, conformance and interoperability testing
Parent Study Group for
FG M2M service layer (successfully concluded 12/2013)
JCA on Conformance and Interoperability testing
Research area:
Signaling protocols for IP-based networks, NGN, M2M, IoT, Cloud Computing, Smart Grid, SDN
Requirements and test specifications (e.g. SIP-IMS profile, cloud interoperability testing, NGN, etc.)
Testing laboratory recognition procedure
Measurements of Internet speed

33. Internet of Things SG11 SG13 SG16 “The Internet of Things” (ITU, 2005)
Time
Miniaturization and cost per unit
“The Internet of Things” (ITU, 2005)

34. Performance, QoS and QoE
SG12
Performance, QoS and QoE
Lead study group on
Quality of service and quality of experience
Driver distraction and voice aspects of car communications
QoS and QoE for the full spectrum of terminals, networks and services ranging from speech over fixed circuit-based networks to multimedia applications over networks that are mobile and packet based
Operational aspects of QoS and QoE, the end-to-end quality aspects of interoperability, and the development of multimedia quality assessment methodologies, both subjective and objective
Hot topics and details will be given in the following presentations

35. SG13
Future networks including cloud computing, mobile and next-generation networks
Lead study group on
Future networks
Mobility management and NGN
Cloud computing
Software-Defined Networking (SDN)
Big data in the context of clould computing
Output from SG13 includes
Y.3001 (05/2011) “Future networks: Objectives and design goals”
Y.2001  (12/2004) “General overview of NGN” with its revised functional architecture Y.2012 (04/2010) “Functional requirements and architecture of next generation networks”
Y.3501(05/2013) “Cloud computing framework and high-level requirements”
Y.2060 (06/2012) “Overview of the Internet of things” and Y.3300 (06/2014) “Framework of Software-Defined Networking”
Y.3300 (06/2014) “Framework of software-defined networking”

36. ITU-T Cloud Computing From own to lease Growth opportunity for Telcos
SG13
ITU-T Cloud Computing
From own to lease
Growth opportunity for Telcos
Security, Audit, and Privacy
Inter-Cloud
Load sharing
Disaster recovery
The Economist, Oct 2009

37. SG13
Cloud Computing

38. ITU Internet Broadband Access &Transport Standards
SG15
ITU Internet Broadband Access &Transport Standards
Access:
ADSL: ITU-T G.992.x
FTTX:
XGPON (10G) ITU-T G.987.x
NG-PON2 (40G) ITU-T G.989.x
Bendable fibers: ITU-T G.657
G.fast: ITU-T G.9700, G.9701
Optical Transport:
Beyond 100G bit/s
Ethernet/MPLS-TP for operators
Synchronization for packet

39. Smart Grid Communication
SG15
Smart Grid Communication
ITU-T G.9901 (04/2014): Narrow-band OFDM power line communication transceivers - Power spectral density (PSD) specification.
ITU-T G.9902 (G.hnem) (10/2012): Narrow-band OFDM power line communication transceivers – G.hnem Cenelec A, B, CD, and FCC.
ITU-T G.9903 (G3-PLC) (02/2014): Narrow-band OFDM power line communication transceivers – G3-PLC Cenelec A, B, FCC and ARIB bandplan.
ITU-T G.9904 (PRIME) (10/2012): Narrow-band OFDM power line communication transceivers – PRIME Cenelec A.
ITU-T G.9905 (08/2013): Centralized metric-based source routing

40. Multimedia Advanced video coding: ITU-T H.264
SG16
Multimedia
Advanced video coding: ITU-T H.264
Used to compress billions of clips on YouTube, but also high-definition content on Blu-ray Discs
High Efficiency Video Coding: ITU-T H.265
Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (ITU-T, ISO/IEC); reduces H.264 data rate by 50%

41. SG16
IPTV
ITU-T suite of IPTV standards discussed  – global & open standards, end to end solution
Global Standards Initiative (IPTV-GSI)
ITU organized interoperability testing and/or showcasing events in Geneva, Singapore, India, Brazil, United Arab Emirates since 2010
3rd ITU IPTV Application Challenge launched with International Paralympic Committee (IPC)
ITU IPTV IPv6 Global Testbed (I3GT) connects sites worldwide to test various aspects of ITU-T’s IPTV standards and related technologies.

