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'Responding to Changing Environment Is a Big Challenge' - Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General, ITU

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VoicenData Bureau
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–Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary General, ITU

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The enthusiasm of Indians during ITU ’99 prompted Yoshio Utsumi to visit India. The secretary general of ITU emphasized on a stable regulator for greater investment and fair competition. 



In a freewheeling interview with Pravin Prashant, senior correspondent,
Voice & Data, Yoshio Utsumi spoke about his one-year experience in ITU, emerging issues, and the paradigm shift of ITU in the changing environment.

 

What

has been your experience in the last one year since you took

over the reigns of ITU?




It is a big challenge to change ITU according to changing
environment. The telecom environment is changing rapidly–from

government monopoly to open market; technology is changing from

wireline to wireless, and from switch network to IP-based

network; the market is moving from domestic oriented industry to

global services.

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ITU consists of 189

countries and 600 corporates under its fold. The members have to

change their business models. The interests of the industrial

and developing countries, those of the governments and industry

are also different. I am focussing on reforms in ITU to reflect

this new environment.

As regards the substantial

issues of the ITU activities, the third generation mobile phone

IMT - 2000 is the most important. The ITU wanted to have one

global standard whereas the industries’ interest conflicted

with each other. I tried hard and managed to have one standard

with multiple modes so that global roaming can be accomplished.

This standardization was the most important accomplishment in

the last one year.

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What are the

problems that you are facing in the standardization process with

the decrease in technology life cycle?




In the past the global standardization could be carried
simultaneously with the technology. Today, competitive companies

use competitive technologies, which leads to contradiction in

the standardization process. Therefore, the process has become

very difficult now.

Mailtland

report talks of "right to communicate". Is this not

contradictory when 50 percent of the world has no access to

telephone?




Presently, the penetration level of telecommunications
world-wide is 14 percent. The adoption of newer technologies

will help developing countries in providing phones at a cheaper

price. The introduction of liberalization and efficient use of

private capital will help in achieving the targets of the

Maitland Report. Also, satellite telephony is the ideal choice

and easy to install in remote areas. Though GMPCS failed because

of bad marketing, I still believe this is one of the best

technologies for remote areas.

What is your

feeling regarding Indian telecom?




Though I have not seen the NTP ’94 and NTP ’99 documents
very closely, I feel that India is making every effort to

develop the telecom network. Unfortunately, India is the least

developed in telecommunications. One has to implement the

so-called "universal service obligation" in

unprofitable or remote areas otherwise some areas will flourish

and others will be neglected. There should be some mechanism to

introduce liberalization and competition. The Indian government

is trying its best. It is successful sometimes and sometimes

not.

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What do you

feel is the role of the regulator in deregulating the telecom

market?




If you do not have a stable regulator, the market becomes
unpredictable to the investors and there would be no investment.

And if you do not have fair policies, the competition between

incumbent carrier and new carriers is eschewed, and the new

entrants cannot enter the market.

What are the

activities ITU is undertaking for Internet telephony?




I personally feel that one suffers in the long run by not
adopting the newest technologies.
Internet telephony is

one of the latest technologies and is very cheap. I am going to

organize a workshop very soon in ITU for Internet telephony

about the stand ITU will take. On Internet telephony front, ITU-T

is working on the standardization. Presently, while some

countries totally prohibit Internet telephony others recommend

it. Harmonization of policy is necessary.

With mega

mergers all over, the corporates seem to monopolize the market.

Is it good for the consumer?




If there is a lack of competition we will face a great danger.
But at this level, I still believe that there will be severe

competition. To provide stability, some big companies are

necessary. Though presently the mega merger process is a common

trend, we have to withdraw from it in the future.

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With the

increase in wireless applications, spectrum has become a

valuable resource. How is ITU planning to tackle the

spectrum-related issues?




Spectrum is a very limited resource but one can increase its use
by the deployment of newer technologies, by sharing

technologies, and by using smaller bandwidth and sharper

frequencies. To use frequencies effectively we have to

coordinate and negotiate. This is a very difficult process.

Every three years we have a big conference–World Radio

Conference–where we negotiate and distribute frequencies.

WRC 2000 will increase the

use of frequencies for IMT - 2000. The additional allocation of

frequencies for IMT - 2000 is required as in US the frequency

allocated for IMT - 2000 is used for other applications. In

Europe and Asia the demand will be much higher. So we need

additional frequencies. If it is agreed upon in Istanbul meeting

it will present a rosy future of IMT - 2000. But if we fail, it

will have serious repercussions.

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What is ITU’s

position with respect to accounting rate?




For accounting rate, the cost-based principle is the best and
most efficient. However, if we adopt cost-based today we will

face a lot of problems. The developing countries will face

bankruptcy as in some of the countries the accounting rate

accounts for 5 percent of the GNP. The ITU has developed some

transitional scheme for three years and at this moment only US

is against the idea.

What are the

issues that ITU is resolving regarding e-commerce?




No extra tax on e-commerce as e-commerce is just another means
of transaction. E-commerce is facing two problems today. One is

the cost of introduction of e-commerce. ITU plans to provide

affordable Internet services. The second is the digital

authentication. Some countries have already introduced law to

this effect.

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Recently, I organized a

workshop in the ITU with the experts. The group recommended that

ITU should gather information along the globe how the

authentication system is developing and at the same time ITU

should play the role of educating the developing countries about

the authentication process.

The basic

nature of ITU has changed with liberalization. Presently, you

have more organizations than countries under your fold. Will

this help in restructuring ITU?




Financially ITU is sound because of the larger participation of
members. The contribution by the governments has decreased but

the contribution by the industry has increased. Presently, the

plenipotentiary conference and the council of ITU are only open

to the government and the ITU is an intergovernmental

organization. This nature will relatively change but ITU will

still remain an intergovernmental organization. The changes in

the environment will result in more reflection of the private

sector voice in the management of the ITU. 

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