1. ITU Website Presentation
Saburo Tanaka
Senior Counselor
Study Group 3

2. ITU Homepage: www.itu.int
To have a clear idea of how the ITU/ITU website is organised, it is useful to know that the ITU is composed of the General Secretariat, three different Sectors, namely the ITU-R, the ITU-T and the ITU-D, and finally of the TELECOM exhibitions and Forum department. This is clearly reflected on the left hand-side of the ITU homepage.
The ITU website offers three different kinds of information, global information available to the world, information restricted to our Members and information available against payment.

3. Public information, an example

4. TIES - Telecommunication Information Exchange Service
The ITU Telecom Information Exchange Services (TIES) is a set of networked information services and resources for the global telecommunications community. The goal of TIES is to support the requirements for electronic exchange of ITU-related information by the general public and ITU's member countries (189 as of September 2001). The TIES service is available without any charge only to persons or companies meeting one or other of the following conditions:
You are working in a Government Telecommunication Administration in one of the ITU Member States
Your company is a Sector Member of the ITU (please consult the ITU Global Directory)
You are working in a Geneva-based permanent mission of a country that is an ITU Member
TIES membership allows you, through the Internet, access to ITU information resources including contributions, delayed contributions, other working or temporary documents, reports, etc

5. How it works
If you qualify for a TIES account as described before, you shall complete a TIES application form and you will get a User Name and a password. Each time you want to access a document requiring a TIES account, you’ll get this Enter Network Password box.
TIES services for registered users do not include free access to the paying services (ITU Publications Online and ITU Electronic Bookshop).
Tariff Seminar and TAL Group meeting La Havana, Cuba October 2001

6. ITU Publications
Most of our publications, including Recommendations have to be purchased. You can either get hard copies and CD-roms (via the Catalogue of Publications) or through the electronic bookshop, you can download the chosen documentation.

7. ITU Homepage – General structure
Back to the ITU home page now, let’s have a brief look at the different sites/sectors

8. Office of the Secretary General
The Office of the Secretary General offers information related to the main conferences of the ITU: the plenipotentiary conference and the ITU Council, and the activities undertaken are mostly political and legal, activities of coordination and external relations. From this homepage we have access to all these different units

9. SPU
One of them is the SPU – strategy and policy unit. I would like to draw your attention on the so-called “new initiatives Programme (on the top of the screen, right side). Under this Programme are listed complete information on the third generation mobile, fixed-mobile interconnection and IP Telephony. They also contain case studies realised in different countries.

10. Radiocommunication Sector - ITU-R
The Radiocommunication Sector homepage, introducing its activities, news and events. As the ITU-T Sector, the ITU-R Sector technical activities are organised in Study Groups. One of their main activity is the assignment of frequencies and the study of questions related to frequency assignment.

11. ITU-R Study Groups
And from the Study Group page, we have access to the documents, reports, recommendations, which I will be explaining in a few minutes using the example of the ITU-T Study Group 3 dealing with tariffs and accounting principles.

12. Development Sector ITU-D
The ITU-D Sector homepage, built in the same way. It mainly contains information to be used by developing countries. It also includes their activities related to the assistance granted to developing countries.
Last week was held the Americas regional preparatory meeting for the World Telecommunications Development conference in Trinidad and Tobago, maybe some of you attended this meeting.

13. TELECOM -Exhibitions and Forums
The ITU organizes global and regional trade shows and conferences. They are coined ITU TELECOM events, such as TELECOM 99 + INTERACTIVE 99, held in October 1999 in Geneva, the biggest telecommunications exhibition and forum worldwide.
Since ITU TELECOM events are not for profit, one of their main aims is to support specific telecommunication development projects, primarily in the UN-designated least developed countries (LDC).
The next event is to take place in Johannesburg, South Africa in November.