42. Multimedia and Accessibility for persons with disabilities
SG16
Multimedia and Accessibility for persons with disabilities
SG16 - lead study group on telecommunication/ICT accessibility for persons with disabilities.
Question Q26/16 is the group specifically designated to deal with Accessibility to Multimedia Systems and Services for persons with disabilities.
responsible for developing (or assisting in the development of) multimedia technical standards addressing accessibility needs of persons with disabilities
It also reviews accessibility features included in telecom standards developed in other Study Groups
Other groups of experts under SG16: Focus Group on Audiovisual Media Accessibility (FG AVA) successfully concluded in October 2013
3rd ITU IPTV Application Challenge : Better quality of life with international standards: an accessible world for all

43. Connecting medics with patient data
ITU’s Personal Health Care Standards: ITU-T H.810 (based on Continua Health Alliance)
Gives interoperability guidelines for personal health systems
32 new testing specifications for conformance testing with > 1000 test cases

44. Conformance and Interoperability
One of ITU-T’s strategic objective is to produce non-discriminatory, international interoperable standard
Conformity to ITU standards significantly increase the probability of interoperability of tested equipment, services and systems
To ensure their interoperability, products from different vendors should undergo conformity testing to standards:
ITU-T conformity database: voluntary, informative showcasing of products conformant to ITU-T Recommendations
ITU C&I Portal includes all information about ITU activities on C&I

45. ITU Interop Events ITU IPTV Interop testing and/or showcasing events
G.hn Interop test event
APT/ITU joint Interop events on NGN and IPTV
E-health Interop events
Performance assessment of vehicle-mounted mobile phones in conjunction with Hands-free Terminals (Geneva, May 2014)

46. Cybersecurity & Identity
SG17
Cybersecurity & Identity
Strengthen the confidence and security in the use of ICTs
Strengthen cybersecurity and combat cyber threats
Identity Management
ITU X.509 compliant services
Child Online Protection
CAP (Common Alerting Protocol) V.1.2 – X.1303 bis
The Economist, July 2010

47. ITU-T Focus Groups (FG)
Quick development of specifications in chosen areas
Addressing industry needs
Participation is open

48. ITU-T Focus Groups
Aviation Applications of Cloud Computing for Flight Data Monitoring (New!)
Digital Financial Services (New!)
Bridging the Gap: from Innovation to Standards
Smart Sustainable Cities
Smart Water Management
Disaster Relief Systems, Network Resilience and Recovery (concluded 06/2014)
M2M Service Layer (concluded 12/2013)

49. FG Aviation Cloud
Focus Group on Aviation Applications of Cloud Computing for Flight Data Monitoring
Tasks include
Collect and compile, store information on current state of cloud computing and big data analytics
Identify and describe aviation use cases and scenarios for cloud computing and big data, e.g., flight management system; engine monitoring system; integrated flight information system; automatic terminal information system; weather information system
Review feasibility of using commercial in-flight connectivity solutions to enable aviation use cases for cloud computing and big data
Work in close collaboration with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the aviation community

50. FG Aviation Cloud
Chairman Mrs Norizan Baharin, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC); Vice-chairman Mr Zhu Yanbo, Aviation Data Communication Corporation (ADCC), China​
First Meeting: 1-3 December 2014, Impiana KLCC Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
More information at
Open to ITU members and non-members – Your participation and input will be appreciated!
ITU Contact : Mr Martin Adolph,
Subscribe to FG mailing list on website for updates

51. FG Digital Financial Services
GOAL: Recommend a standardization roadmap for interoperable digital financial services for financial inclusion.
Objectives
Identify the technology trends in digital financial services over the coming years and how the role of various stakeholders in this ecosystem will evolve.
Establish liaisons and relationships with other organizations.
Describe the ecosystem for digital financial services.
Suggest future ITU-T study items and related actions for various ITU-T study groups
Identify successful use cases for implementation of secure digital financial services including developing countries with a particular focus on the benefits for women.
Study the best practices related to policies, regulatory frameworks, consumer and fraud protection, business models and ecosystems for digital financial services.
Work towards the creation of an enabling framework for digital financial services.