14. Standardization Sector - ITU-T homepage
And the last one is the ITU-T Sector homepage, which I will detail a bit more than the others as information related to Study Group 3 and Regional Tariff Groups is to be found under this Sector.
When clicking on ITU-T and TSB information, you will find out the necessary tools to join the ITU-T

15. Join ITU-T
Here are described the procedures to follow when you wish to become an ITU-T Member.
Being an ITU-T Member authorizes you to attend the meetings where you meet experts coming from more than 60 countries in the case of Study Group 3, you will also receive the documentation thereof, and any kind of assistance provided by the Secretariat, Counselor/Assistants. For further details regarding membership, I invite you to check the links available on this page.
Once you are a Member or if you are already part of the ITU-T Members,…

16. How to get started…
We have the global start-up information for new Members. You’ll find out how to receive documentation, you’ll have information about the current structure of the Study Groups and how they work, and also the usual procedure to attend an ITU-T Study Group meeting.

17. ITU-T Terms and Definitions database
One of the most useful tool of the ITU-T is its terms and defintions database called Sancho. If you need to be clarified on a term, if you need its definition, the significance of an abbreviation or/and accronyms, this tool will be of great help.
The database includes all terms and definitions, abbreviations/accronyms used in the ITU.

18. SANCHO Term Definition References accounting rate share
By entering any english or spanish word or abbreviations, you’ll get all the terms related to your search, its corresponding translation either english or spanish, and by clicking on the selected word, you then have its definition and references. I used the term “accounting” for an example.
Term
Definition
References
accounting rate share 
The part of the accounting rate corresponding to the facilities made available in each country; this share is fixed by agreement among the Administrations. 
D.000 (00), A.23 

19. ITU-T Recommendations
Recommendations are the output of each Study Group, are classified by alphabetical order according to their Nature. In ITU-T we have about 2800 Recommendations in force. C and D series Recommendations are related to Study Group 3 and its Regional Tariff Groups.
The usual procedure to obtain a Recommendation is to pay for it, but there is an exception.

20. Free Recommendations ?
You can indeed download via the electronic bookshop up to 3 Recommendations for free, and the procedure is quite simple, there is a form to download and to back to the sale department. The whole process is detailed here in the publication/bookshop part of the webiste.
Tariff Seminar and TAL Group meeting La Havana, Cuba October 2001

21. ITU-T Study Group 3
The Study Group’s homepages are all designed in the same way:
First there is an Information part: information on the main topics studied (area of responsibilities) on the work programme, on the people working for the said Study Group, then you have information on the meetings, and as we have a Study Group 3 meeting in December, the registration on-line is already available.
Then we have the documents part: Circulars are information sent to all Member countries and Sector Members whom are consulted for the approval of a Recommendation for example. Collective letters are information letters to the Members attending the meetings (invitation letters, questionnaires). The other documents all require a TIES account (see the lock).
And finally on each Study Group homepage you will find this Special Projects and Issues. In Study Group 3, we have posted information related to the Call-Back studies
Tariff Seminar and TAL Group meeting La Havana, Cuba October 2001

22. Call-Back
All the Resolutions, circulars related to the subject are posted under this link, and regularly updated.
Tariff Seminar and TAL Group meeting La Havana, Cuba October 2001

23. Accounting Rate Reform
One detailed document on the boiling subject of the accounting rate reform
Tariff Seminar and TAL Group meeting La Havana, Cuba October 2001

24. Focus Group
All you want to know about the Focus Group is here, also updated (target rates and teledensities).
Tariff Seminar and TAL Group meeting La Havana, Cuba October 2001

25. Regional Tariff Groups
And last but not least, it is on the Study Group 3 website that you will find the Regional Tariff Groups’homepages, built on the same way, with the management team information, meeting schedule and documentation.
This is the end of the presentation,
Tariff Seminar and TAL Group meeting La Havana, Cuba October 2001

26. Thank you very much for your attention
Tariff Seminar and TAL Group meeting La Havana, Cuba October 2001