52. Focus Group on Digital Financial Services (FGDFS)
Chaired by Sacha Polverini, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
First Meeting: 5 December 2014, ITU, Geneva
Workshop on Digital Financial Services and Financial Inclusion: 4 December 2014, ITU, Geneva
Create a platform for dialogue between telecom regulator, financial services regulator and operators.
ITU Contact : Vijay Mauree, Programme Coordinator,
Web:
Subscribe to FG mailing list on website
Terms of Reference

53. Focus Group on Smart Sustainable Cities (FG-SSC)
Established at ITU-T Study Group 5 meeting in Geneva in February 2013
As an open platform for smart-city stakeholders to exchange knowledge in the interests of identifying the standardized frameworks needed to support the integration of ICT services in smart cities.
Participation is open to all.
Next and last meeting: 4-6 March 2015, Reading, United Kingdom, preceded by a Forum on “Smart sustainable cities: a rising priority for decision-makers” on 3 March
Chaired by Silvia Guzmán Araña, Spain
ITU Contact: Cristina Bueti, Adviser,
Web: itu.int/en/ITU-T/focusgroups/ssc/
Subscribe to FG mailing list on website

54. FG Smart Sustainable Cities
Finalized technical reports and specifications approved by ITU-T Study Group 5 at its meeting in Kochi, India (8-19 December 2014):
Technical report on "An overview of smart sustainable cities and the role of information and communication technologies"
Technical report on "Smart sustainable cities: an analysis of definitions"
Technical report on "Smart water management in cities"
Technical report on "Electromagnetic field (EMF) considerations in smart sustainable cities"
Technical specifications on "Overview of key performance indicators in smart sustainable cities"
Other 19 technical reports and specifications are under development:
Areas of study include: smart infrastructure, smart buildings, climate change adaptation, cyber-security and resilience, integrated management, engaging stakeholders, key performance indicators, standardization gaps… and more.

55. Symantec Executive Briefing Centre
Hosted by at
Symantec Executive Briefing Centre
350 Brook Drive | Green Park, Reading RG2 6UH | UK – Building 3
This forum on “Smart sustainable cities: a rising priority for decision-makers” will:
Demonstrate how the strategic application of ICTs can help cities become smarter and more sustainable, by providing digital solutions that enhance the environment, improve quality of life and enable energy efficiency achievements;
Leverage the role of policies and standards in the fostering of smart sustainable cities worldwide.
Opening remarks will be delivered by:
Lord Errol, Member of the House of Lords, United Kingdom
Alok Sharma, Member of Parliament, United Kingdom
REGISTER NOW:
itu.int/en/ITU-T/Workshops-and-Seminars/Pages/201503/forum-ssc.aspx
Organized by:

56. ITU-T Output
3500 ITU-T Recommendations available in PDF for free download
ITU Workshops
Technical papers
Technology Watch Reports
ITU Kaleidoscope Academic Conferences

57. TechWatch to publish your research
TechWatch Reports identify ICT hot topics
Output contributed to creation of new Focus Groups, Study Group Questions, workshops, etc.
Widely recognized inside and outside ITU

58. Climate Change Reports: Identifying standards and policy needs

59. ITU Kaleidoscope academic conferences
International events bringing academia, governments, and industry together
Brainstorming on future ICT networks and services
Rigorous, double-blind, peer-review process
Top 3 papers win prize money totaling USD$ 10,000

60. ITU Kaleidoscope 2014 Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation 3-5 June 2014
34 accepted papers (out of 98 submitted) were presented at the conference, published in the conference proceedings & in IEEE Xplore, and considered for publication in a special edition of IEEE Communication Magazine
3 Keynote Speakers
3 Invited Papers
2 Special Sessions
2 Side events on Education about Standardization
ITU Kaleidoscope 2015
Barcelona, Spain
2-4 December 2015
Call for Papers will be published on 9 February Deadline for submission of papers: 8 June 2015
… featuring Kaleidoscope 2013 held in Japan

61. TSB Director’s Ad hoc Group on Education about Standardization (1/2)
The need to address international ICT standardization in academic curricula is vital for the students of today, as they will become the experts driving the standardization processes of tomorrow.
It aims to investigate academia’s approach toward ICT standardization, with a view to increasing the significance assigned to the subject in academic curricula.
Last meeting: back to back with ITU Kaleidoscope 2014
Workshops on Education about Standardization are organized jointly with academia and relevant institutions interested in collaborating with ITU-T to advance standards education worldwide.

62. TSB Director’s Ad hoc Group on Education about Standardization (2/2)
Secretariat Mailbox:
Mailing list:
How to subscribe to the mailing list:
An account is needed…
Members: use a TIES account (members-only)
For creating/managing TIES accounts, see
Non-members: create or use a Guest account
For instruction on creating a Guest account, see
Once you have a TIES or Guest account, you can subscribe to the mailing list using the ITU-T Electronic Registration and Subscription Service:

63. Accessibility and ITU-T standardization 1/2
Information handling capability varies for all ICT users
Everyone can benefit from accessibility standards
ITU-T’s accessibility work ensures that all newly developed standards contain the necessary elements to make services and features usable for people with as broad range of capabilities as possible
Standards should also describe suitable methods of media delivery for people with disabilities, and are therefore essential for the provision of services accessible for all

64. ITU and Accessibility
Champions principles of Universal Design enshrined in the UN Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Includes accessibility features in all standards
Strong advocacy focus
Regular workshops and demos, showcase 64

65. Accessibility and ITU-T standardization 2/2
Other experts groups (not mentioned under the Study Group section)
Intersector Rapporteur Group on Audiovisual Media Accessibility (IRG-AVA) (newly launched 25 February 2014): studies topics related to audiovisual media accessibility and aims at developing draft Recommendations for "Access Systems" that can be used for all media delivery systems, including broadcast, cable, Internet, and IPTV.
Dynamic Coalition on Accessibility and Disability (DCAD) on Internet Governance: facilitates interaction and ensures that ICT accessibility is organized workshops and activities at IGF events.

66. 4th ITU Green Standards Week 22-26 September 2014 – Beijing, China
Main Purpose:
to raise awareness of the importance and opportunities of using ICT standards to build a green economy and shape smart sustainable cities.
Overview:
Forum on Green ICT for a sustainable resource efficient economy
Forum on E-waste: the inconvenient truth
Forum on Setting the vision for smart sustainable cities
Forum on Using EMF to achieve the smartest sustainable city
Meeting of SG5 Regional Group for Asia and the Pacific

67. ITU/WMO/UNESCO IOC Joint Task Force (JTF) on the use of submarine cable systems for climate change monitoring and disaster (tsunami) warning

68. The Initiative The deep ocean is largely unknown….
How could submarine cables be used as a real-time global network to monitor climate change and to provide tsunami warnings?
A new generation of regional scientific cabled ocean observatories is emerging at a few selected sites, but there is a need and opportunity to extend observations and monitoring over much wider area of the global oceans.
Submarine telecommunication cables equipped with sensors to measure key variables such as water temperature, pressure and acceleration on the ocean floor are viewed as vital to monitor climate change and to provide tsunami warnings.

69. The Initiative
“Using submarine telecommunications cables for ocean and climate monitoring and disaster warning”
ITU (International Telecommunication Union) with UNESCO’s (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s) IOC (Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission), and the WMO (World Meteorological Organization)
Established a task force

70. ITU/WMO/UNESCO-IOC Joint Task Force
Agreed on its Terms of Reference and was tasked, inter alia:
with developing a strategy and roadmap that could lead to enabling the availability of submarine repeaters equipped with scientific sensors for climate monitoring and disaster risk reduction for tsunamis, and
to analyse the potential renovation and use of out-of-service cables for this purpose.
It is composed of more than 70 international experts from the science, engineering, business and law communities.
Chair: Chris Barnes, Professor Emeritus, University of Victoria (Canada)
Vice-Chair: David Meldrum, Research Fellow, Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and JCOMM Observations Programme Area (UNESCO-IOC)
Details are at

71. Joint Task Force Members
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Libya, Ministry of Communications and Informatics
Mallin Consultants Ltd.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Greece
NASA
National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communication of Romania
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
NEC Corporation
Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea, Utrecht University School of Law
Ocean Observations Panel for Climate (OOPC)
Puertos del Estado, Spain
Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS)
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Sea-Bird Electronics
Sea Risk Solutions LLC
Swiss Maritime Navigation Office (SMNO)
TE SubCom
Teledyne ODI / Teledyne Oil & Gas
Telefónica
Telefónica International Wholesale Services
UN Office of Law and Sea (DOALOS)
University of Hawaii
University of Milano-Bicocca
University of Stockholm
University of Sydney
University of Tokyo
University of Victoria
University of Washington
U.S. Geological Survey
Vrije Universiteit Brussels
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI)
WILTSHIRE & GRANNIS LLP
World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
World Ocean Council (WOC)
Zimbabwe National Water Authority
Alcatel-Lucent
AQEST
Arctic Fibre Inc
Axiom
BT Design
Bureau of Oceans, Environment and Science, U.S. Department of State
Climate Associates
ETH-Zurich
European Seas Observatory NETwork (ESONET)
France Telecom
France Telecom Marine
Fujitsu
Gartner Inc.
GNS Science
Huawei Marine Networks CO.,LTD
Intergovernmental Coordination Group for the Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation System in the North Eastern Atlantic, the Mediterranean and connected Seas (ICG/NEAMTWS)
Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO
International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC)

72. Thank you